Why Apple Won't Create A ChatGPT Competitor

technology

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I have seen many media stories lately that claim "Apple is late to AI," or Apple's AI strategy is "non-existent."

But these claims are deeply flawed.

Tim Cook made an important point about this issue in last week's earnings call when he said that Apple is "building AI into every product it's building." Tim Cook insists that Apple produces just as much AI tech as everyone else, emphasizing AI forms a core part of all of Apple's technology, and AI continues to grow within its R&D business strategy.

The important word in Cook's statement is "core," clarifying that AI is at the heart of Apple's technology. This is especially true since Steve Jobs came back to Apple in 1997 and put Apple on its current trajectory of becoming the most valuable company on the planet.

The iPod was the first product he introduced that used demonstrable AI, besides its use in the Mac OS. How do you think Apple's music program figured out how to handle "ripping" and then organized your music library by genre, artists, etc. It used AI algorithms to do that.

The iPhone introduced more AI into Apple's products in how the iPhone OS handled queries, requests, and organizational libraries. And every vendor who has created a map solution has AI at the center of their mapping apps. Also, think about Siri and other voice-activated solutions. AI is at the center of these apps as well.

Indeed, AI has been used by almost every company that creates technology, from semiconductor designs to operating systems, apps, maps, etc. AI is intrinsic in the coding used to make all digital products.

When people have written about Apple being late to AI, I suspect they are saying Apple has not released a ChatGPT competitor. The speculators want Apple to do their own version of these programs, and if they don't, they won't be competitive in AI.

So, will Apple eventually create its own ChatGPT competitor? As one who has covered Apple since 1981 and has studied how they think about new products, I believe they will not create a competitor to ChatGPT. Of course, it would be foolish to predict that they would never do this, but I have three reasons why Apple most likely will not enter the ChatGPT wars.

The first is Apple's extremely cautious approach to creating any product. Apple really understands the potential of AI, and if they are to use AI, they want to use it in the most responsible way possible. That is why using AI in their technology engines makes more sense to them.

The second reason is that ChatGPT and other programs like them have no guardrails and most likely will never be able to put the genie back in the bottle with these programs. Many companies making generative AI public solutions are already being sued left and right for everything from copyright infringements to content companies suing them to stop scraping their data to train their large language models. Apple does not want these headaches, and who would blame them?

The third reason relates to their commitment to the privacy of their customers. An Apple ChatGPT program would scrape at least the public data their users create to deliver a generative AI program. Yes, they now scrape this data anonymously, but only to make better recommendations to their users about ads, apps, and services that would benefit them, not harm them.

Apple's cautious approach to AI should be celebrated. Apple is the last company, given its profile, scope, and influence, that would want to unleash an uncontrollable approach to AI that, while beneficial to some, could create havoc in ways we can't even imagine in the future.

A responsible approach to AI is more representative of how Apple does business. It is most likely why AI will continue to be "a core part of all of Apple's technology, and AI continues to grow within its R&D business strategy."

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I have been recognized as one of the leading industry consultants, analysts and futurists, covering the field of personal computers and consumer technology. I have been with Creative Strategies since 1981 and have served as a consultant to most of the leading hardware and software vendors in the industry including IBM, Apple, Xerox, Hewlett Packard/Compaq, Dell, AT&T, Microsoft, Sony, Panasonic, Intel, Qualcomm, AMD, nVidia, Polaroid, Lotus, Epson, Toshiba and numerous others. My articles and/or analysis have appeared in USA Today, Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Time and Newsweek magazines, BusinessWeek and most of the leading business and trade publications. I have appeared as a business analyst commenting on the tech industry on all of the major television networks and was a frequent guest on PBS’ The Computer Chronicles. I have been a columnist for US computer industry publications such as PC Week and Computer Reseller News and wrote for ABCNEWS.COM for two years and Mobile Computing for 10 years. I was also a tech columnist for Time Magazine’s Tech section for 5 years. My columns currently appear in Fast Company, Recode, PC Magazine, Forbes and the online publication: www.techpinions.com. My columns and analyses are syndicated in over 55 countries. Further History I am known as a concise, futuristic analyst, credited with predicting the desktop publishing revolution three years before it hit the market, and identifying multimedia as a major trend in written reports as early as 1986. My writing and analysis have been at the forefront of the digital revolution and I am considered one of the leading experts in the field of technology adoption cycles. I have also spoken at many business school programs about marketing to consumers. I have authored major industry studies on PC, portable computing, pen-based computing, desktop publishing, multimedia computing and the digital home. Currently, I serve on multiple conference advisory boards and am a frequent featured speaker at computer conferences worldwide. I also serve on technology advisory councils for IBM/Lenovo, Dell, and on specialty councils for three large semiconductor companies.

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