Apple pulled off a feat by showcasing its latest releases and innovations, including a super-sophisticated augmented and virtual reality headset, not to mention artificial intelligence (AI), the technology now essential at all events in Silicon Valley. .
Since Californian startup OpenAI’s phenomenal launch of ChatGPT last year, every tech company has been competing in the field of generative AI. They really don’t have a choice: analysts, investors and consumers have fallen in love with these programs capable of producing text, images and video on demand in natural language.
An “ignored” revolution
Microsoft and Google are incorporating full-speed generative AI into their search engines and office software, to attract users who are delighted to let robots write their emails and plan their vacations. And many companies, from Snapchat to banks to travel agencies, are adding next-generation chatbots to their services to catch up.
But Apple, neighbor to Google and Meta (Facebook, Instagram), never once mentioned generative AI, or even artificial intelligence, during its annual developer conference last Monday.
It’s not that the iPhone maker is no stranger to artificial intelligence, a vague concept that encompasses many technologies that aren’t rare or especially complex. The expression is criticized in particular because it evokes a science fiction future where sentient and all-knowing machines would take control of humanity.
No mention of algorithms.
For this reason, some companies, including TikTok and Facebook (Meta), are implementing innovations that fall under AI without necessarily emphasizing the term.
Several features highlighted Monday do feature this technology. Craig Federighi, the software manager, for example, said that “machine learning” algorithms would improve the automatic spell checking tool.
It could have explained that thanks to AI, the keyboard will become less bounded when a user wants to type certain common swear words, and also learn their preferences and give them suggestions. But he did not mention the famous algorithms.
AI will also play a big role in Apple’s first mixed reality headset, which starts at $3,500 next year. In fact, Vision Pro’s computer will be able to generate a hyper-realistic digital avatar of the user using it, thanks to video recordings of this person and sensors to track mouth and hand movements in real time.
“Caught By Surprise”
To some observers, the AI taboo shows that Apple has lost ground to its rivals. “They’re very late,” says independent analyst Rob Enderle. ChatGPT’s success “caught them by surprise,” he said. “I think they thought that this type of AI was not going to happen for a long time. (…) Now they will be forced to acquire a start-up in the field”.
The patchy performance of Siri, Apple’s voice assistant, which launched a decade ago, also gives the impression that the Californian giant has some catching up to do.
But this expert also remembers that the firm is first and foremost a computer equipment company. AI-based software is “a means to improve the user experience rather than an end in itself,” for Apple.
According to Wedbush’s Dan Ives, despite the unsaid, the Vision Pro presentation demonstrates the group’s potential in AI. “This is the first step in Apple’s broader strategy to build an ecosystem of generative AI applications” in the new headphones, he predicts.
Source: BFM TV
