During the quarterly earnings call on Thursday afternoon, Apple CEO Tim Cook mentioned that the company is developing artificial intelligence software features that will be available to customers "later this year." This aligns with recent reports from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who stated that iOS 18 could be the "biggest" update in the history of the operating system. In his prepared remarks, Cook stated, "Looking ahead, we will continue to invest in these and other technologies that will shape the future. This includes artificial intelligence, and we are excited to share details of our work in this field later this year." Analysts attempted to pressure Cook for more details, but he did not provide much. "Our M.O. has always been to do the work and then talk about the work, rather than pre-announce. So we will stick with that. But we have some really exciting things that we will discuss later this year." In recent months, artificial intelligence software features have been a major selling point for Google and Samsung smartphones, ranging from advanced photo processing to enhanced text handling. Apple rarely discloses its upcoming actions, so this can be seen as a sign that the company has ambitious plans to integrate artificial intelligence into its software platforms - iOS, iPadOS, and macOS - later this year. Closing the call, Cook said, "I would just say that I think Apple has a tremendous opportunity in generative AI and AI in general, without getting into the details or pre-announcing products."