Apple plans to open AI models to developers to stimulate the development of new applications

According to Zhitong Finance APP, Apple (AAPL.US) is preparing to allow third-party developers to use its artificial intelligence (AI) models to write software. This move aims to stimulate the creation of new applications and make its devices more attractive.

According to insiders, Apple is developing a software development kit and related frameworks that will enable external developers to build AI capabilities based on the large language models driving Apple Intelligence. Apple is expected to announce this plan at the Worldwide Developers Conference on June 9.

Apple Intelligence has already supported features such as notification summaries, text editing, and basic image creation for iOS and macOS. The new plan will allow developers to integrate this underlying technology into specific functions or use it for entire applications. In the initial phase, Apple will open smaller models that can run on local devices, rather than more powerful cloud-based AI models that require server support.

This move by Apple is part of a broader plan to catch up with competitors and compete for leadership in the generative AI field. Last year, Apple launched Apple Intelligence to narrow the gap with its rivals. However, so far, the initial features have not been widely used, and other AI platforms remain more powerful. Apple bets that by extending this technology to developers, it may foster more attractive application scenarios.

It is worth mentioning that while this new plan for developers is expected to be one of the highlights of this year's Worldwide Developers Conference, a bigger highlight may be the upgraded versions of the iPhone, iPad, and Mac operating systems. This is a project codenamed "Solarium." Apple hopes to create a more unified and consistent interface across different devices. This new interface design will largely draw on the visionOS system used by the Vision Pro headset.

In addition to allowing developers to use Apple's models to write applications, the company also plans to launch an AI-based battery management mode for consumers. Another project in development is a health application that incorporates AI, which includes a virtual health coach, but this feature will not be ready until 2026.

The launch of Apple Intelligence has been quite bumpy. Due to errors, Apple was forced to suspend the AI-generated news headline summary feature, which also drew dissatisfaction from several media outlets. The icons generated by its Genmoji custom emoji tool sometimes differ significantly from the effects in Apple's advertisements. Meanwhile, some more practical features, such as the "writing tool," rely on OpenAI's ChatGPT to generate text.

Currently, developers can only integrate Apple Intelligence into their applications within a limited scope. For example, they can support notification prioritization and summary functions, as well as integrate writing tools, Genmoji, and the image creation application Image Playground. However, they are still unable to use Apple's underlying AI technology—the so-called "Apple Foundation Models"—to support their own AI capabilities Due to the inability to access Apple's own models, application developers can only rely on third-party technologies. For a long time, Apple has provided developers with a framework called Core ML, which allows the introduction of open-source models, including those for image classification, summary generation, and question answering. Developers can also use popular AI frameworks such as TensorFlow developed by Google (GOOGL.US).

In addition, there is a series of AI applications provided by major tech companies on the App Store, including ChatGPT, Microsoft's (MSFT.US) Copilot, Anthropic's Claude, xAI's Grok, and Perplexity. These applications all use their self-developed AI models.

Apple hopes to replicate the success of the early days of the App Store. At that time, the company first opened its internal technologies and software frameworks to developers, leading to a boom in the application ecosystem. By opening its own AI models and simplifying the integration process, Apple is expected to transform its operating system into the largest AI software platform.

The surge in applications may also bring financial benefits. Apple will take a share of the in-app subscription revenue. However, the App Store is facing scrutiny from global regulators. A U.S. judge ruled last month that Apple must allow developers to direct users to web pages to complete purchases, thereby bypassing its revenue-sharing system. If a large number of new applications emerge, it may help mitigate some of the impact of sales losses to a certain extent.

Apple originally planned to launch options for application developers earlier, including a new version of the App Intents feature. This will allow users to control in-app functions more precisely through the Siri voice assistant. Currently, Apple plans to introduce this feature as early as the iOS 19 release cycle (from September this year to 2026)