(News Bulletin 247) – During its annual developers conference, the Apple group unveiled its progress in artificial intelligence, notably announcing a partnership with ChatGPT. After welcoming the news with caution on Monday, the market gave in to optimism encouraged by positive analyst notes.

(Note: this article has been updated following the opening of Wall Street on Tuesday)

It’s an understatement to say that Apple was expected to turn the corner during its annual developers conference, which began Monday evening. For several months now, the market has feared that the Apple group would be left behind by other “bigtechs” in the race for artificial intelligence, notably by Microsoft.

Analysts were hopeful that the company would unveil advanced artificial intelligence (AI) tools and features on Monday evening as well as a partnership with OpenAI, ChatGPT’s parent company.

The idea of ​​the most optimistic investors is that by integrating all of these AI functionalities into its operating systems (iOS) and its phones, Apple would strengthen the attractiveness of its products. Which would then trigger an “upgrade cycle”, that is to say that consumers, attracted by these new AI technologies, would decide to buy the new iPhone (or Mac) integrating these functionalities to replace their old device.

Apple didn’t really disappoint last night with its announcements.

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A “smarter” Siri

The company has actually announced a partnership with OpenAI which will integrate ChatGPT functionality via Siri. The iPhone’s speaking interface will, for example, use the famous conversational robot to answer a user question.

Beyond this partnership, Apple above all presented its own AI, called “Apple Intelligence” which should help the user in various ways. This will involve, for example, prioritizing notifications on an iPhone, or improving writing by organizing class notes, ensuring that an email is correctly written or retouching a blog article.

Another Apple Intelligence feature presented on Monday: Image Playground which creates “fun images”, according to Apple, to facilitate communication.

Apple Intelligence must also make Siri more efficient. “With Apple Intelligence, Siri will be able to perform hundreds of new actions within and across Apple and third-party apps. For example, someone can say ‘Show the article about cicadas from my Reading List’ or ‘Send photos of Caroline’s Saturday barbecue, and Siri will take care of them,” Apple promises.

Ultimately, the group’s announcements did not really delight the market which knew more or less what to expect. Especially since the partnership with OpenAI had previously been rumored, notably by Bloomberg last week.

The group’s announcements were initially received without enthusiasm by the market, with Apple shares falling 1.9% on Monday evening. But this Tuesday, the stock recovered significantly, gaining 5.33% at the start of the session on Wall Street. The action is driven by positive comments from analysts on the presentation.

“Apple is taking the right direction”

Great optimist in the face of the eternal, Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives is excited. “Apple is taking the right direction to implement AI across its ecosystem while laying the foundation for its multi-year AI strategy on the strongest installed base of 2.2 billion iOS devices over the next years” while “the Stock Exchange gives no credit to the monetization of Apple’s AI”, he points out. “This was a historic day for Apple and Cook,” added Dan Ives.

The analyst believes that this AI strategy should trigger an “upgrade cycle” among iPhone users which would begin with the future iPhone 16.

For its part, Bank of America also appreciated the presentation, maintaining its purchase recommendation and its price target of $230 (compared to a price currently around $203). “In our opinion, AI functions can lead to an ‘upgrade cycle’ towards IntelliPhones (smartphones running on AI, Editor’s note).