>They are in the unique position to enable local AI tools
The only unique Apple thing here is how bad their AI products here and how behind they are in AI. This is the only thing that matters here - performance is adequate or better for the other processors out there, but you can't get anywhere without the appropriate software. Maybe they'll get smart enough to buy some AI startups/companies to get the missing talent.
Which AI products that they have actually implemented are bad? I think Siri is pretty poor to be fair and improves at a glacial pace. Pretty much everything else I'd say is state of the art from things like text selection from images, cutting out of image subject, their computational photography, even Map directions have come a long way.
When people talk about AI they mean the new tech like LLM or Diffusion, and the only relevant Apple offering (Siri) is way behind and there's no evidence they have anything to replace it.
(Aside, their image manipulation and Map is worse - though with Maps I dunno what's the underlying issue, and OCR was already mostly solved. I'm far from a photography expert so can't compare there).
True that. But I won't give Apple credit for products we can't see or assume good performance without proof. As they say in the movies: "Show me the money".
I'll say though that no multibillion company is under existential threat. Not Apple, not Google and not even Intel. At worst they will lose a couple tens of billions and some marketshare. Even IBM still exists and took a long long time to fall to where it is still today.
What most people think of as AI can be better described as generative AI. Things like LLM and image making programs like Stable Diffusion. Apple has yet to implement anything like that.
They have done a ton with ML though. Some of these accessibility features, the ipad pencil, FaceID, image cataloging, live text, etc. etc. etc. showcase how Apple can not only do ML well but also make good use of them. All of it is done on device. LLMs and image generation are other examples of ML processes that Apple could include in the OS and run locally. With all of the issues surrounding LLMs and the like I am perfectly happy that Apple has been taking its time implementing them. It does feel like they could flip a switch when the time is right and that is why people say they are in a great position.
The only unique Apple thing here is how bad their AI products here and how behind they are in AI. This is the only thing that matters here - performance is adequate or better for the other processors out there, but you can't get anywhere without the appropriate software. Maybe they'll get smart enough to buy some AI startups/companies to get the missing talent.