Can Apple's AI Truly Simplify Our Lives?

 Can Apple's AI Truly Simplify Our Lives?

Every expert views Apple's new technology differently, leading to a wide range of conflicting opinions that cover the full spectrum (Pexels).

Apple unveiled its plans to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) into its products for the first time during its June Worldwide Developers Conference, followed by a showcase of additional features at the iPhone 16 launch event in early September.

In both events, Apple provided a detailed focus on AI's capabilities, highlighting its impact on daily life. The company presented real-world use cases for AI, such as sharing specific photos with someone, summarizing long messages or documents, and leveraging generative AI to create text and images.

Apple excels at presenting technical innovations, often repackaging existing technology as something revolutionary. The company has done the same with its AI features, despite many of these already being available in competing AI models and smartphones. This raises the question: Can Apple's AI really enhance our lives, or is it just another marketing exaggeration?

Mixed Initial Reactions

Apple has not yet released the final version of its AI model, dubbed Apple Intelligence. However, many of these features are available in beta versions of iOS 18, which several tech experts worldwide have tested.

After Apple’s recent conference, many of these experts shared their experiences with the new AI features. Given the emphasis Apple placed on AI during the event, they debated whether these features justified upgrading to the new generation of iPhones.

Expert opinions have varied, with some calling the AI unfinished and not useful at all. Experts at AI Supremacy described the technology as clunky and ineffective. Meanwhile, Jeffrey A. Fowler of the Washington Post pointed out significant technical errors, stating such bugs shouldn’t exist in a product so close to public release. Adam Clark Estes from Vox echoed this sentiment, describing the AI as underwhelming at best.

Each expert had a unique take on Apple's new AI technology. While Michael Spencer of AI Supremacy compared it to other AI systems, Fowler viewed it through the lens of daily use, and Estes commented that although the AI changed how he interacted with Apple devices, it didn’t make a significant positive impact.

In contrast, several tech experts on YouTube hailed the technology as revolutionary and capable of transforming how we use smartphones. Dan Barbera, an expert from the popular MacRumors site, expressed his belief that the AI would reshape the future of phone usage, noting that current challenges in the beta version would likely be resolved by the official release.

A phone powered by artificial intelligence solves the issue of not having a smartphone or internet access (Shutterstock).

Typical Challenges Facing AI

At its core, Apple’s new AI technology relies on OpenAI’s GPT model. Therefore, it is expected that Apple’s AI will face similar challenges to ChatGPT.

These challenges were evident in Fowler’s experience with the beta version, as many of the answers provided by Siri, and even its text summarization and information retrieval features, were largely inaccurate. The summarization of notifications and messages also suffered from significant errors, rendering the summaries misleading.

One recurring issue across many tests was the AI’s photo editing capabilities, with the system consistently failing to deliver satisfactory results when using this feature.

Other features, such as image generation, emoji creation, and some of Siri’s enhanced functions, remain untested. However, similar issues are expected since they are built on the same underlying architecture.

Significant Battery Consumption

Fowler noted that using AI features resulted in faster battery depletion. When AI features were enabled, the battery drained five hours sooner than usual. This could become a significant hurdle, especially since battery life is already a well-known challenge for iPhones.

It’s important to note that Fowler tested the AI on a beta version of iOS using an iPhone 15 Pro Max. Apple’s beta versions are notorious for battery performance issues. Additionally, the A18 Pro chip, used in the iPhone 16 Pro, is designed to better handle AI functions and improve battery life. If this proves accurate, owners of the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max may face difficulties with AI features, including slower performance and significantly higher battery consumption.

Private cloud computing allows the phone to connect directly to the server and use its significant computing power without directly sharing data with it (Shutterstock).

Privacy: Apple's Key AI Advantage

While Apple’s AI is built on the GPT model, the company has prioritized its own technology to secure user data. Apple has developed a unique approach to running AI locally on the device, minimizing the need to connect to cloud servers. Even when cloud connection is required, Apple has designed a distinct system to safeguard user data, making privacy a central focus of its AI offerings.

Apple’s AI is primarily executed locally on the device. Although the on-device model lacks some advanced capabilities, it is sufficient for managing sensitive user data without involving Apple’s cloud servers.

For cloud-based features, Apple created a proprietary technology called Private Cloud Computing. This allows the phone to connect to cloud servers and utilize their computational power without sharing data directly. The cloud servers rely on Apple’s own processors, and in essence, the phone controls the server’s capabilities without giving the server access to user data.

This ensures that user data and related processes are handled locally, fully under the control of the secure and encrypted iPhone system. This bolsters privacy and enhances user experience. Nicole Karinian, Vice President of Strategic AI at the UK cybersecurity firm Darktrace, described Apple’s privacy technology as revolutionary, suggesting it could change how companies approach AI, while addressing privacy concerns that often arise with AI technologies.

Apple’s commitment to privacy is its final bet. No other publicly available AI technology can compete with Apple’s privacy standards, as all others require cloud processing and data sharing. While it’s too early to say whether this approach will solve AI’s privacy challenges, its existence is a critical step forward, pushing companies toward innovation in user data protection.

The true test of Apple’s AI technology will come with its official release in October. Until then, the question of whether it truly improves user experience remains unanswered.