Recently, Apple announced the finalists for the 2024 "App of the Year" for iPhone, a list that once again reflects Apple's underestimation of the impact of artificial intelligence technology in the mobile app ecosystem.
Similar to last year, the 2024 nominations lean more towards traditional iOS apps, including those that help users accomplish specific tasks, such as the professional video recording app Kino, the personalized running plan app Runna, and the travel organization app Tripsy.
In contrast, AI applications like ChatGPT, Claude from Anthropic, and Microsoft Co-pilot, as well as those that can generate AI photos or videos, did not make the cut for the App of the Year.
Despite ChatGPT becoming the fastest-growing consumer application in history at the beginning of 2023 and reaching the milestone of 100 million users within a few months, it still failed to receive any official year-end honors from Apple's App Store editorial team. In 2024, ChatGPT joined forces with Apple to enhance Siri's capabilities; however, this change does not seem to have altered its fate on the nomination list.
In contrast, Google named the party planning app Partiful as its App of the Year last year, and ChatGPT's absence has raised eyebrows once again. Although ChatGPT frequently appears in editorial recommendations on both the App Store and Google Play, neither Apple nor Google nominated the app as a potential winner last year.
While ChatGPT did not receive a nomination, a few AI applications still appeared on Apple's other 2024 nomination lists, such as the music practice app Moises, which was nominated for iPad App of the Year, and Adobe Lightroom, which made the Mac App of the Year nominations due to its AI features. Overall, among Apple's 45 nominated applications and games, AI applications are notably few.
In the category of cultural impact nominations, only one app was described by Apple as utilizing AI technology, namely the language learning app EF Hello. Other applications may use AI technology in the background, but they do not promote themselves as "AI applications."
From Apple's nomination list, it is clear that the company prefers to emphasize applications that inspire human creativity rather than those that rely on AI automation. Most of the nominated applications aim to help users make better use of their iPhones or other devices, whether for design, organization, photography, creation, or entertainment.
Additionally, Apple has introduced a new category for Apple Vision Pro, which will select one app and one game as winners.
Key Points:
📱 Apple's 2024 "App of the Year" nominations once again overlook the impact of AI applications.
🎨 The nominated apps primarily focus on inspiring human creativity rather than relying on AI automation features.
🏆 A few AI applications appeared in the annual nominations for iPad and Mac, but the overall number of nominations is low.
