May 7 (Reuters) - Apple ( AAPL ) plans to hold a virtual

event on Tuesday where it is expected to show new iPad models,

some of which could come with a new chip aimed at speeding up

artificial intelligence tasks carried out on the devices.

Its latest product launch event comes as the Silicon Valley

heavyweight trails Big Tech rivals as they race to build AI into

its products across their businesses and dominate the emerging

technology.

Apple ( AAPL ) often introduces new iPads in May, a time when

education customers are making purchasing decisions for the next

academic year. But in recent years, Apple ( AAPL ) has started to

transform its higher-priced models into devices for creative and

business professionals with its iPad Pro models.

It is these tablets, which currently come with

Apple ( AAPL )-designed chips that earlier appeared in the company's

MacBook laptops, that could get an upgrade with a new processor

optimized for AI work. But precisely what AI features the new

chips could power might not become fully clear until Apple ( AAPL ) holds

its annual software developer conference next month.

For now, many AI features - such as helping zoom in on a

user during a video call and slightly altering the look of their

eyes to make it look as though they are looking directly into

the camera - are not likely to inspire a wave of upgrades,

according to some analysts.

"Is it really enough for people to look into it and buy

them? Probably not," said Mikako Kitagawa, an analyst at

Gartner. "It has to be some kind of remarkable experience."

Apple ( AAPL ) rivals Microsoft ( MSFT ) and Alphabet's Google

have dived headlong into AI, introducing chatbots that

aim to act as virtual assistants for tasks such as writing

emails or tapping out lines of computer code.

While those companies' stocks' have surged to record highs,

Apple's ( AAPL ) share have fallen 6% year to date as it struggles with

weak iPhone demand and tough competition in China, and as

investors wait for it to show how it will leverage AI

technology.

Apple ( AAPL ) Chief Executive Tim Cook said last week the company is

"very bullish about our opportunity in generative AI" and plans

to make more announcements later this year.

Carolina Milanesi, an analyst with Creative Strategies, said

upgraded iPads could be a way for Apple ( AAPL ) to get new chips onto

the market ahead of its developer conference next month, where

it may reveal more about how it plans to address AI.

That could come in the form of automating common tasks to

make them faster, or letting Siri, the company's voice-based

assistant, delve deeper into apps to carry out tasks on the

user's behalf.

The key question facing Apple ( AAPL ) is how much it can improve its

AI features while processing most information on the device

itself, for privacy reasons.

"I always say that the AI is only as smart as the data it

can get its hands on," Milanesi said.

(Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by

Lincoln Feast.)