Decades before the first iPhone, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs expressed a vision for personal computing that was strikingly similar to current generative AI innovations.
In a 1985 speech, Jobs envisioned a world that modern large-scale language models seemed to make possible. While acknowledging that the computer industry was “in a slump,” he said that there was “tremendous momentum” in personal computing and that an era of “free intellectual energy” would soon arrive. Even before the technological boom and bust of the 1990s, he predicted that computers would one day help humans collect source material and interrogate the world's smartest people, past and present. To illustrate his point, Jobs joked that he would be “dreadfully jealous” to learn that Aristotle had once tutored Alexander the Great.
“My hope is that one day, when the next Aristotle is alive, we'll be able to put Aristotle's underlying worldview into a computer,” Jobs said. “And one day, students will not only be able to read the words that Aristotle wrote, but they'll be able to ask Aristotle questions and get answers. That's what I hope we can achieve. So I think this is a start.”
With Apple announcing new AI features at WWDC 2024 last week, one can't help but wonder if Jobs actually feels the company is pretty close to that vision. (If only we could ask him now.)
The annual developer conference was dominated by a variety of AI updates across Apple's operating systems and apps. While reaffirming its focus on customer-centric innovation, Apple replaced the usual ubiquitous AI trope with a more on-brand term: Apple Intelligence: “AI for all of us.”
Apple's AI updates spanned a range of products: in addition to features for iPhones, MacBooks, and Apple Watches, the company announced major software updates including new platforms like Siri, mobile apps, and VisionPro. The company also announced a new partnership with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT into various parts of Apple's operating systems.
While many of the updates won't be available until later this year, the big question is who will reap the greatest benefits: Will these features help Apple catch up with earlier innovators like Google and Microsoft? Will OpenAI benefit from Apple's hardware and brand? Or will consumers find new ways to interact with generative AI in their daily lives?
Thomas Hasson, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester, said consumer brands have yet to crack the code on generative AI. Hasson believes Apple is no exception yet, but noted that WWDC again introduced developer tools that improve the customer experience. He also pointed to a major update to Siri that could spark innovation in voice AI on Apple devices.
“What matters is the sum of improved experiences the brand can develop on devices across the Apple ecosystem and how consumers perceive it,” he said. “Apple has consistently refrained from addressing the overhyped generational AI talk, emphasizing that it has been investing in various AI technologies, including machine learning, for quite some time.”
The Siri improvements have the agency's innovation team wondering what they mean for the future of voice interfaces. They might also help increase interoperability between Apple's devices, from iPhones and MacBooks to CarPlay and VisionPro. Some have noted that they could foster new types of search optimization across devices and apps.
“This kind of voice interaction model is really the only one that's consistent across all hardware,” says Chris Weathers, vice president of technology at VML. “It's hard to predict the future, but if you look at some of the pieces that we have in front of us today and think about where they might converge in a few years, that's right there.”
Apple's feature may allow some people to interact with generative AI for the first time. A recent global survey of 20,000 consumers by BCG found that only 20% of people over 35 have tried a generative AI tool. Besides ChatGPT, one way to interact with AI on Apple devices is through a new feature called App Intents that can be controlled by Siri. Mark Abraham, managing director and senior partner at Boston Consulting Group, said the update could change not only how people use search engines but also how they interact with in-app virtual assistants and search across numerous apps.
“The easier it is to build these tools into apps, and frankly, I think it's going to change the apps themselves, and that's one of the most exciting trends we're going to see,” said Abraham, who heads marketing, sales and pricing for North America at BCG. “…If developers can more easily access the technology through OpenAI and other generations of AI tools, it's going to open up possibilities. Apple is going to have a lot to bet on here, as is Microsoft. And if they can make it easier to integrate them into apps, that's going to be transformative.”
There's also the question of how the Apple-OpenAI deal compares to past deals, such as its deal with Google as the default search engine, which is currently the focus of an antitrust trial with the U.S. Department of Justice. Will Apple partner with other AI providers in the future? Bloomberg reported last week that the Apple-OpenAI deal doesn't include any payments from either company to the other, but it could include some kind of revenue sharing in the future.
As Apple teams up with companies like OpenAI, will privacy concerns and other safety issues surrounding AI generation tarnish the company's long-standing legacy? It's too early to tell, but Apple certainly signaled a new way of thinking about privacy with the debut of private cloud computing.
Nicole Green, a vice president and analyst at Gartner, said Apple's reputation for high brand trust among consumers will be important as the company expands its AI generation capabilities and partnerships. Apple has emphasized its commitment to privacy and data protection, assuring users that AI models running on their devices remain on the device and that Apple has no access to the data. Green noted that Apple has strengthened its stance by requiring companies with cloud-based applications to undergo code audits to prove they are not harvesting data.
“Apple isn't in the data monetization business right now and is focused on selling devices, so this decision is in line with the company's current business model,” Green said. “The open question is how it fits into its relationship with OpenAI. Apple also said it would open up its hardware to other companies to validate their efforts. This is a groundbreaking and unique position, but it remains an open question as to how the company will oversee all of this.”
Green noted that Apple, with its vast user ecosystem, is well positioned to monetize its consumer base by integrating generative AI into its hardware, and with so much content captured on mobile phones, he believes Apple can expand the use of AI beyond content creation to attesting to authenticity and provenance.
“Because Apple is consumer (not business) focused, how the company rolls out AI capabilities across its experiences will play a big role in the cultural and societal adoption of the technology,” Green said.
Apple's approach to users is quite different from a company like OpenAI, which often sells the capabilities of its AI models first and then the features they enable. As Apple and OpenAI work more closely together, will Apple's philosophy of simplicity, privacy and ethics seep into OpenAI's own culture?
Even a modern Aristotle, human or otherwise, would still be unable to answer that question.
Prompts & Products: More AI news and announcements
- Getty Images has signed a new agreement with content creation platform PixArt that will enable PixArt to develop new AI image generation models trained on creative content licensed by Getty Images.
- Adobe announced new features for its Adobe Express platform, including expanded access to its Firefly 3 image model, ways for businesses to use their own AI models, and new AI integrations with other leading platforms like Microsoft Copilot and ChatGPT.
- Following the release of Stable Diffusion 3 earlier this year, Stability AI has released a new AI image model called Stable Diffusion 3 Medium.
- Perplexity, an AI search startup, faced controversy over a new page feature after a Forbes reporter accused it of using its own reporting without citations.
- Amazon has announced plans to invest $230 million in the generative AI startup, with some of that funding coming in the form of AWS credits that can't be transferred to other cloud providers.
- Yahoo has released a new version of its news app that uses technology from Artifact, a startup founded by the co-founders of Instagram, which Yahoo acquired in April.
- AI video startup Luma AI has announced its new “Dream Machine,” which can create lifelike videos using text-based prompts.
- Yext has acquired digital client services provider Hearsay with plans to integrate the two companies for AI marketing efforts across platforms.
- The TriBeCa Film Festival screened two separate series of AI-generated short films, one in collaboration with Runway and the other with OpenAI's Sora.
- Ahead of Cannes Lions this week, Publicis Groupe released a new “BSBot,” which the company says lets clients upload audio, images, and text during meetings to see which companies' AI products are “BS.” (If anyone is using BSBot to test Publicis Groupe's own products, feel free to get in touch.)
- Microsoft has announced that it is delaying the rollout of its recently announced recall tool, citing privacy and security concerns.
- Spotify has announced a new in-house creative agency that will use AI for voice-over advertising.
1s and 0s: Reports and research
- According to a new report from Forrester, less than a third of U.S. B2C marketing executives surveyed said their CMO is leading their company's AI efforts.
- A new BCG report found that more than 80% of 200 CMOs surveyed said they are adopting AI tools to help improve automation, speed, and productivity, but more than 70% fear the technology will flatten their company's brand voice.
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