I hate when people say Apple’s losing the “AI race”

Oh well, people with no AI skills are the ones getting sacked first. AI is not just generative, but also productivity tool. AI deniers are.mostly unemployed these days.

Not true I'm full time employed and I think AI is over rated and most of the stuff I've used has been underwhelming and rather useless.

Well, I knew someone would bring this up eventually. First off, the writing format needed work—it felt scattered—so I’m condensing the main points.

AI is definitely overhyped, but calling it useless is going too far. The world is far more diverse than most people realize, and dismissing AI entirely shows a limited perspective. Different people find value in different ways, and any opinion should account for that diversity rather than being confined to one’s own experience.

For example—though it’s morally questionable—students use AI for schoolwork. When I visited a local university, nearly everyone in the study hall was using ChatGPT. I’m not saying that’s good, but you can’t deny its usefulness. Another clear benefit is workplace productivity. Many companies use AI tools for presentations, design, or automation to boost efficiency without sacrificing quality. Some may see this as ethically gray, but I think the goal of work is to get results efficiently. Unless a company forbids it, using AI to save time makes sense. Creativity is another smaller but growing use—artists, writers, and designers use AI to brainstorm or enhance ideas.

Now, on innovation: if we never criticize companies, they stop pushing boundaries. It’s part of capitalism—brutal, but real. Look at Apple: what’s truly changed in iPhones over the last few years? Minor camera or performance upgrades, maybe some design tweaks. Companies need pressure to innovate; otherwise, they stagnate. Sure, some say, “If they don’t innovate, they’ll fail,” but that’s not true—most consumers still buy Apple products because of brand loyalty. While younger generations care more about tech advancement, it’s not enough yet to drive major change.

Then there’s the argument about pollution from data centers. Realistically, these facilities are relatively small and not nearly as numerous as people think. Complaining about them while still driving cars, using electricity, or throwing away trash is hypocritical. Unless you’re completely carbon-neutral—vegan, car-free, off-grid, zero waste—you can’t single out data centers as the main problem. No one truly lives that way, so acting morally superior over AI’s environmental impact is pointless.

In conclusion: yes, AI is overhyped, and people should be cautious about the marketing hype. But calling it useless just because you don’t personally benefit from it shows ignorance of others’ needs and experiences. Demanding endless camera and performance boosts from Apple won’t drive progress either. Whether we like it or not, we’re being pulled into the future—either adapt to it or be left behind. Complaining about technology or pollution without making personal changes doesn’t help anyone.

That’s my take: AI isn’t perfect, but it’s far from useless. It’s simply another stage in human progress—one that forces us to choose between evolving with it or getting stuck in the past.

P.S. I had to use ai to shorthen this, it was 5k char. before

i don' care

I also think that AI is overhyped but manufactures needed a new war. There was camera's megapixels war for some years (since the years of Sonny Ericsson K800 and their 3.2MP sensor), after that - 8MP, 12MP, 48, 108 etc. Now there is a "how thin a phone could be" war beggening , and we are in the middle of the "my AI is better than yours" war. They need to compete each other in some or other perspective and users should not fall into this. After those shiny presentations of how incredible Ai is how many times you've used it? I'm using 16 Pro Max and coming from Android flagships with lots of AI i don't miss anything. Sure, sometimes i need Siri to be more responsive when i ask simple things once ot twice in a week but it is what it is. It can generate some text wich is helpful and that's it. Visual inteliegence and Circle to Search are the most helpful as recenly i saw a parfume but dind't know the brand and it recognized it and i found a store to purchase it.

Other than that i don't really care about AI. I care about flawless UI , no lags and bugs, outstading battery life and good (not the most impressive) camera to capture moments. That's it. And, the incredible Face ID. While my iPhone is giving me what i need i don't need anything else and my 16 Pro Max is just what i need.

You can hate whatever you like, but if Apple is looking to Google to use Gemini, then Apple has lost the AI battle.

"Google closer to powering new Siri and Apple’s AI search tool as Perplexity fades" - 9to5MacGoogle closer to powering new Siri and Apple’s AI search tool as Perplexity fades" - 9to5Mac

Theres a bit of confusion that some people have I think. I think your right for features on your phone Ai is not really a race. I would say though that there are some useful features particularly circle to search and having Gemini instantly at your fingertips. But It's like having a faster cpu, to most people it will not make a difference but it's a quantifiable difference in a market with less and less distinguishing factors. Apple is behind in this aspect though. Parallel to that all the other big companies are racing to Agi. Now i don't know if Agi is possible but by its definition and these companies goals I think the company that reaches it first will handily be the most profitable in the world. In this sense Apple is gravely behind in the "Ai race". Now I don't think Apple cares about the environment, I think that Apple is probably betting Agi is a lot longer off than most people think.

You make some fair points, but since apple is mostly run by the accountants, and they say GPU's are too costly, their ai sucks. They want AI, but they can't do it. Also, offloading your work to chatgpt has environmental impact too. Personally, I use the ai voice assistant for quick queries, circle to search, and Google ai edge gallery. ( Runs local on your phone) The reason why people say apple is losing the ai race is because they are. It would be another thing if they weren't trying.