Apple’s WWDC (Worldwide Developer Conference) opening keynote presentation was live streamed across the world on June 10. There were several announcements from Apple and the highlight of the event was the launch of Apple Intelligence, the Cupertino-based tech giant’s AI system that will bring AI features to its products. Apple announced on the first day of WWDC that it will integrate its new-gen AI model into the next-generation software for its devices including iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia.

As soon as it was announced, it made headlines. And people couldn’t help but notice how Apple is referring to the AI ​​system by the name “Apple Intelligence” and not the common term Artificial Intelligence. Some tech enthusiasts even wondered if there is any hidden agenda or meaning behind the name. Now, Apple CEO Tim Cook has addressed such rumors and said that the term Apple Intelligence has no hidden meaning.

What is in a name?

In an interview with The Washington Post, Cook explained the reasoning behind the name. “It just seemed like a logical conclusion after looking at so many names. At least for me, I can tell you it wasn’t inspired by artificial intelligence. It was kind of calling it what it is. I’m sure there will be a lot more said about it, but it’s probably not what it seems to be,” he said.

During the event, Apple also announced its partnership with ChatGPT’s parent company OpenAI. The tech giant announced that a free version of the ChatGPT app will be available as an opt-in feature. Additionally, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, Craig Federighi, mentioned the possibility of working with other AI models like Google Gemini in the future.

Not 100%, but high in quality

Now, a significant challenge in AI development, which other companies have also faced before, is the phenomenon of AI hallucinations. This refers to instances when AI chatbots confidently come up with incorrect and misleading responses so that other people believe it to be true. ChatGPT, Google’s Bard (now called Gemini) and Microsoft’s Bing (now called Copilot) have all been accused of hallucinations in the past.

Now that Apple has joined the race, will its AI model be 100 percent accurate every time? Cook doesn’t guarantee that. In the same interview, he said that Apple’s AI system is also not 100 percent accurate, even though it has made every effort to keep its answers of high quality.

“It’s not 100 percent. But I think we’ve done everything we know to, including thinking very deeply about the readiness of the technology in the areas where we’re using it. So I’m confident it will be very high quality. But I’ll be quite honest and say it’s less than 100 percent. I would never claim it’s 100 percent,” Cook said.

Despite these challenges, Cook spoke about the immediate benefits of Apple Intelligence for users. He highlighted that AI systems will save time and improve efficiency. “They will save time and things will be more efficient (for them),” the Apple CEO said, pointing to the practical benefits that users can expect from the new technology.