On Monday, the shortlist for Apple's coveted iPhone App of the Year award revealed once again how the iPhone maker is downplaying the impact of AI technology on the mobile app ecosystem. Similar to last year, Apple's top 2024 iPhone finalists list will help iPhone users perform specific tasks, such as recording professional videos (Kino), coordinating running plans (Runna), and planning trips (Tripsy). They prefer more traditional iOS apps, including apps that help them. ). Other AI apps such as ChatGPT, Anthropic's Claude, Microsoft Copilot, and apps that create AI photos and videos were not nominated for iPhone App of the Year.
Given ChatGPT's popularity, it's now partnered with Apple on improvements to Siri, but even though the app will adopt some clever new features in 2024, including: Apple's App Store Editorial It's surprising that he hasn't earned a formal year-end accolade from the team. Advanced voice mode for chatting with an AI virtual assistant and web search capabilities that challenge Google.
ChatGPT is regularly featured in editorial suggestions on the App Store and Google Play, but both Apple and Google announced last year that ChatGPT will reach 100 million users and become the fastest-growing consumer in history by early 2023. We avoided nominating ChatGPT as the overall winner, even though it is now an application for users. Immediately after release. This year, Google named party planning app Partiful its “App of the Year.”
Despite ChatGPT's disdain, a handful of AI-powered apps made it onto Apple's other 2024 shortlists, including iPad and Mac App of the Year.
However, AI-powered apps were mentioned only a few times in Apple's list of 45 finalists across various categories of apps and games. Moises, an app that offers AI tools for music practice, was nominated alongside children's app Bluey: Let's Play and animation app Procreate Dreams for iPad App of the Year. Adobe Lightroom, with its new AI-powered features, was nominated along with productivity app OmniFocus 4 and 3D design app Shapr3D for Mac App of the Year.
And of the 12 Cultural Impact finalists, only language learning app EF Hello was recognized by Apple as being powered by AI technology. (Other apps, like finalist Pinterest, may use AI internally, but App Store marketing promotes them to consumers as “AI” apps.) )
Rather, Apple's carefully selected list of finalists suggests that the apps that deserve attention are those that enhance human creativity, rather than those that help automate AI. Most of the finalists' apps help users do things with their iPhones and other devices without relying on AI assistants or features, such as designing, organizing, capturing, creating, and playing.
For example, Kino, the professional video app from the makers of the professional camera app Halide, aims to help everyone become a better videographer, while Apple's devices are becoming more and more popular among people in creative fields. There are also apps that help serve as productivity tools.
This year, Apple also added a new Apple Vision Pro category that selects both app and game winners.