Why Has Apple Not Released Its Own Generative A.I. Product? The Market Is Literally Months Old Already ⇥ fastcompany.com

Mark Sullivan, Fast Company:

Generative AI announcements from major tech companies continue to roll in; meanwhile, Apple’s silence on the subject grows louder.

Yeah, why is Apple not rushing into this months-old market, anyway? Why is there no hastily arranged corporate presentation?

But adding generative AI to its assistant may be harder for Apple than for its big tech peers. The company’s dogged focus on privacy has been an effective cudgel against Meta and Google in the social networking and advertising realms, but it’s a serious impediment to building an assistant that harnesses the goodness of generative AI. In order to transform Siri—to make it smarter and more human-feeling—via a large language model, Apple would have to open up access to a broad swath of public information (from the web) and, more importantly, personal user information: their communication style, plans, priorities, preferences, health stats, tastes, and relationships.

Oh we are at this stage in the rumour mill already: not only is Apple falling behind, its privacy stance will prevent it from ever catching up. The world’s most valuable company has flunked out of the market for this emerging technology before it has even begun. Pack it in everyone, this is the end of the road.