Apple Reinvents AI with Ambient Programming

Apple and AI: A Discreet Quest for Innovation

In the field of artificial intelligence, Apple seems to be following a trajectory similar to that of its competitors, with innovations that include chatbots to answer questions, tools to generate or summarize text, and sometimes surprising image creation applications. At the annual WWDC conference, Apple primarily showcased its intention to catch up in the AI space. New features for Siri, for example, are already available on Android devices and in applications like Claude and ChatGPT. Apple's message could be summed up as: "What you already know, but now on your iPhone."

However, while exploring the first beta version of iPadOS 26, which I was hesitant to install on my Mac or iPhone due to their importance in my daily life, I discovered an aspect where Apple could genuinely enhance the user experience with AI. By opening the Shortcuts app, I attempted to create a new shortcut by typing "Send a message to Anna with three kiss emojis." This is an action I do occasionally to show my wife that I’m thinking of her. Thanks to Apple's intelligence, the shortcut was created in seconds and sent the correct emoji to the right person. A small gesture, but it demonstrates the potential of integrated AI.

The Shortcuts App: Untapped Potential

Apple's Shortcuts app has always been a promising idea in search of a simplified interface. This powerful tool allows users to visually create scripts that automate actions across different applications. However, even the simplest shortcuts can prove complex to set up, and the app itself does not always make the task easier. At WWDC, Apple presented AI as a solution to make the app more accessible. Cecilia Dantas, Apple's product marketing manager, described the new system as "more accessible than ever."

In the current beta version, the system does not yet work perfectly. I tried to create more complex shortcuts, such as automatically activating Do Not Disturb when opening the Kindle app, but the result was not as expected. The shortcut simply activated Do Not Disturb every time I executed it. Similarly, a shortcut intended to put the device in Do Not Disturb mode and start a 30-minute timer with the "Stop Playback" option did not function as planned. Attempts to create a shortcut to take photos with both the front and back cameras and assemble them also failed. Each time I tried to integrate a third-party app, the Shortcuts app sent me back to the standard editor. It is clear that developers still have work to do to fully support this new feature.

A Pragmatic Approach to AI

Despite these challenges, Apple's Shortcuts app embodies a pragmatic approach to integrating AI. Far from being flashy, it does not seek to revolutionize the user interface but rather to accomplish what AI does best: understand user requests and navigate databases to fulfill them.

These natural language shortcuts resemble a form of vibe-coding, which is somewhat ironic given Apple's apparent reluctance towards vibe-coding applications on its platform. Instead of allowing users to code applications, Apple offers them the ability to program their phones. By expressing how they want their device to function, users can see their wishes come to life. With Apple's unique access to data such as location and app identifiers, this customization can be particularly powerful.

The Challenges of Integrating Shortcuts

For this vision to become a reality, Apple must overcome several obstacles. A version of Shortcuts that works sporadically is far from satisfactory. Apple needs to convince every App Store developer to fully support Shortcuts so that all possible actions within an app can be executed through this tool. This represents a significant challenge, as many developers may hesitate to adopt this feature, particularly because using Shortcuts could mean that users never open their app. If Apple fails to convince developers, it will have to rely on its AI models to understand various APIs, URL schemes, and other means of using applications on behalf of the user. This is a classic challenge of agentic AI, and Apple will need to tackle it in its own way.

Towards a Simplified User Experience

At WWDC, Apple spent considerable time describing the tools it has created to help people, especially children, use their devices a little less. Apple's new vibe-coding platform aims to simplify the user experience. For example, simply typing "copy page as Markdown link" creates an extension. The simple tasks I tried worked and were easy to accomplish. However, these extensions do not yet seem capable of using AI or interacting with other applications, thus limiting their scope to modifications of websites. As with Shortcuts, the principle is clear: to offer a way to customize devices without having to build them from scratch.

Apple already has such a platform: the iPhone. If Apple can make these innovations work, it could use this new technology not to reinvent everything but to make the daily use of devices a little easier.