Apple’s AI-voidance is very Apple—and probably the right strategy

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 environmentalist Bill McKibben’s Substack on the green 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

This essay was updated on Sep. 25 to clarify that McKibben is an environmentalist rather than a climate scientist.

NEWSWORTHY

X's legal woes. Elon Musk’s X, formerly known as Twitter, has a couple new legal problems. First, as Axios reports, the Department of Justice reckons Musk has violated an FTC privacy order by exercising “granular control of X Corp., at times directing employees in a manner that may have jeopardized data privacy and security.” Meanwhile, a Dutch class action is targeting Twitter for the “illegal trafficking” of personal data via the MoPub mobile ad platform that it owned until early 2022 (the suit covers a period before MoPub was divested).

Telegram crypto wallet. The widely-used messaging app Telegram will from November offer its users a self-custodial crypto wallet, in collaboration with the Telegram Online Network (TON) Foundation. As TechCrunch recounts, the Securities and Exchange Commission previously shut down Telegram’s TON initial coin offering, but the foundation that was subsequently founded is these days powering multiple applications on Telegram.

WhatsApp Channels. Meanwhile, Meta’s WhatsApp is becoming more competitive with Telegram by vastly expanding its Channels message-broadcasting service. Reuters reports WhatsApp Channels had a limited launch a few months ago but is now coming to over 150 countries. The service lets people follow “organizations, sports teams, artists, and thought leaders” without letting their other contacts know—it’s separate from the chat function.

SIGNIFICANT FIGURES

1,000,055

—The number of users who had created Bluesky (a.k.a. Nice Twitter) accounts by some point yesterday, according to strategy and ops staffer Rose Wang. Not a huge number (X has over 540 million users) but Bluesky is still in an invitation-only phase, so there’s that.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Get ready to replace all your iPhone charging cables because Apple just officially killed the Lightning connector, by Rachyl Jones

Meta is blocking ‘potentially sensitive’ topics, including COVID and vaccines, from Threads search, by Chris Morris

It takes a decade for climate solutions to scale–but that doesn’t have to be the case, by Matthew Cockerill

Elon Musk lives life like he’s playing a video game—from ‘demon mode” to gleaning life lessons from ‘Polytopia’, by Paige Hagy

Cybersecurity troubles that hobbled MGM’s resorts and casinos is being investigated by the FBI, by Associated Press

‘Google pays more than $10 billion per year for these privileged positions’: The government throws the book at big tech in court, by Associated Press

BEFORE YOU GO

iPhone 12 radiation. Apologies for yet more Apple content, but the French radio-frequency regulator ANFR has rather bizarrely ordered the firm to stop selling the iPhone 12 on the basis that it emits too much radiation.

Those of you who've just read this newsletter will have noted that Apple is about to release the iPhone 15, and would be correct to surmise that the company doesn’t actually sell 2020’s iPhone 12 anymore, other than in refurbished form. Nonetheless, the ANFR is threatening to order a recall unless Apple fixes the problem with some sort of update, and Germany’s regulator may follow suit. For its part, Apple insists the iPhone 12 conforms with global radiation standards, and experts say iPhone 12 users are at no risk of harm.