While the world of technology moves beyond phones and watches in our pockets, Apple announces a new focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI) with the introduction of Apple Intelligence. As the tech world watches closely, Apple makes a mild departure from their competitors’ moves. On 10 June 2024, inside the Washington DC Conference Center, Apple CEO Tim Cook grabbed the attention of audiences at the WWDC 2024 keynote.
And when Apple enters the AI world, it is not just bringing a new feature to market; it is also setting a new bar. Apple is a company built on changing human behaviour, and it is sometimes lost on outsiders just how careful the company is about crafting its image as a perennial agent of innovation. So, when the company’s CEO Tim Cook comes right out and admits that giving Apple Intelligence any level above 99.9999 per cent is impossible, the unmistakable message is that Apple is aiming to become slightly better than the best. Slightly.
The Gordian knot of AI accuracy is one that Apple is not even pretending to have untangled AI is full of buggy examples: there’s Google’s AI Overviews, along with ChatGPT in all of its glitchy, unnerving bad-day glory. Such snafus can act as sad reminders, something that Apple must also never forget.
This soft-pedalling is what makes Apple Intelligence different from the others. Apple has, in other words, taken a super-practical attitude to the feverish hype that surrounds AI – a hype that can sometimes make it look like a solution to everything. Apple Intelligence’s humility could well be its defining feature. Apple hopes that its technology will not only acknowledge when it cannot do something, but also know when to admit it.
To get there requires overcoming numerous hurdles, not least an insistence on data accuracy, which is why Apple’s approach will likely be a balanced one, combining on-device AI with the power of the cloud, as offered by its own ChatGPT, and ultimately Gemini. Is it going to be a panacea? Probably not; but whatever entity you end up chatting with will at least be more honest and precise than the charlatans who promise the world, but remain silent when it comes to the truth.
Can its betas help to make Apple Intelligence a success? There is much at stake in Apple Intelligence. The system’s ability to transparently explain its findings – confident when sure, and fraught with confusion when unsure – might very well determine whether users trust its output and, if so, set a new benchmark for trustworthiness in AI.
Apple might be one of the most powerful companies in the technology industry, but it has always been associated with ‘thinking differently’ and setting standards for quality. With headquarters in Cupertino, California, the company has a storied legacy of disrupting markets and consumer behaviour, from overhauling the mobile landscape with the first iPhone, to its recent move into the artificial intelligence arena with the launch of Apple Intelligence. The company’s relentless drive has blended an inimitable sense of design, with some of the most advanced technology available. Apple’s story is one of ambition, creativity, but most importantly, a frank admission of the many challenges to come in the era of artificial intelligence.
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