Apple failed to deliver the intelligent AI
A little less than a year ago, my wife's birthday was approaching. I was searching for a special birthday gift that is thoughtful, impressive, and useful. While window shopping and walking through virtually most of the shopping malls and centres here in Oman (let alone abroad during my short travels) and driving through the city, I could not miss seeing the new Apple iPhone 16 promoted on almost every digital screen, huge billboards inside the buildings, and outside on the highways, and the social media feeds/ads, be it on YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat or Twitter (now known as X after Elon Musk took over the helm).
Practically everywhere I looked, I saw (and continue to actually see) the new smartphone with a bold and beautiful brand/promise/tagline, the 'Apple Intelligence'. Simply, a promise from probably one of the most expensive smartphone manufacturers in the world (Apple) that the artificial intelligence (AI) will finally come to their iPhone in a way that only they could do.
Like anything I mostly do, I read, researched and consequently bought into the promise of the future (with a unique way of integrating AI into the already existing successfully touted smart mobile device). I jumped into the bandwagon, especially since I found this would be the perfect gift for my wife as an upgrade to her existing old model iPhone, but of course with the AI-powered feature apart from just the basic upgrade of the storage and memory space, the onboard camera quality and finally the processor speed. Fast forward to today, I must admit that I am quite disappointed, especially with the high price tag paid (approx. RO 580) for a promise (Apple Intelligence) that is yet to be materialised in practice (but is only available today as a concept and on paper since a year ago when it was introduced).
So what really happened? Like almost everyone else, I bought into the promise of the 'Apple Intelligence'. Yet unlike everyone else, I realised today that it's probably a gimmick. Apple made the new iPhone look like the smartest phone ever made in history, where AI would be utilised as a feature to simplify our daily tasks, manage our lives better, and even offer creative tools on top of what is already available today as consumer AI-related apps (such as ChatGPT, Gemini and the like). If you watch last year's Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WDC 2024), you will see that an amazing experience was promised (i.e., the Apple intelligence); nevertheless, fast-forward today, that was only a concept, not even a practical real demo that you can feel and play with.
Apple, during the conference and later via the mass media, talked about how they will utilise AI across all your apps, predicting what you need, and even edit your writing like a personal assistant. All that sounded like the ideal smart device that is not only quite secure (as opposed to Android or Huawei, as it claims) but also blends better privacy, better design, and generative power, thanks to AI. In reality, the roll-out of features was very limited, and only a few of what has been promised were released (e.g., rewording, summarising and paraphrasing text), pretty much as what other generative AI apps can do (or even better too). Why did Apple do that? In my humble opinion, to remain or seem competitive in the market race for AI and also to ensure shareholders continue to gain profits from the mass sales that are done as a result. I am not happy, nor are many who realised the same.
In conclusion, the futuristic gift that I bought for my wife did not materialise to date (though she loves the phone being a loyal Apple customer). The excitement of the same continues to be a frustration instead. Most 'Apple Intelligence' features that were promised and we saw remain a dream yet to be fulfilled. I hope Apple will soon react to this fiasco of selling an expensive promise (or device per se) with a real deed that puts a smile, productivity and a real future into the hands of consumers. Until we catch up again next week, let's continue to be positive of the beautiful innovative future.
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This Year's Hot New Tool for Chefs? ChatGPT.
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If all goes according to plan, he will keep prompting the program to refine one of Jill's recipes, along with those of eight other imaginary chefs, for a menu almost entirely composed by artificial intelligence. 'I want it to do as much as possible, short of actually preparing it,' Achatz said. As generative AI has grown more powerful and fluent over the past decade, many restaurants have adopted it for tracking inventory, scheduling shifts and other operational tasks. Chefs have not been anywhere near as quick to ask the bots' help in dreaming up fresh ideas, even as visual artists, musicians, writers and other creative types have been busily collaborating with the technology. That is slowly changing, though. Few have plunged headfirst into the pool in quite the way Achatz is doing with his menu for Next, but some of his peers are also dipping exploratory toes into the water, asking generative AI to suggest spices, come up with images showing how a redesigned space or new dish might look, or give them crash courses on the finer points of fermentation. 'I'm still learning how to maximize it,' said Aaron Tekulve, who finds the technology helpful for keeping track of the brief seasonal windows of the foraged plants and wild seafood from the Pacific Northwest that he cooks with at Surrell, his restaurant in Seattle. 'There's one chef I know who uses it quite a bit, but for the most part I think my colleagues don't really use it as much as they should.' The pinball-arcade pace of a popular restaurant can make it hard for chefs to break with old habits. Others have objections that are philosophical or aesthetic. 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Apple failed to deliver the intelligent AI
A little less than a year ago, my wife's birthday was approaching. I was searching for a special birthday gift that is thoughtful, impressive, and useful. While window shopping and walking through virtually most of the shopping malls and centres here in Oman (let alone abroad during my short travels) and driving through the city, I could not miss seeing the new Apple iPhone 16 promoted on almost every digital screen, huge billboards inside the buildings, and outside on the highways, and the social media feeds/ads, be it on YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat or Twitter (now known as X after Elon Musk took over the helm). Practically everywhere I looked, I saw (and continue to actually see) the new smartphone with a bold and beautiful brand/promise/tagline, the 'Apple Intelligence'. Simply, a promise from probably one of the most expensive smartphone manufacturers in the world (Apple) that the artificial intelligence (AI) will finally come to their iPhone in a way that only they could do. Like anything I mostly do, I read, researched and consequently bought into the promise of the future (with a unique way of integrating AI into the already existing successfully touted smart mobile device). I jumped into the bandwagon, especially since I found this would be the perfect gift for my wife as an upgrade to her existing old model iPhone, but of course with the AI-powered feature apart from just the basic upgrade of the storage and memory space, the onboard camera quality and finally the processor speed. Fast forward to today, I must admit that I am quite disappointed, especially with the high price tag paid (approx. RO 580) for a promise (Apple Intelligence) that is yet to be materialised in practice (but is only available today as a concept and on paper since a year ago when it was introduced). So what really happened? Like almost everyone else, I bought into the promise of the 'Apple Intelligence'. Yet unlike everyone else, I realised today that it's probably a gimmick. Apple made the new iPhone look like the smartest phone ever made in history, where AI would be utilised as a feature to simplify our daily tasks, manage our lives better, and even offer creative tools on top of what is already available today as consumer AI-related apps (such as ChatGPT, Gemini and the like). If you watch last year's Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WDC 2024), you will see that an amazing experience was promised (i.e., the Apple intelligence); nevertheless, fast-forward today, that was only a concept, not even a practical real demo that you can feel and play with. Apple, during the conference and later via the mass media, talked about how they will utilise AI across all your apps, predicting what you need, and even edit your writing like a personal assistant. All that sounded like the ideal smart device that is not only quite secure (as opposed to Android or Huawei, as it claims) but also blends better privacy, better design, and generative power, thanks to AI. In reality, the roll-out of features was very limited, and only a few of what has been promised were released (e.g., rewording, summarising and paraphrasing text), pretty much as what other generative AI apps can do (or even better too). Why did Apple do that? In my humble opinion, to remain or seem competitive in the market race for AI and also to ensure shareholders continue to gain profits from the mass sales that are done as a result. I am not happy, nor are many who realised the same. In conclusion, the futuristic gift that I bought for my wife did not materialise to date (though she loves the phone being a loyal Apple customer). The excitement of the same continues to be a frustration instead. Most 'Apple Intelligence' features that were promised and we saw remain a dream yet to be fulfilled. I hope Apple will soon react to this fiasco of selling an expensive promise (or device per se) with a real deed that puts a smile, productivity and a real future into the hands of consumers. Until we catch up again next week, let's continue to be positive of the beautiful innovative future.
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Here is everything Apple announced at its annual developer conference
Apple unveiled upgrades to operating systems across its devices on Monday, including overhauled visual elements, a fresh naming system for software updates and new features in its Apple Intelligence suite. At its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, the company also said it would open up the underlying technology it uses for Apple Intelligence to developers. These are some of the key announcements from the event: "LIQUID GLASS" Apple is rolling out a new "Liquid Glass" design language across its software, bringing sleek translucence and a glass-like shine to app interfaces. Inspired by visionOS on the Vision Pro augmented reality device, the design adapts to light and dark modes and reacts dynamically to movement using real-time rendering. The new design will be implemented in buttons, sliders, media controls and larger elements such as tab bars and sidebars, along with matching redesigned toolbars and navigation. Apple is releasing updated Application Programming Interfaces so that developers can begin adapting their apps ahead of the new design rollout later this year. OPERATING SYSTEMS This year's major iOS release would have originally been called iOS 19, following the usual sequence after iOS 18. However, Apple is now changing its naming convention: future iOS versions will be numbered based on the year following their release-similar to how car manufacturers name new models. Several parts of the operating systems are getting a major visual overhaul as part of the redesign. The Phone app now includes call screening, allowing it to answer calls or wait on hold for you. The Messages app is also getting updates that include customizable chat backgrounds. Apple also said it would add generative AI to its Xcode coding tools that can help developers write code, test it and resolve errors. The company said it would add other coding models such as ChatGPT to Xcode. APPLE INTELLIGENCE New additions to the operating system include Live Translation, which uses on-device AI models to translate conversations in real time, in text messages, phone calls or FaceTime. Apple Pay is also getting Apple Intelligence integration, enabling it to track orders even for purchases made outside Apple Pay. Meanwhile, Image Playground is getting a boost with a new feature that allows users to generate images with the help of OpenAI's ChatGPT. Apple will now allow developers to tap into its on-device foundational model for their own apps. Through the new Foundation Models framework, developers can build intelligent, privacy-focused experiences that work offline too. VISUAL INTELLIGENCE Apple will also let users learn more about what's on their iPhone screens via Visual Intelligence. Users can search across Google, Etsy and other supported apps to find visually similar images or products. If the tool detects that you're viewing an event, iOS 26 will suggest adding it to your calendar. This feature will be accessible using the same button combination used to take a screenshot on an iPhone.
