Apple has officially entered the battlefield of generative artificial intelligence (AI), joining the bandwagon of tech giants such as OpenAI, Microsoft, Meta, and Google. Yesterday at WWDC24, Apple launched Apple Intelligence, seamlessly integrating this cutting-edge AI technology into its suite of apps, including Siri. However, amidst the excitement, one particular announcement has drawn criticism from many of Apple’s devoted users.
Before we dig into that controversy, let’s understand what Apple Intelligence is and what sets it apart from the AI offerings of its competitors.
What is Apple Intelligence?
Apple has enhanced the capabilities of its iOS devices with advanced AI features, making them smarter and more intelligent.
Write with Apple Intelligence: This feature could potentially replace the need for ChatGPT. Apple’s intelligent Writing Tools can proofread, rewrite, and summarize text into concise paragraphs, bulleted points, tables or lists. Smart Reply drafts email responses based on identified questions asked in an email, streamlining communication.
Create Images with Apple Intelligence: Users can create original images and custom Genmoji, turning rough sketches into polished images that complement notes with the Image Wand tool. The dedicated Image Playground app allows experimentation with various image styles, such as animation, illustration, and sketch. Users can also search for photos and videos in the Photos app using descriptive text.
Siri with Apple Intelligence: Apple’s voice assistant Siri, which has been criticised for being out of touch recently, has become more powerful. Siri now has a redesigned interface, improved language understanding, and the ability to type queries. It can now take actions across apps, understand personal context, and provide step-by-step directions for new tasks. Siri’s richer language understanding and enhanced voice make interactions more natural. It can now add information from texts to contacts, find specific information across apps, and execute multi-app commands seamlessly, all through simple voice commands.
Apple Integrates ChatGPT, Faces User Backlash
At its developer’s conference, Apple announced the integration of ChatGPT within iOS, iPadOS, and macOS devices. This partnership with OpenAI has caused significant backlash among users, including billionaires like Elon Musk. Despite claims from both Apple and OpenAI about robust privacy protections, skepticism persists due to OpenAI’s recent privacy controversies.
It is important to highlight that Apple is renowned for prioritizing user privacy, setting it apart from competitors like Google. With the integration of ChatGPT into iOS devices, Apple has taken a unique approach to ensure user data remains secure. Most users’ requests are processed entirely on the user’s device, preventing access by Apple itself or third-party developers.
Apple will use Private Cloud Compute, which will be done on Apple’s secure servers with zero access to user data. Apple has enlisted independent experts to verify these robust privacy measures, showcasing a level of transparency rarely seen from competitors like Microsoft, OpenAI, or Google.
Apple emphasized its commitment to privacy by branding Apple Intelligence as “AI for the rest of us.”
Craig Federighi, Apple’s software engineering chief, stated that most workloads would be handled on-device, asserting that “your personal data shouldn’t be warehoused and analyzed in someone’s AI cloud.”
Craig also hinted that the Cupertino giant might sign AI partnerships with other companies, including its biggest rival in the smartphone OS field, Google.
However, Elon Musk has openly criticised and even called it “absurd” that a company like Apple couldn’t develop its own AI. Musk has also threatened to ban Apple devices at his companies if Apple integrates OpenAI’s ChatGPT at the operating system level.
Musk has long been in dispute with OpenAI, alleging that OpenAI has deviated from its original mission of building open-source AI for the good of humanity and is now focused on maximizing profits for its major investor, Microsoft.
As a result of these privacy concerns and the ChatGPT integration on Apple devices, Wall Street’s reaction to Apple’s AI Intelligence was lukewarm. The company’s shares declined nearly 2% at the close of the market on June 11, 2024.
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