Tim Cook Knows Apple Isn't First in AI but Says 'It's About Being the Best' (gizmodo.com) 38
Apple CEO Tim Cook has acknowledged the company's late entry into AI, stating, "We weren't the first to do intelligence." Despite this admission, Cook defended Apple's approach, claiming it will be "the best for the customer."
The tech giant plans to roll out initial AI features on October 28, with more advanced capabilities expected in 2025. However, internal studies suggest Apple's AI lags behind competitors, with Siri reportedly 25% less accurate than ChatGPT. Cook remains optimistic, asserting that AI will make users' time on iPhones "profoundly different."
The tech giant plans to roll out initial AI features on October 28, with more advanced capabilities expected in 2025. However, internal studies suggest Apple's AI lags behind competitors, with Siri reportedly 25% less accurate than ChatGPT. Cook remains optimistic, asserting that AI will make users' time on iPhones "profoundly different."
AI appears to fit the classic hype bubble (Score:3)
Remember Groupon? Remember when that was the hottest thing since Google?
Oh, Apple. (Score:3)
Can't wait for Siri to suck just marginally less than it does right now. That'll be "best." Good grief.
Re: (Score:3)
Tim Cook says it's about being "the best". Which means that like most Apple fans, he has it in his head that Siri is and always was the best.
Re: Oh, Apple. (Score:2)
Would you like to do a web search on sucking just marginally less?
Might as well (Score:2)
It's true though (Score:4, Insightful)
I have the beta and already found it useful and convenient to ask Siri things. For example I asked it to translate something I was saying into a foreign language and vice versa when talking to someone. I could see myself using it for a lot of things .. basic fact checking or things like Siri make a note of the fact that I need to buy or do something at a particular time/place. That is beyond the current Siri of texting or calling people.
They don't need to be as good as ChatGPT .. but what they have in the beta is good enough. What I fear is history portability and things like that if I want to move everything to Android. I don't like giving anyone a monopoly for stupid shit.
Most people aren't used to having an assistant around so it will take some getting used to.
Re: (Score:1)
>I asked it to translate something I was saying into a foreign language and vice versa when talking to someone.
Meanwhile people have been using chatGPT to translate entire books and games into other languages for at least a year, resulting in sellable products with good enough quality that people found them workable enough to spend money on.
>basic fact checking
You discovered chatGPT3
>make a note of the fact that I need to buy or do something at a particular time/place.
This isn't even AI, this is go
Re: (Score:2)
I hope it works well in older iPhone models like 11 Pro Max.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Windows was like the 4th best (I'm being generous) operating system yet it muscled its way everywhere. People are stupid, marketing, and having the right connections matters. In Bill Gates case it was pure luck that the wife of CP/M-86 OS was rude to the IBM folks who came by with a fat check.
Re: (Score:2)
It's worth pointing out... (Score:3, Insightful)
...that Apple haven't been first in anything.
This is not to say that many of their products have not been successful, just that none have been original - with the possible exception of iTunes.
Yeah, this'll probably get modded down, but it is nonetheless objectively true.
Re:It's worth pointing out... (Score:4, Insightful)
True they may not have been the first, but they usually deliver the most polished and relevant version of whatever they are doing.
Then again, Microsoft kinda throws their tech (which is usually more conceptual than a fully realized product) at everything in hopes something might stick. Usually it doesn't work in their favor though.
Re:It's worth pointing out... (Score:5, Insightful)
they usually deliver the most polished and relevant version of whatever they are doing
Only if by polished you mean that it looks polished and fancy. Functionality-wise, I'll have to disagree.
Re:It's worth pointing out... (Score:5, Insightful)
...they usually deliver the most polished and relevant version...
I will agree that Jony Ive's designs look very good, but the underlying tech took a back seat.
For example, I remember that early iPhones didn't support MMS or even copy/paste, when smartphones that predated the iPhone did.
And then there's the "you're holding it wrong" iPhone 4, the "don't put it in your back pocket and sit down" iPhone 6, and the "don't type too hard" butterfly keyboards, to name but a few...
Re: (Score:2)
Polished? Sure. Relevant? I don't know about that. Maybe you should ask the people who returned their completely useless but best in class Vision Pros how "relevant" it was to them.
Don't pretend every shit Apple takes is pure gold. They have a history of epic misses and fails as long as their history of successes.
Re: (Score:3)
Funnily enough though they were the first to have a decent AI, or of you prefer neutral network accelerator on their phones.
Not a GPU, but a really good, solid FP16 tensor processor.
Re: (Score:3)
I'm not sure that's entirely the case - Qualcomm has had an FP16 block in their SoCs for a while.
Re: (Score:2)
From what I recall, Apple released the NPU in the X which was 2017 or so. Qualcomm raced some stuff out which was more or less a library for the Hexagon. From cow-orkers who used it it was deeply half arsed. First it was 8 bit int. 8 bit inference is still a little bit of a black art, back then it was still deep into research territory and relied on a very shitty library for quantization which was buggy as all hell. Also it was very Qualcomm and as per usual they really want to punish people using their sof
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Depends on how finely you grade things. The Macintosh was, AFAIK, the first computer with square pixels. And Apple was the first in hard shell 3.5 inch floppy disks. I could probably dig up several other "firsts".
Re: (Score:3)
Sorry, but no.
The Macintosh was, AFAIK, the first computer with square pixels.
The Corvus Concept was earlier. Obscure, certainly, but before Apple.
And Apple was the first in hard shell 3.5 inch floppy disks.
Sony started making the first 3.5" drives in, IIRC, '81, and several vendors - including HP - were putting them in their kit before the first Mac came along in '84.
Re: (Score:2)
Hmmm.... guess I'd need to dig deeper, but I'm sure there are SOME firsts. Perhaps the resource fork of the file system.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Good call - resource forks were indeed a first for Apple as part of MFS, with the release of the original Mac in 1984.
Fuck me - that was FORTY years ago. Damn but I feel old now...
Anyway, I've always been in two minds about resource forks. It's elegant, but not portable across different file-systems until quite recently, compared to the resource tables compiled into Windows binaries. I suppose it was a very early step on their "walled-garden," "we know best" path.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
All true, but in this case they may be making the right call.
Who's "first" in AI? Is it OpenAI, Microsoft, Anthropic, Google or someone else? I don't know, if I'm honest. Microsoft seems to be cramming clippy+ into everything, so maybe they're "first". I can't see it's really helped them all that much though, has it? Has there been a sudden uptick in Windows sales at the expense of Apple? I doubt it.
Apple *might* be able to gain an uptick in sales /if/ their AI is actually good. It's unclear at this point i
When "the best" is still crap... (Score:3, Insightful)
It really does not matter. It has become obvious (again) that this AI hype is not a very big breakthrough (again) and that the promises made by the companies behind it vere vastly overstated (again).
Sent from my Apple Vision Pro (Score:2)
They won't be the usual hallucinations... (Score:3)
Cue the Apple distortion field (Score:1)
Where they let everyone innovate first, then buy some companies, sub-contract others or simply copy them and say they are the best and some even go to the point of saying first... this will happen with foldable phones and AI.
Um, nope. (Score:1)
"Hey Siri, can you post in slack on the dev standup channel that I had to take my daughter's car to the mechanic and I will be an hour late today?"
"Hey Siri, when is my next cardiologist appointment?"
"Hey Siri can you open Everfit and tell me what my workout is this morning? I need to know if it is running or core and lift."
IDGAF about podcasts or email - until Siri can interact with me on the stuff I actually use, it is by definition useless. Apple's iOS team needs to be (should already have been) working