Everywhere you look these days, you see Siri's glowing animation and the name Apple Intelligence. Siri has dominated all the iPhone 16 series ads so far, from Patrick Mahomes pushing past other customers to get his new iPhone, to a couple in bed gawking at its features while their child creeps out.

Yes, it seems that Apple is putting all of its upgrade hopefuls in the hands of Apple Intelligence. The current offerings range from writing tools, to asking Siri questions, to creating memory movies. Additionally, Apple Intelligence is available on all Macs and iPads with the M1 chip or later. [Visual Intelligence, ChatGPT integration, Genmoji, and Image Playground will be available in iOS 18.2 in December. And other features are promised in future iOS 18 updates. Meanwhile, Bloomberg's Mark German recently reported that some Apple employees believe the company is about two years behind in artificial intelligence development.

So is Apple Intelligence on the right track or is it in trouble?

It is definitely understandable why customers expect all of Apple Intelligence's features to work from day one, and it is clear that companies like OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic have more advanced models at this stage.

“Apple's AI model is clearly lagging behind its competitors and is just now adding image editing capabilities that Samsung and Google introduced two generations ago,” says Avi Greengart, founder and principal analyst at Techsponential. 'But I'm not convinced this means Apple is behind the curve on AI overall.'

Greengart told me that leading in AI technology only makes sense if it leads to both consumer benefits and a sustainable business model. Apple's monetization model is to sell premium hardware and software/ecosystem subscriptions, so for now Apple Intelligence is about getting people to upgrade to iPhones and other devices that support the platform It is. The possibility of subscriptions will come after Apple understands what users want.

I asked Bob Borchers, Apple's vice president of worldwide marketing, about the perception gap between Apple and its competitors regarding AI. He said, “This is really the early days of generative AI.

For better or worse, Apple's approach to AI is distinct from its competitors. Instead, it is deeply integrated into the apps and tools you use every day.

For example, Apple Intelligence quickly summarizes and helps prioritize your notifications. And if you want to remove unwanted people or objects from your photos, you will see a “clean up” icon at the bottom of the screen.

“What we did with Apple Intelligence was to figure out how to make it simple and easy for users to do the things they care about most,” says Kurt Steinberg, Apple's Director of Marketing. To do that, we started by building our own large-scale language diffusion model at Apple.”

Still, Apple's cautious approach to AI image generation in particular seems to put it at a disadvantage when compared to the tools in Samsung's Galaxy S24 and the latest Pixel models. For example, the Pixel 9 series allows users to completely reimagine what is in the frame with text prompts. However, Apple seems to have intentionally suppressed or simply chosen not to include some features to avoid potentially harmful or misleading images.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Apple software chief Craig Federighi said, “The important thing for us is to help convey accurate information, not fantasy.” 0]

And one of Apple's four key “responsible AI principles,” “focus on taking precautions in the design, model training, and feature development processes to identify how Apple's AI tools can be misused or lead to potential harm.” It comes down to. The other three principles relate to empowering users with intelligent tools, representing Apple's users by building personalized products that avoid the prevalence of stereotypes, and protecting privacy.

“Our thinking has always been that we bring a product to market when we feel it is ready and can do so in a way that is consistent with our values,” Borchers said.

“That means making generative AI available in useful ways, in responsible ways, in private ways.” [Private cloud computing is a big part of Apple's AI strategy, including ChatGPT, which handles requests that go outside the device to interact with larger models. Apple is so confident that private user data will not be accessed by anyone that it recently offered up to $1 million to anyone who could breach its security.

So is Apple making the right decision with its cautious approach to Apple Intelligence, or is it already passing the buck? For example, it is hard not to be impressed with ChatGPT Advanced Voice and the ability to choose intonation on the fly, just like a friend.

For Neil Cybart, AI analyst at Above Avalon, it is important to keep in mind that Apple is targeting the masses, not early adopters. He says, “The phased rollout of Apple Intelligence is the right move, given that as people become more proficient with the feature, the rough edges will become more noticeable. The average Apple user will not suddenly embrace everything Apple Intelligence has to offer,” Cybert said. I wouldn't mind if Apple Intelligence's launch was pushed back to next year.”

As Cybart points out, not only is Apple Intelligence underway on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, but Apple is also using Apple Intelligence for fitness and health features Apple Watch, AirPods, Vision Pro, and other parts of the ecosystem have not yet begun to extend it.

So where are Apple users now? According to CEO Tim Cook on Apple's most recent earnings call, “Users are adopting iOS 18.1 at twice the rate of 17.1 in the same period last year. Based on just three days' worth of data, it appears that the brilliance of Apple Intelligence is adding to the excitement.

But as Apple's Borchers says, Apple Intelligence is still in its infancy, and as Gemini Live rolls out, ChatGPT enters search, and new AI video generators like Runway begin to appear, Apple's It remains to be seen if the phased strategy will bear fruit.

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