Sound the alarm: Apple just invented AI.
Or, rather, ‘Apple Intelligence,’ the name it gave to the suite of artificial intelligence features unveiled at WWDC alongside a partnership with OpenAI—the company last seen apologizing to Scarlett Johansson.
“OpenAI has nothing to lose and Apple had to move. They are the last player in this space, they had to do something.”
So the world’s largest consumer electronics company has finally thrown its hat into the AI ring. Apple is famously late to incorporate new features, and much of what was announced at WWDC won’t arrive until the end of the year or 2025. This time, is Apple just in time to hit the trough of disillusionment on the Gartner Hype Cycle?
Expect more nerdy jokes like that on this special episode of The Betakit Podcast, where we also took the time to letter grade the major tech companies competing in AI based upon their ambitions relative to their execution.
Like with most things in AI, it has been hard to keep up. Since our recording the Monday night of WWDC, Microsoft has already delayed its Recall feature and recent reporting from Apple whisperer Mark Gurman indicates the only thing changing hands between Apple and OpenAI right now is exposure. Still, Rob and I do our best to assign semester-appropriate grades to Apple, OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, Adobe, and NVIDIA.
But back to Apple for a second. While perhaps inevitable given market pressures, it is still striking that Apple is about to deploy what can at best be considered unproven technology at the billion-user scale.
It all seems a little risky to Rob and me, but the last time I checked The BetaKit Podcast was not worth a trillion dollars. Maybe that’s the point.
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The BetaKit Podcast is hosted by Douglas Soltys & Rob Kenedi. Feature image courtesy Apple.