Has the world’s largest firm, Apple, mishandled its approach to generative artificial intelligence?
In a blog post titled “Something Is Rotten in the State of Cupertino,” which is home to Apple’s headquarters, tech analyst John Gruber, one of the company’s closest observers, delivered a scathing indictment earlier this month, blasting doubts into the open.
The well-known analyst and Apple devotee expressed his rage at not being more dubious when the company revealed last June that its Siri chatbot will receive a significant generative AI (genAI) update.
The technology was to expand the much-maligned voice assistant’s skills beyond simply setting a timer and providing the weather. It was to be published as part of the Apple Intelligence suite of iPhone software.
Investors thought that the update would put the iPhone on a much-needed super-cycle, where people rush to buy the newest and priciest models because a new feature on the smartphone proved intriguing.
That demand was expected to be fuelled by Apple Intelligence and its projected Siri improvement, beginning with the September release of the iPhone 16.
Instead, Apple subtly revealed on March 7 that the highly customised Siri will not be arriving as soon as anticipated.
The urgency was increased in February when Amazon revealed a genAI-powered update to its Alexa speech assistant.
“It’s going to take us longer than we thought to deliver on these features, and we anticipate rolling them out in the coming year,” Apple stated.
– Data privacy vs AI –
Many theories explain why Apple is struggling to capitalise on the AI revolution.
Marcus Collins, a professor of marketing at the University of Michigan, believes that Apple’s difficulties with genAI and Siri in particular may be more related to the company’s emphasis on data privacy than any innovation issues.
Large volumes of personal data must be consumed by AI for it to be personalised.
Collins also told AFP that “Apple hasn’t let up on the gas when it comes to privacy.”
However, eventually, “people’s information, creations, language… are all being exploited to help grow better AI,” and Apple may find it more difficult to square that circle than it had anticipated.
For Avi Greengart, a tech analyst, “The fact that Apple has advertised Apple Intelligence so heavily with the iPhone 16 is a bit of a black eye because most of what was promised in Apple Intelligence is not in the iPhone 16.”
Although Google’s Gemini AI features in its Android phone lineup are far superior to anything Apple has offered, he warns that consumers might not have noticed much of a difference.
“Even the best implementation of AI on phones today doesn’t fundamentally change how you use your phone yet,” he explained.
“No one has delivered on the full vision, and that gives Apple time to catch up — but it certainly needs to catch up.”
However, Apple’s most scathing detractors claim that the company too much depends on its success and the iPhone’s enormous popularity.
Furthermore, Apple’s costly virtual reality headset, Vision Pro, has not gained much momentum since its 2024 debut, and the AI blunders followed shortly after.
Even with the recent bad news coverage and an 8% decline in share price since the year began, Apple is still the most valuable corporation in the world, and its stock is up nearly 30% from a year ago.
Despite sales growth that was below market estimates, Apple posted a staggering $124.3 billion in revenue for the year-end holiday period.
