Cook says Apple wasn't first with AI, but will be the best

AppleInsider

Ahead of it rolling out to users, Tim Cook says that Apple Intelligence is already changing lives -- including his own.

Tim Cook -- image credit: Apple

Apple has been reported to be as much as two years behind the rest of the artificial intelligence industry, and CEO Tim Cook does not care. On the one hand, Apple has actually been doing AI under the name Machine Learning for at least a decade, but on the other, Apple doesn't look to be first.

"We weren't the first to do intelligence," Cook told the Wall Street Journal in a new interview. "But we've done it in a way that we think is the best for the customer."

"We're perfectly fine with not being first," he continues, speaking not just of Apple Intelligence but all of the company's efforts. "As it turns out, it takes a while to get it really great."

"It takes a lot of iteration. It takes worrying about every detail. Sometimes, it takes a little longer to do that," he continued. "We would rather come out with that kind of product and that kind of contribution to people versus running to get something out first."

"If we can do both, that's fantastic," says Cook. "But if we can only do one, there's no doubt around here. If you talk to 100 people, 100 of them would tell you: It's about being the best."

In the case of Apple Intelligence, Cook says that he is using its summaries extensively. He now relies on the Apple Intelligence summaries of his email inbox, and says that has changed his daily habits.

"If I can save time here and there," says Cook, "it adds up to something significant across a day, a week, a month. It's changed my life. It really has."

Cook is of course just one person, and he's also one person who gets a lot of email. But he maintains that the benefits he has seen already will be the same for everyone -- and that it will make life different.

"Profoundly different," he said. "I think we'll look back [at Apple Intelligence] and it will be one of these air pockets that happened to get you on a different technology curve."

Cook doesn't mean he expects everyone to have their lives changed right away. "But it will happen. It will happen for all of us," he concludes

Apple has said that Apple Intelligence will be rolling out in stages, and in different territories, over the next few months. It's expected that the first major release will be on October 28, 2024.



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Pema

we shall see. 
1) Apple Car
2) Apple Vision Pro
3) iPhone 16

Apple needs a few hits to help us forget the duds. 

avon b7

Tim has to talk it up. It's his job but sometimes he does go overboard.

We think it's the best. Yeah! I can't imagine him going on record as saying anything else, so long as 'think' is in there somewhere.

At least he is admitting that they are behind. 

Yes, they have done ML for a long time but so has everybody else, and arguably better and more far reaching but I'm sure he'd still say he thinks it's the best. 

I can't blame him for that but Apple made a strategic goof here and that's why it is behind and only the very latest hardware will be able to run it. If this were some kind of long term, well thought out strategic plan, at the very least, iPhones would have shipped with more RAM for the last few generations.

The reality looks more like' Yikes! We need to get rolling on this fast!'

That's why we got the initial response of not even uttering the letters 'AI' and doubling down on ML instead. In hindsight that was foolish but Apple literally had nothing to offer up back then so at least it is understandable. 

One year on, AI was at least utterable and even became the star of WWDC but still there was nothing to show for it until 'later'. The new iPhones came and still AI was the star and STILL there was nothing to show for it and now the complete feature roll out isn't expected until 2025.

From the moment that the generative models became news and quickly stormed to over 100 million users, Apple has been on the back foot. 

AppleZulu

It’s hilarious how the folks here who keep saying Apple is playing catch-up don’t remember all the other things that Apple did “late” that then became the thing that everyone else had to catch up to. 

auxio

Pema said:

we shall see. 
1) Apple Car
2) Apple Vision Pro
3) iPhone 16

Apple needs a few hits to help us forget the duds. 

If Apple doesn't try anything new, the media says they're not innovating. If they do, and it's not an immediate success, then they're a dud. Those who can, do, those who can't, critique.

bestkeptsecret

Pema said:

we shall see. 
1) Apple Car
2) Apple Vision Pro
3) iPhone 16

Apple needs a few hits to help us forget the duds. 

iPhone 16 a dud when your last phone was an iPhone 15 Pro Max? Debatable.
iPhone 16 a dud when your last phone was an iPhone XS Max? I definitely don't think so!

The 16 Pro Max has been amazing for me so far and I only see it getting better when iOS 18.1 and later roll out. 

The Vision Pro looks like it is ahead of its time and I think it will hit its stride in a couple of years. I hope Apple expands the availability of the headset soon.

The Apple Car, well, how is it a dud if they did not even release it? I am sure all the R&D on the project has been filed away for future use. 

avon b7

AppleZulu said:

It’s hilarious how the folks here who keep saying Apple is playing catch-up don’t remember all the other things that Apple did “late” that then became the thing that everyone else had to catch up to. 

Certainly, you don't mean CDRW, USB 2.0, music purchases vs streaming, the ton of well trodden Android features appearing on iPhones year after year, Siri actually becoming competitive, the HomePod, batteries and charging etc.

All I can assume from what you said was that you agree that Apple is behind on this, although trying to argue otherwise with Tim Cook admitting as much would be pushing it. 

As for the future, and plainly obvious to most, is that we'll have to wait and see what actually ships and how it performs. Competitors aren't exactly waiting for Apple to catch up. 

The same applies to the homegrown 5G modem etc. 

auxio

avon b7 said:

Tim has to talk it up. It's his job but sometimes he does go overboard.

We think it's the best. Yeah! I can't imagine him going on record as saying anything else, so long as 'think' is in there somewhere.

At least he is admitting that they are behind. 

Yes, they have done ML for a long time but so has everybody else, and arguably better and more far reaching but I'm sure he'd still say he thinks it's the best. 

I can't blame him for that but Apple made a strategic goof here and that's why it is behind and only the very latest hardware will be able to run it. If this were some kind of long term, well thought out strategic plan, at the very least, iPhones would have shipped with more RAM for the last few generations.

The reality looks more like' Yikes! We need to get rolling on this fast!'

That's why we got the initial response of not even uttering the letters 'AI' and doubling down on ML instead. In hindsight that was foolish but Apple literally had nothing to offer up back then so at least it is understandable. 

One year on, AI was at least utterable and even became the star of WWDC but still there was nothing to show for it until 'later'. The new iPhones came and still AI was the star and STILL there was nothing to show for it and now the complete feature roll out isn't expected until 2025.

From the moment that the generative models became news and quickly stormed to over 100 million users, Apple has been on the back foot. 

You know why Apple was hesitant about AI, but you'd rather dance around it with investor hype. To do AI properly you need to collect data about everything people do on your platforms. And to get people to agree to that, you need to hide the fact that you're doing it in convoluted terms of service agreements. Or what I call, sleazy business tactics. Something which Apple doesn't have the stomach for. Having business ethics is something which should be applauded in my books.

boxcatcher

It’s always fun to hear Apple talk about the importance of getting all the little details right and then use HomeKit and the Home app.

raymondai

Since iPhone 4s with Siri(2011?), Apple working on AI already, and keep mention Machine Learning (ML) for many years, I suppose Apple is the very first company apply “AI” on handheld electronic device, and still remember that at the very beginning, Siri needs internet connection to work, and later on, after the more advanced CPU came out, Apple emphasize that Siri works independently for privacy concern.
I think the problem of the AI development of Apple lagging behind is the privacy concern, Apple trying not to upload the user info to internet, it is totally different way which compare to any other company, it needs powerful processing power on device to achieve it…that’s why it takes a long route to go.
Wish Apple get it done eventually, not like many other project, specially, like the Apple Car.

mike1

boxcatcher said:

It’s always fun to hear Apple talk about the importance of getting all the little details right and then use HomeKit and the Home app.

I agree. HomeKit works great. Although, I know that's not what you were trying to say.

blastdoor

boxcatcher said:

It’s always fun to hear Apple talk about the importance of getting all the little details right and then use HomeKit and the Home app.

Ha — sick burn 

blastdoor

In just about anything, it’s always possible to catch up if you’re willing and able to spend a lot of money. So I’m sure Apple will catch up.

once they catch up, their full control of the stack from silicon to OS to cloud will enable them to pull ahead. Their reputation for protecting privacy will help.

bobolicious

auxio said:

avon b7 said:

Tim has to talk it up. It's his job but sometimes he does go overboard.

We think it's the best. Yeah! I can't imagine him going on record as saying anything else, so long as 'think' is in there somewhere.

At least he is admitting that they are behind. 

Yes, they have done ML for a long time but so has everybody else, and arguably better and more far reaching but I'm sure he'd still say he thinks it's the best. 

I can't blame him for that but Apple made a strategic goof here and that's why it is behind and only the very latest hardware will be able to run it. If this were some kind of long term, well thought out strategic plan, at the very least, iPhones would have shipped with more RAM for the last few generations.

The reality looks more like' Yikes! We need to get rolling on this fast!'

That's why we got the initial response of not even uttering the letters 'AI' and doubling down on ML instead. In hindsight that was foolish but Apple literally had nothing to offer up back then so at least it is understandable. 

One year on, AI was at least utterable and even became the star of WWDC but still there was nothing to show for it until 'later'. The new iPhones came and still AI was the star and STILL there was nothing to show for it and now the complete feature roll out isn't expected until 2025.

From the moment that the generative models became news and quickly stormed to over 100 million users, Apple has been on the back foot. 

You know why Apple was hesitant about AI, but you'd rather dance around it with investor hype. To do AI properly you need to collect data about everything people do on your platforms. And to get people to agree to that, you need to hide the fact that you're doing it in convoluted terms of service agreements. Or what I call, sleazy business tactics. Something which Apple doesn't have the stomach for. Having business ethics is something which should be applauded in my books.

Why did Apple call it machine learning ?  Why in Siri are ALL APPS set to 'learn from this app' with NO global off...?  Why did Apple introduce scanning/tagging of all images in Photos with no off setting and push everything through iCloud ?  Is every change Apple makes since Tim Cook took over to be a forced march of obsolescence and a stealth ploy for AI data scraping creep under a quid pro quo represented as user benefit... ?

'Trust' Apple ?

https://gizmodo.com/apple-iphone-privacy-analytics-class-action-suit-1849774313

https://gizmodo.com/apple-iphone-analytics-tracking-even-when-off-app-store-1849757558

"Mysk said he’s stunned at the level of detail. “I expected from a company like Apple, that believes <claims?> that privacy is a fundamental human right, to collect more generic analytics,” Mysk said.

What happens on your iPhone stays on your iPhone, unless you count the mountains of information your iPhone sends to Apple."

AppleZulu

avon b7 said:

AppleZulu said:

It’s hilarious how the folks here who keep saying Apple is playing catch-up don’t remember all the other things that Apple did “late” that then became the thing that everyone else had to catch up to. 

Certainly, you don't mean CDRW, USB 2.0, music purchases vs streaming, the ton of well trodden Android features appearing on iPhones year after year, Siri actually becoming competitive, the HomePod, batteries and charging etc.

All I can assume from what you said was that you agree that Apple is behind on this, although trying to argue otherwise with Tim Cook admitting as much would be pushing it. 

As for the future, and plainly obvious to most, is that we'll have to wait and see what actually ships and how it performs. Competitors aren't exactly waiting for Apple to catch up. 

The same applies to the homegrown 5G modem etc. 

Yeah, I mean things like iPod, iPhone, iTunes, the App Store, Apple Music, iPad, AppleTV, Apple Watch, AirPods, etc. These are all things that came "late" as Apple was trying to "catch up." The peanut gallery snickered as they were introduced, and within a couple of years, the competition was trying to catch up to how Apple had not only entered each of those markets, but changed the entire market, forcing those competitors to try to modify their not-ready-for-prime-time-but-first-to-market hot messes in order to catch up to Apple's better thought-out implementation. 

AI right now is a hot mess. The stuff out there is trained on stolen IP, produces dubious results, and is more novelty than useful. Chances are, Apple Intelligence will will be usefully integrated into Apple's products and services, making it an intuitive extension of how everything else just works, rather than a standalone AI thing that people fiddle with as an odd novelty.

danox

Pema said:

we shall see. 
1) Apple Car
2) Apple Vision Pro
3) iPhone 16

Apple needs a few hits to help us forget the duds. 

The 16 Pro and the 16 Pro Max are out selling the 16 what’s the problem and the same is happening with the 15 Pro, and 15 Pro Max, and in turn the 14 Pro and the 14 Pro Max, all are out selling the cheaper iPhone 16, iPhone 15, and the iPhone 14, what a problem to have when your flagships out sell the cheaper version of the iphone released in the same year….

As far one and two are concerned if you want to see real failure check out the Microsoft and Qualcomm mashup this year with the Windows on Arm now that’s a real fail.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/10/qualcomm-cancels-windows-dev-kit-pc-for-comprehensively-failing-to-meet-standards/

https://www.laptopmag.com/ai/copilot-pcs/qualcomm-mini-pc-windows-arm-desktop

danox

boxcatcher said:

It’s always fun to hear Apple talk about the importance of getting all the little details right and then use HomeKit and the Home app.

HomeKit can never be right. The level of integration would drive the EU and the Department of Justice crazy because Apple would have to design just about everything inside the house electronic to use it and have it work right. A competition nightmare, according to the EU.

HomeKit is an example of what the Windows world is like a menagerie of different OEMs doing their own thing. Hey wait a minute that’s quite similar to the Android world too.

Sorry you fell for it….

bulk001

They are so far behind OpenAI / MS they will never catch up. They can't make substantial upgrades to what they have like proper multitasking on iPad and tiny updates to their hardware. They had all this time since they came out with Siri and year offer year refused to do something amazing with it. Their chip updates are frustratingly small and while they were targeting Intel, Nvidia and AMD have lapped them. Their chances of creating competitive chips to run their AI devices seem distant. And they can’t just buy their way out as NVDA and AMD are worth so much now. There only hope is to try to partner a way in  with big money and it is unlikely MS or Alphabet want to play ball with them. The law of big companies seems to have taken Apple down. The are now Exxon and could one day be like American Oil Company - once on if the biggest in the world and now nobody has even heard of them. Cook could turn it around but Apple needs a visionary not a supply chain bean counter right now!  Cut the crap like vision glasses, more phone and speakers that after years still
lag when playing audio from my Mac. Stop with minor upgrade specs and start delivering something special! Or fade away. 

mpantone

AppleZulu said:

It’s hilarious how the folks here who keep saying Apple is playing catch-up don’t remember all the other things that Apple did “late” that then became the thing that everyone else had to catch up to. 

Nothing really changes.

Don't forget the infamous reaction posted at the unveiling of Apple's iPod on October 23, 2001:

"No wireless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame." -- Slashdot creator CmdrTaco/Rob Malda

Now if Malda put $10,000 in AAPL on October 24, 2001, his holdings would be worth $7.1 million today.

  

danvm

AppleZulu said:

avon b7 said:

AppleZulu said:

It’s hilarious how the folks here who keep saying Apple is playing catch-up don’t remember all the other things that Apple did “late” that then became the thing that everyone else had to catch up to. 

Certainly, you don't mean CDRW, USB 2.0, music purchases vs streaming, the ton of well trodden Android features appearing on iPhones year after year, Siri actually becoming competitive, the HomePod, batteries and charging etc.

All I can assume from what you said was that you agree that Apple is behind on this, although trying to argue otherwise with Tim Cook admitting as much would be pushing it. 

As for the future, and plainly obvious to most, is that we'll have to wait and see what actually ships and how it performs. Competitors aren't exactly waiting for Apple to catch up. 

The same applies to the homegrown 5G modem etc. 

Yeah, I mean things like iPod, iPhone, iTunes, the App Store, Apple Music, iPad, AppleTV, Apple Watch, AirPods, etc. These are all things that came "late" as Apple was trying to "catch up." The peanut gallery snickered as they were introduced, and within a couple of years, the competition was trying to catch up to how Apple had not only entered each of those markets, but changed the entire market, forcing those competitors to try to modify their not-ready-for-prime-time-but-first-to-market hot messes in order to catch up to Apple's better thought-out implementation. 

AI right now is a hot mess. The stuff out there is trained on stolen IP, produces dubious results, and is more novelty than useful. Chances are, Apple Intelligence will will be usefully integrated into Apple's products and services, making it an intuitive extension of how everything else just works, rather than a standalone AI thing that people fiddle with as an odd novelty.

I could agree that Apple had some market changing products.  But there others, like iCloud, iWork apps, Apple TV, HomePod, Apple Music and Apple TV+ that didn't had the impact other products had.  Apple Intelligence can go to either side. We'll have to wait and see what happens.  

avon b7

AppleZulu said:

avon b7 said:

AppleZulu said:

It’s hilarious how the folks here who keep saying Apple is playing catch-up don’t remember all the other things that Apple did “late” that then became the thing that everyone else had to catch up to. 

Certainly, you don't mean CDRW, USB 2.0, music purchases vs streaming, the ton of well trodden Android features appearing on iPhones year after year, Siri actually becoming competitive, the HomePod, batteries and charging etc.

All I can assume from what you said was that you agree that Apple is behind on this, although trying to argue otherwise with Tim Cook admitting as much would be pushing it. 

As for the future, and plainly obvious to most, is that we'll have to wait and see what actually ships and how it performs. Competitors aren't exactly waiting for Apple to catch up. 

The same applies to the homegrown 5G modem etc. 

Yeah, I mean things like iPod, iPhone, iTunes, the App Store, Apple Music, iPad, AppleTV, Apple Watch, AirPods, etc. These are all things that came "late" as Apple was trying to "catch up." The peanut gallery snickered as they were introduced, and within a couple of years, the competition was trying to catch up to how Apple had not only entered each of those markets, but changed the entire market, forcing those competitors to try to modify their not-ready-for-prime-time-but-first-to-market hot messes in order to catch up to Apple's better thought-out implementation. 

AI right now is a hot mess. The stuff out there is trained on stolen IP, produces dubious results, and is more novelty than useful. Chances are, Apple Intelligence will will be usefully integrated into Apple's products and services, making it an intuitive extension of how everything else just works, rather than a standalone AI thing that people fiddle with as an odd novelty.

You think the iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, AirPods etc are the best devices in their respective categories? 

They may well be better integrated with the Apple ecosystem but there are compelling alternatives to Apple out there and arguably better! 

It all depends on what you are looking for. 

And Apple has put itself into its current position by doing things like going through the entirety of 2023 without updating the iPad! 

A blanket statement isn't a credible response.

The point was Apple is currently behind and you haven't provided anything to suggest otherwise.

AI is far from a 'hot mess' (another blanket statement that means nothing).

It has been a massive success even with all the tradeoffs.