One of the most striking aspects of Apple’s big iPhone 15 event yesterday was the absence of the word “AI”. “What is this A-I of which you speak?” the company almost seemed to ask. “Neural engines powering diverse machine-learning applications? We have those if that’s what you mean.”
This strategy is not without risk. AI isn’t merely a buzzword; it’s supposedly a revolution—an epochal break. At least, that’s the narrative. But whether or not the hype is real, the term represents the new, and AI-voidance could trigger the wrong connotations.
It’s not that Apple is really shunning AI, though—far from it. Apple’s Series 9 Watch will perceive a pinching motion, in thin air, as an attempt to answer an incoming call or pause the music that’s playing. The iPhone 15 will automatically capture portrait-mode depth data when a person, cat, or dog is in the frame. These features use machine learning, a type of AI. We also know from various reports that Apple has been internally experimenting with conversational AI, though the fruits of that are still not evident.
But even if Apple is using AI, it isn’t using the word. That makes some people, including the Wall Street Journal’s Joanna Stern, question whether Apple has a generative AI strategy—especially when it comes to smartening up its not-terribly-bright virtual assistant, Siri. Fair point. But at the same time, shunning the buzzword is very, very Apple.
Apple doesn’t like to appear to be chasing the pack; it prefers to pretend to be off in a race of its own. And in this case, that’s probably a wise strategy. Surveys are repeatedly showing that people are worried about AI’s negative impacts, which is a reasonable response to having a bunch of AI experts tell them it’s an existential threat. People also currently conflate generative AI with the wider field—genAI may not yet be adopted widely enough to make it a part of everyone’s life, but its tendency to make stuff up is so well-established that OpenAI chief Sam Altman is now trying to sell that as a feature rather than a bug. That’s fine if you’re trying to use it for creative ends, but not if you want something that just works, which is the iPhone’s core selling point. (And don’t hit me; I know Android works fine.)
So playing it cool, while still harnessing the power of those neural engines, is probably the smarter option for Apple at this time. Doing is more important than telling. (But for the love of Unix, please make Siri smarter.)
Also, kudos to Apple for its clever strategy around spatial video. Just last week, the rumor mill had it that Apple would allow “iPhone Ultra” users to capture immersive footage after it releases the pricey Vision Pro headsets that they’ll need to properly enjoy the experience—so, sometime after early 2024. But no; iPhone 15 Pro users will this year (but not at launch) be able to capture spatial video, before the Vision Pro’s release.
A $3,499 headset, deploying technology that hasn’t yet hit the mainstream, isn’t an obvious buy. But it’s going to be a lot more tempting for (deep-pocketed) Apple fans when they already have precious memories invested in the format.
Finally, do read climate scientist Bill McKibben’s Substack on the environmental achievements that Apple touted yesterday: “It was part of the company’s announcement that their Apple Watches were now carbon-free—a real accomplishment in metallurgy, fabric science, and so on. But also not quite true, because Apple’s biggest source of carbon emissions is the money it keeps in America’s banking system, which is lent out for new pipelines and the like. When you count those emissions, Apple’s carbon footprint goes up 64%.”
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David Meyer
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