As iPhone 17 Set For Launch, Does Apple's History Provide Clue To Its AI-Driven Future?

Apple may have reported a blockbuster quarter, as the iPhone 17 launch nears, but there’s still a fuzzy cloud over Apple Intelligence.

So much so that competitors aren't shying away from poking fun. Google took a dig recently at the Apple iPhone’s delayed AI features, pointing out that if something has been 'coming soon' for a full year, you should change your definition of 'soon' or just change your phone — and Google would love it if iPhone users would shift to the Google Pixel 10, which is coming soon with new AI features.

Unfortunately, this is a mess of Apple's own making. Apple's AI was first touted in 2024, and at the iPhone 16 launch Apple highlighted the same. The biggest disappointment was Siri's AI makeover, which will now reportedly come only in 2026.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has taken the bull by the horns because in a rare companywide meeting from Apple's global HQ he has attempted to rally Apple's troops when it comes to Apple's future and to underline that AI is at the heart of it. Companies rarely admit that they have been late to embrace technologies, because everyone wants to be seen as a pioneer, but Apple is such a definitive tech brand that it is one company that can afford to do so and it’s also an effective foil for Apple’s underwhelming AI show till date. Cook reminded everyone that Apple has typically been late in some emerging technologies but despite that has delivered the defining products when it comes to those technologies.  

I know that well—I was a BlackBerry boy (remember that catchy ad by Vodafone India?). Back then it seemed impossible that anyone could topple Research in Motion (RIM), the Canadian smartphone pioneer behind BlackBerry. Consumers were so eager to show off their BlackBerry that some wouldn't even sign up for the paid BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) which made the famous push email and messenger possible—and which made a BlackBerry a powerful productivity tool. They just used it like a dumb phone, defeating the purpose behind sporting a BlackBerry.

The iPhone launch and RIM blithely ignoring the danger posed by Apple and not moving quickly to a new OS and form factor killed BlackBerry. As Cook reminded his audience, that was also true for the Mac (IBM had the PC before it and few gave the Mac a chance); and was also true for tablets and MP3 players, where the iPad and iPod came later but emerged on top. Even in the wearables space, the Apple Watch seemed like a disappointment going by market share initially, lagging well behind Fitbit but once Apple shifted focus to fitness, Apple has dominated the space, and Fitbit was later acquired by Google.

Apple’s history is full of instances when the company has been written off or ignored, and as competitors have learnt they make that mistake at their own peril. Hence, while Google may have released some cheeky ads what they won’t do is take Apple’s AI plans lightly. One of the building blocks for success in the AI wars that are being fought today is the ability to deploy capital—for hiring the best talent, building expensive data centres, chip research and more, and that is one commodity Apple does not lack in. We also have a piece on Meta’s aggressive spending in the AI race. While the metaverse tilt didn’t exactly work as it was supposed to, Mark Zuckerberg is determined to go after the AI holy grail and is leaving no stone unturned to ensure Meta is among the leaders in the future of AI.

Another piece this week revealed some of what Apple may be working on and it spotlights Apple's focus on building AI in-house where it can famously control the entire cycle as Apple usually prefers to, and which enables it to deliver top-notch privacy, security and user experience. This could take the form of a new ChatGPT-like tool, an ‘answer engine’ that delivers responses to user queries. 

Given the recent TCS announcement about 12,000 jobs being slashed as the company adopts advanced technologies and integrates AI, there is a lot more worry about job loss in middle-class India. Microsoft Research put out a new paper that highlighted the 40 jobs that would be most affected by Gen AI and the 40 that would be least affected. As part of the study, the authors analysed a dataset of anonymised and privacy-scrubbed conversations between users and Microsoft’s Bing Copilot AI tool. They found that the most common work activities people seek AI assistance for involve gathering information and writing, while the most common activities that AI itself is performing are providing information and assistance, writing, teaching, and advising.

Combining these activity classifications with measurements of task success and scope of impact, the Microsoft researchers computed an AI applicability score for each occupation, which reveals the impact of AI on these occupations. But those on the list of ‘safe’ jobs cannot rest easy. The Microsoft Research study was around the impact of LLMs (Large Language Models), and other AI tools may impact roles like driving of trucks or operating machinery, what with autonomous vehicles and the rise of robotics.

And here are some of the other pieces from the week: 

• OpenAI In Talks For Share Sale Valuing Startup At $500 Billion

• ChatGPT Will Now Ask Users To Take Breaks During Long Sessions: Here’s Why 

• SAFE Raises $70 Million For Building CyberAGI 

See you next week.