Since US startup OpenAI launched ChatGBT last year, various tech companies have been competing in the field of generative AI.
Analysts, investors, and consumers have become obsessed with these programs, capable of producing on-demand text, images, and video in fluent language.
Microsoft and Google have both added generative AI technology to their search engines and desktop software, aiming to lure users interested in having bots write their emails and plan their vacations.
Likewise, several companies, from “Snapchat” to banks and travel agencies, have added advanced chatbots to their services to keep pace with this evolution.
However, Apple, the neighbor of Google and Meta (Facebook, Instagram) in Silicon Valley, did not mention generative artificial intelligence or even artificial intelligence at all during its annual conference of developers which took place is held last Monday.
After the conference, the specialized magazine “Wired” headlined “Apple Ignores Generative AI Revolution”.
to choke?
The fact that the iPhone maker did not mention artificial intelligence does not mean that this technology is foreign to it.
The concept of artificial intelligence is considered broad and includes many technologies that are neither rare nor particularly complex, while it is criticized for pointing to a near science-fiction future in which machines with knowledge control the humans.
Thus, some companies, including TikTok and Facebook (Meta), publish innovations that fall under artificial intelligence without focusing on the term itself.
“Of course, we build this technology into our products, but people don’t necessarily see it as artificial intelligence,” Apple Chairman Tim Cook said in an interview with ABC News this week.
Many of the innovations highlighted at Monday’s conference incorporate this technology.
Software manager Craig Federighi, for example, points out that machine learning algorithms will improve the automatic spelling correction tool.
And Federighi hinted that the keyboard, thanks to artificial intelligence, will become less limited when a user wants to type common swear words, in addition to knowing their preferences and providing them with suggestions.
However, he did not mention the famous algorithms.
Artificial intelligence plays a major role in the first mixed reality headset invented by “Apple”, which is supposed to be released next year, at a starting price of $3,500.
The computer to which the Vision Pro helmet will be attached will be able to create a digital avatar very close to reality for the user who wears it, thanks to video recordings of this person and sensors to follow the movements of their mouth and hands. in real time .
or late?
Some observers believe that not mentioning artificial intelligence is an indication that Apple has lost ground to its competitors.
According to independent analyst Rob Enderle, “Apple is far behind” its competitors in this area.
He considers that the success of ChatGBT “surprised them”, adding: “I think they thought that this type of artificial intelligence would not be achieved anytime soon (…) and now they are forced to hire a start-up in this field”.
And the random performance of “Siri”, the voice assistant of “Apple”, launched ten years ago, gives the impression that the giant is still behind its competitors.
“It’s clear to almost everyone that Apple has lost its competitive advantage with Siri,” says Insider Intelligence’s Yuri Wurmser, adding, “Siri is perhaps the most important indicator of the company’s lag in the field of artificial intelligence.
On the other hand, the expert recalls that “Apple” is above all a computer hardware company. He points out that software based on artificial intelligence is “a means to improve the user experience, not an end in itself” for Apple.
Dan Ives of “Widbush” believes that the presentation of the “Vision Pro” helmet shows the company’s capabilities in the field of artificial intelligence, although the subject was not clearly discussed.
“It’s the first step in a larger corporate strategy to build a system that includes generative AI applications” on a new headset, he says.
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