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

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DomtheCuber
DomtheCuber
Arena Apprentice
Original poster
• 2h ago

Really, it’s one of the laziest takes you can make right now because it requires no critical thought aside from buying into the narrative the AI industry wants you to. There is no “AI race” because generative AI is a product with no use case, and it takes an enormous amount of energy (and stolen content) to run.


I have an iPhone 15 right now, so no Apple Intelligence. I don’t have ChatGPT, Gemini, or any other AI apps installed. For anyone with an Android phone right now, what generative AI features are you actually using and why? I’m not talking about asking Gemini something that Google Assistant could do just as easily; I don’t mean making AI “art”. What generative AI features does your phone have that actually make your life easier? I doubt there are any.


And I haven’t even talked about the impacts of people using all of these AI “features” because all of them require way more data centers than we have right now. Right now, cities like Memphis are being polluted by these data centers just so you can chat with Gemini or whatever AI app you’re using.


Normally I hate it when people say stuff like “old Apple would never do this”, but I think it’s true here. Really, I don’t even think 2015 Apple, or 2018 Apple, or even 2021 Apple would make anything like Apple Intelligence. Not out of the goodness of their hearts obviously (this is the same company that uses slave labor in the DRC to mine cobalt for their iPhone batteries), but because it’s just a stupid thing to do, both from a financial and a PR perspective. 


And similarly, I don’t think Apple stopped focusing on AI as much and “losing the AI race” because they now care about the environment, or how new data centers are being disproportionately built in Black and low income communities, or even because they want to make sure new features aren’t half-baked before they roll them out in the future. I simply think it’s a business decision to focus on making better products that people actually want rather than buying into the AI hype.


I’m not asking anyone to applaud Apple for making a business decision. But I want everyone to think about who’s really winning the AI race: the people, or the AI companies that need us to keep their hype machine going?

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BG_888
BG_888
Arena Apprentice
• 2h ago
↵DomtheCuber said:

Really, it’s one of the laziest takes you can make right now because it requires no critical thought aside from buying into the narrative the AI industry wants you to. There is no “AI race” because generative AI is a product with no use case, and it takes an enormous amount of energy (and stolen content) to run.


I have an iPhone 15 right now, so no Apple Intelligence. I don’t have ChatGPT, Gemini, or any other AI apps installed. For anyone with an Android phone right now, what generative AI features are you actually using and why? I’m not talking about asking Gemini something that Google Assistant could do just as easily; I don’t mean making AI “art”. What generative AI features does your phone have that actually make your life easier? I doubt there are any.


And I haven’t even talked about the impacts of people using all of these AI “features” because all of them require way more data centers than we have right now. Right now, cities like Memphis are being polluted by these data centers just so you can chat with Gemini or whatever AI app you’re using.


Normally I hate it when people say stuff like “old Apple would never do this”, but I think it’s true here. Really, I don’t even think 2015 Apple, or 2018 Apple, or even 2021 Apple would make anything like Apple Intelligence. Not out of the goodness of their hearts obviously (this is the same company that uses slave labor in the DRC to mine cobalt for their iPhone batteries), but because it’s just a stupid thing to do, both from a financial and a PR perspective. 


And similarly, I don’t think Apple stopped focusing on AI as much and “losing the AI race” because they now care about the environment, or how new data centers are being disproportionately built in Black and low income communities, or even because they want to make sure new features aren’t half-baked before they roll them out in the future. I simply think it’s a business decision to focus on making better products that people actually want rather than buying into the AI hype.


I’m not asking anyone to applaud Apple for making a business decision. But I want everyone to think about who’s really winning the AI race: the people, or the AI companies that need us to keep their hype machine going?

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.

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_shamrock_sean
_shamrock_sean
Arena Apprentice
• 2h ago
↵BG_888 said:

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.

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