Every June, like clockwork, I tune into Apple’s WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) livestream. I’m tied to the ecosystem, so I watch to be wowed. But this year’s keynote felt more like Apple trying to convince us that it’s not being left behind in the AI race, when it clearly is.

The first thing that caught my eye was the cohesive “liquid glass” visual effect across its platforms. The pictures of a translucent UI look good, but I’ve seen descriptions calling it the “ugliest thing Apple has ever done”, with comparisons to Microsoft Vista. Ouch!