Apple, defying the times, stays quiet on AI

tech.hindustantimes.com:

Resisting the hype, Apple defied most predictions this week and made no mention of artificial intelligence when it unveiled its latest slate of new products, including its Vision Pro mixed reality headset.

Generative AI has become the tech world's biggest buzzword ever since Microsoft-backed OpenAI released ChatGPT late last year, revealing the capabilities of the emerging technology.

ChatGPT opened the world's eyes to the idea that computers can churn out complex, human-level content using simple prompts, giving amateurs the talents of tech geeks, artists or speechwriters.

Apple has laid low as Microsoft and Google raced out announcements on how generative AI will revolutionize its products, from online search to word processing and retouching images.

During the recent earnings season, tech CEOs peppered mentions of AI into their every phrase, eager to reassure investors that they wouldn't miss Silicon Valley's next big chapter.

Apple has chosen to be much more discreet and, in its closely watched keynote address to the World Developers conference in California, never once mentioned AI specifically.

"Apple ghosts the generative AI revolution," said a headline in Wired Magazine after the event.

Arguments vary on why Apple has chosen a more subtle approach.

For one, Apple follows other critics who have long been wary of the catchall "AI" term believing that it is too vague and unhelpfully evokes dystopian nightmares of killer robots and human subjugation to machines.

For this reason, some companies -- including TikTok or Facebook's Meta -- roll out AI innovations, but without necessarily touting them as such.

"We do integrate it into our products [but] people don't necessarily think about it as AI," Apple CEO Tim Cook told ABC News