Analysis: The multifaceted challenge of AI for Apple

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When it comes to Apple and AI, you sometimes feel like the Inuit in the ice desert in an Audi commercial from 1997. He picks up a pile of snow with tire tracks running through it and suggests that an Audi Quattro must have driven through it. When it comes to artificial intelligence, there are now also many traces of Apple in the snow, and more and more every week. But the question of where Apple really stands on the subject and what we can realistically expect in terms of AI functions this year requires expert trackers.

An analysis by Malte Kirchner

Malte Kirchner has been an editor at heise online since 2022. In addition to technology itself, he is interested in how it is changing society. He pays particular attention to news from Apple. He is also involved in development and podcasting.

What appears to be relatively clear by now is that Apple has not been treating the topic as a top priority for long: A clear lead here is the latest new class of device, the Apple Vision Pro. Curiously, the reinvention in particular lacks any clear new emphasis on AI, although there would certainly have been interesting ideas in terms of operation and functions where AI could be useful. Where, if not here, could Apple have made a first foray if the topic had been very important to them beforehand?

Apple has clearly made other bets on the future in recent years as to what the Next Big Thing might be: To all appearances, it was primarily the topics of mobility – with the now discontinued car project according to media reports- and, of course, mixed reality.

A case for the engine room

AI, on the other hand, was previously something that was not considered unimportant for Apple, but tended to take place under the hood. It was not without reason that all the things where technology thinks cleverly were summarized under the generic term machine learning – literally a case for the engine room. Users only experienced the smart results, such as the identification of image objects in the Photos app, but did not interact with the AI themselves.

Meanwhile, there is no way for Apple to avoid bringing users into direct contact with artificial intelligence. The important and recently difficult sales market of China is particularly keen on this. And in the rest of the world, too, many potential buyers only consider a smartphone to be advanced if it integrates AI.

However, it seems too short-sighted to assume that Apple has simply missed out on this trend. It is more conceivable that there were also tangible reasons that deterred the iPhone manufacturer. After all, AI comes into conflict with some of Apple's cornerstones more than almost any other technology topic. AI is much more than just a technical challenge for Apple.

How AI comes into conflict with Apple's core beliefs

• First and foremost, this includes the fact that AI is a half-finished product – and only at best. With ChatGPT at the latest, the last dams seem to have been broken in the tech industry to throw highly unfinished products into a mass market. What's more, AI is not only unfinished, but often completely unpredictable. It hallucinates and errors are often difficult to reproduce, which blatantly contradicts Apple's ideas of quality and a good user experience.

• Unpredictability should also be a horror in Cupertino in terms of controllability. The recent announcement to extend the iPhone's activation lock to components and Apple's attempts to avoid a complete loss of control in the Digital Markets Act show just how keen the iPhone manufacturer is to be able to control everything that affects its product. Apple usually investigates how to show the user at least one advantage and why this is in their best interest. In the case of artificial intelligence, however, the possibilities of the new technology are now so overwhelming that it is difficult to sell a further waiver as an advantage for the user.

• AI also runs counter to Apple's major climate protection plans. The high pace of innovation in voice models is also the result of a veritable battle of materials, powered by servers that require enormous amounts of energy. If Apple enters this arena, the goal of being CO₂-neutral by 2030 will certainly not be unattainable, but it will be a greater challenge. Above all, of course, it raises questions in terms of public perception – the caveat would at least be reason enough for Apple to play for time when it comes to AI.

• And finally, AI also touches on the critical issue of data protection for Apple. Those who are critical of AI often take offense at the fact that input is processed on cloud servers and even used as training material to improve AI. Apple's approach of calculating as much as possible locally on the device has many friends, but also – Siri sends its regards – its limits. If the iPhone and co. are to offer significantly more AI, Apple will have to find solutions that protect data privacy and still have a lot to explain because AI critics have fundamental reservations about the technology. The Californians already seem quite well-equipped, at least in terms of hardware, and according to current rumors, they will go one better with the M4 at the latest.

After the repeated announcements by Apple boss Tim Cook, it is obvious: Apple will deliver – despite all possible earlier reservations.

Current indications suggest that the WWDC developer conference in June will probably be the first opportunity to see solutions that have been developed with the help of existing language models such as Google Gemini.

Recently, new research papers have been tumbling out of Cupertino, sometimes daily, with unusual transparency by Apple standards, revealing that Apple has much bigger plans for AI. However, there is little to propose that this is a preview of iOS 18, but rather valerian for investors who might think that Apple has no arrows of its own in its quiver if it uses a competitor's language model in the summer.

The search for the right track continues

Despite the inevitability that more AI must come, Apple will still have to demonstrate a sensitive touch when it comes to integration. The truth is that AI is viewed euphorically by some and moderately positively by a large number of users. However, in view of the values that Apple stands for, there is a significant number of people who are still very critical of AI.

Apple will have to deliver enough AI to satisfy those who demand it, but at the same time leave those who don't want the technology to be so dominant unchallenged.

To achieve this will require human intelligence and, above all, empathy. The WWDC in June will show whether Apple – like the Inuit mentioned at the beginning – knows how to read the signs of the times correctly.

(mki)