The MacRumors Show: Google and OpenAI Step Up AI Tech Ahead of WWDC

Friday May 23, 2025 8:56 am PDT by Hartley Charlton

On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we discuss all of the major announcements from Google's AI-focused I/O conference this week and the mysterious device former Apple design chief Jony Ive is designing at OpenAI.

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At its I/O 2025 conference, Google unveiled a wide range of artificial intelligence enhancements surrounding its Gemini AI platform. Chief among these is a dedicated AI Mode for Google Search, which leverages contextual understanding to return more relevant, nuanced results and allows follow-up questions. Within Google Chrome, Gemini has also been integrated to assist with summarizing web content, composing messages, and providing intelligent suggestions. Gemini Agent Mode is designed to be an autonomous assistant that completes tasks on your behalf, while Gemini Personal Context pulls from your Gmail, Calendar, Docs, and more to offer personalized, proactive help.

Google introduced Gemini Live, which brings real-time AI assistance to iPhone users. The feature supports screen sharing, camera access, and integration with services like Google Calendar and Maps. The company also devoted time to generative models: Veo 3 for video generation, Imagen 4 for image synthesis, and Deep Research, a tool designed to provide thorough, AI-powered insights across complex subjects.

Moreover, Google introduced significant developments in wearable computing with Android XR, a new operating system designed specifically for augmented reality headsets and smart glasses. The platform gains features like live translation, turn-by-turn directions, and real-time contextual support powered by Gemini. Samsung will be the first partner to release a headset running Android XR later this year, followed by a smart glasses product.

Google's own smart glasses initiative was also showcased. The new glasses are equipped with in-lens displays, microphones, speakers, and cameras, allowing users to see and hear the world with real-time assistance from Gemini. The glasses will be designed in partnership with eyewear brands Gentle Monster and Warby Parker.

In other news, OpenAI this week set out plans to acquire io, a hardware startup co-founded by legendary former Apple design chief Jony Ive, in a deal valued at approximately $6.5 billion. The acquisition brings a team of influential former Apple designers, including Evans Hankey and Marc Newson, into OpenAI. The company is working on developing a new category of device described as a "third core device," envisioned to complement the smartphone and laptop without replicating either.

The new hardware is neither a phone nor a pair of glasses, but a compact, screenless device designed to sit on a desk or in a pocket. Unlike legacy devices, it apparently seeks to reduce dependence on screens and offer more ambient, contextual interactions with AI. According to reports, the device is aware of its surroundings through microphones and cameras, and integrates tightly with a user's life while remaining unobtrusive. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has described the product as "the coolest piece of technology the world will have ever seen."

Development of the product remains highly secretive. Comparisons have been made to the Rabbit R1 and Humane AI Pin, but the involvement of Jony Ive and his team designing around OpenAI's industry-leading technology suggests that this product could be different. The device is expected to be revealed in late 2026.

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Top Rated Comments

bmustaf

14 weeks ago

I know I am going to be very impressed by WWDC, because my expectations could not possibly be lower. If they could just release even a very basically functional Siri and mildly useful AI features it will be a major win.

Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)

TMail

14 weeks ago

No live Keynote at WWDC is emblematic of a deeper problem: a company once revered for its bold innovation now seems trapped in a loop of controlled, overly polished presentations that mirror its increasingly incremental product updates.

Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Fuzzball84

14 weeks ago

Great. In ten years from now people will be lost when they leave home without their phone-companion device.

We are living in fast changing times. I suspect that regulation will fail to keep up with the advances in AI. Throw into this the increasing toxicity of social media. Overpopulation, cost of living crisis, climate change, persistant pollution.

No wonder the super rich are looking at ways of getting off the planet.

This will all come to a head one day and it’s not going to look nice.

Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Macaholic868

14 weeks ago

I know I am going to be very impressed by WWDC, because my expectations could not possibly be lower. If they could just release even a very basically functional Siri and mildly useful AI features it will be a major win.

You can go ahead and remove “a very basic functional Siri” from the list of things you’ll be hearing announced at WWDC. I’ve yet to hear any rumors of Siri improvements outside of what they already announced and failed to ship as a part of the iOS 18 fiasco so unless they surprise us all and actually have some of those features ready for the beta then prepare your already small expectations to go unfulfilled. I don’t think we’ll see a functional Siri until the all LLM version is ready for prime time a couple of years from now. Until then it’ll continue to be Frankenstein Siri that uses the old Siri code for some requests and updated code that uses AI for other requests.

As for new AI features, I’m afraid that outside of better battery management that Apple is touting as being achieved through AI, I’ve not heard of much in that department either. IMO that is pretty yawn inducing unless it results in a noticeable improvement.

What may prove to be the most impactful feature in the iOS 19 AI department is releasing the API that allows developers to use the on-device Apple Intelligence functionality.

How useful that API proves to be may ultimately be what makes iOS 19 a success or a failure more so than any specific AI features that they will announce this time around.

I’m very curious to see what these API’s can actually do and how useful they actually are because I’ve read conflicting information about how successful Apple’s on-device AI has actually proven to be for them internally. My understanding is that there were features they originally intended to be a part of iOS 18 that were slated to be primarily implemented and run on-device that had to be offloaded to the cloud.

So if they are only opening up the on-device stuff will that be meaningful and what will it allow developers to do that, say, OpenAI’s API doesn’t allow for?

Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Blue Nova

14 weeks ago

Just to say I enjoyed your podcast very much.
I was surprised you totally skipped over the whole Fortnite story as that is one of the biggest things (for certain reasons in years to hit a few days ago)

But anyway........

It seems my past requests about the low volume of this podcast has still not been addressed, and as has been the case for ages, The MacRumors Podcast is only about 70% ish the volume level of every single other podcast.

Does no-one involved in the creation of the podcast ever read this so they are aware they have a problem to address?

The MacRumors Show is hosted on a great site — MacRumors.com — which many of us follow daily for timely updates on Apple and its competitors. But the issue with the show is that it often just repeats what’s already been posted on the site. For regular readers, there’s not much new to gain from watching.

Even when guest speakers are brought in, they tend to be fellow rumor-watchers rather than people actually involved in the industry. It would really elevate the show if it featured deeper analysis, original insights, or interviews with insiders who are part of the decision-making or product development processes. Right now, it feels more like a recap than a show that adds value beyond the headlines.

Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)