Apple outsourcing to OpenAI is a very ‘un-Appley’ move, but it works

So Apple finally gave in to the artificial intelligence craze and added it to everything. I think the company has done a good job, too, finding ways to integrate useful features and present them in a way that makes it seem like you’ll like them instead of talking about them with techno chatter which leaves people more confused than ever. .

One of the things you can do if you are one of the technology/2024-06-14/apples-new-artificial-intelligence-leaves-out-more-than-90-of-current-iphone-users.html” data-url=”https://english.elpais.com/technology/2024-06-14/apples-new-artificial-intelligence-leaves-out-more-than-90-of-current-iphone-users.html” target=”_blank” referrerpolicy=”no-referrer-when-downgrade” data-hl-processed=”none”>8% of iPhone users with the correct phone, query OpenAI’s ChatGPT service via Siri. It was expected, but it’s so different from Apple. I didn’t expect this to be the case that integrated.

I’m not saying that everything Apple has to offer is good or bad, and since I don’t use an iPhone, it doesn’t affect me personally. The excitement over these announcements tells me that most of us see this as a good thing, so this is a win. These companies are supposed to work hard for our money.

Likewise, relying on ChatGPT and, later, other AI-focused companies like Google is not a bad thing either. I’m just surprised that it’s done in a way that feels like it’s part of iOS.

There are a few negatives to consider. Apple must rely on another company to uphold its standards for user privacy and diligence to protect data once it is sent. They came up with fancy ways of saying the company was doing the same things as everyone else, knowing that reporters would quote them instead of asking questions (this is called encryption in transit, and it’s an industry standard) and it’s awesome. This is how user data is supposed to be protected.

However, integrating your little agent on the device and then calling on third parties is not the same as doing everything in-house. Apple has to depend on others to do the right thing, and Apple never does that.

Businesses will do it. When you’re someone like OpenAI, you can’t afford to play too freely with user data because the Internet will call you to it. Using a third party rather than an in-house solution will be fine, and we’ve seen Microsoft do this without any real problems. OpenAI, Google or any other AI company will not do anything that Apple would not approve of and I am not implying that. If anything, Apple simply played around and waited too long, and this is how it needs to fix the problem.

Apple knew it eventually needed to develop user-facing AI on the iPhone. Not doing it when all the competitors are offering it makes Apple look lazy, and the reality distortion field can’t work forever. What it hasn’t done is work on its own generative AI platform.

Was it necessary? Not really. Apple is a different company from Google; Outsourcing is easy, cost-effective and works well. Ask Microsoft. Apple made the right choice and focused on tools that will work for the most part, be easy to implement, and make users happy.

The next logical step would be to develop a large-scale generative AI solution as a follow-up. Apple could do it; the company can easily attract the right talent to develop the next Google Gemini or ChatGPT and can afford the infrastructure to power it. People would use it too, even those who don’t have an iPhone. The question is: will they?

Sending calls to a third party through the operating system is not the same as bundling in the YouTube app. This leaves the impression that OpenAI is somehow better than Apple, because Apple is ready to include ChatGPT in Siri. Like custom colors for icons, we would have never seen this when Steve Jobs was at the helm.

Is this a good or bad thing? Neither; it’s just a thing. Maybe we should get used to it, and Apple will gradually become like other technology companies. Or maybe it’s an emergency solution while Apple builds the next revolutionary AI platform.

This had one effect: it made people who weren’t interested in Apple’s previous phones curious. An iPhone seems like a great product, but it’s not for me. I don’t like Apple’s way of doing things. But I’m curious to see how all the new features work. This means that what Apple is doing is good for business and the industry as a whole.

Maybe moving out of the Steve Jobs era is just as good for Apple.