Apple and AI: Siri AI, a calculated bet that could pay off

For several years, Apple has often faced criticism for its lag in the race for artificial intelligence (AI). Wall Street analysts are concerned that this lack of a clear AI strategy could begin to harm iPhone sales. However, Apple recently unveiled Siri AI, touted as its biggest AI launch to date. This development is based on a partnership with Google Gemini, integrating new automated capabilities at the core of its software.

Skeptics wonder if this will be enough to silence critics who claim Apple is "losing" the AI race. The question remains open, but it may be misframed. A more pertinent inquiry would be whether Apple customers will actually use these features and if it will benefit Apple's business.

A Response to Criticism

Monday's announcements were accompanied by a comment from Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering. He stated, "Some seem to be racing ahead, pursuing AI for the sake of AI, without considering the people — all of us — that it is supposed to serve." This statement appears to be a direct response to accusations that Apple is lagging in AI. Federighi emphasized that Apple's mission has always been to transform the potential of advanced technology into useful and intuitive products for everyone.

This barely veiled skepticism also seems to acknowledge the ambivalent, even negative, feelings many consumers have towards the AI industry. Apple positions itself as the AI company that is truly on your side, at a time when Americans are worried about AI taking their jobs and altering their minds.

Advanced Siri Features

Monday's demonstrations showed that this positioning has some foundation. Siri can now extract information buried in your inbox or message history and provide useful insights and suggestions based on that. Siri can use what Apple calls contextual knowledge to give you information about what you are viewing. Thanks to the integration with Gemini, it can also pull up-to-date information almost instantly from the web and deliver it directly to your device.

Siri is also designed to work seamlessly across all Apple devices, offering users increased flexibility. Like other AI chatbots, Siri retains conversation history so users can revisit past exchanges. By integrating AI features into its dematerialized assistant, Apple has the potential to chip away at the advantages of its competitors, whose applications can only reach users through its own App Store.

Strategic Potential

For these competitors, having Apple's AI integrated at the operating system level represents a significant threat to their distribution advantage. However, this version of Siri will not be available to consumers until the end of the year, as a beta version.

A final verdict will have to wait, but what is already clear is that Apple is doing its best to appeal to its audience — whether they ultimately adopt it or not. Apple is clearly a hardware company, and these updates are designed to make this hardware progressively more user-friendly and convenient, keeping users engaged with their devices a little longer.

A Measured Approach

The contrast with its competitors is instructive and perhaps the most significant signal from Monday's announcements for anyone observing the actual direction of the AI industry. Take OpenAI, which, despite constant updates, struggles to define who it is really selling to, oscillating between consumers and businesses. Or Meta, which is investing colossal sums in AI without a clear explanation of how this connects to its core advertising business.

Apple's more measured approach is starting to seem optimal in comparison — and more financially sound. For the most part, Apple has not needed a flashy AI strategy. It recorded historic iPhone sales last quarter. And as questions about the profitability and real utility of AI multiply, Apple is spending significantly less than its competitors — about $14 billion in planned investment spending this year, compared to a total of $900 billion committed by other tech giants — while continuing to generate enormous revenue. This revenue comes from the AI industry itself through taxes on AI companies that use its App Store to host their applications.

In summary, Apple spends less, earns more, and has now launched a suite of AI features that — for many iPhone users — will seem indistinguishable from other AI applications already available to them via the App Store. If this doesn't exactly count as "winning the AI race," it might just be the smartest way to manage it.