Apple is reportedly planning to debut a new version of its Xcode developer tool, powered by AI, reports Bloomberg.
According to sources familiar with the matter, Apple has been refining this tool as part of a major update to Xcode for the past year. The company has expanded internal testing and accelerated development, with plans to unveil it to third-party developers possibly within 2024.
The anticipated system is expected to mirror the functionality of Microsoft’s GitHub Copilot, employing AI to predict and autofill code blocks, say sources speaking to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. This means time savings for developers when it comes to building apps for the App Store. Apple is also exploring AI’s potential to automate code generation for application testing, a process traditionally seen as cumbersome.
In an internal push known as “dogfooding,” Apple is encouraging engineers to test these new AI features before a possible launch to outside developers.
Under the directive of Craig Federighi, Senior Vice President of Software Engineering, Apple is in a race against time to incorporate as many new AI features as possible into this year’s operating system updates. Federighi has also appointed Sebastien Marineau-Mes as a key figure in this plan, with significant AI functionalities being demonstrated to Apple’s board last year.
The upcoming iOS and iPadOS 18 updates are said to include many new AI features, marking them as potentially one of the most significant updates since the iPhone’s inception. Additionally, Apple is set to introduce AI enhancements to macOS as well.
We’ve seen Google announce AI features for its Android operating system, which has been tied into Samsung’s newest Galaxy S24 lineup. When will we see Apple bring AI smarts to the iPhone? Siri is rumoured to get a new AI update, so let’s see if that will make the voice assistant actually feel useful.
