[carlineng]

The argument is more than that -- namely that in addition to having sophisticated AI, Google also controls the OS (Android) and hardware (Pixel). Being able to integrate best-in-class AI at every level of the stack is a tremendous advantage. OpenAI can't do this because they don't control the OS, and will always need to go through an app. Apple can play since they control OS and hardware, but at the moment they appear pretty far behind in the AI aspect.

[ghayes]

Is anyone really that far behind on AI given that the newest open-source models are closing in on GPT4?

[simion314]

I agree, Apple needs to wait and see what team offers a good alternative to OpenAI and buy them, I hope they do not buy and close an open source friendly team.

[willvarfar]

I'm expecting:

* Microsoft to do it for business users

* Google pixie does it first for personal use. Android phones might even momentarily be more desirable than iphone

* Apple eventually get there, for their walled garden

* Amazon etc fall totally behind

* And, years later, users of google docs are still waiting for basic AI help writing docs whilst google completely doesn't try in that space

[hef19898]

I know that I'm part of a minority, but I'll avoid touching an "AI" enabled smartphone as long as possible. All privacy issues and tech issues aside, so far I have simply not found a single use case in which AI-tools would make my life easier.

[benjijay]

Just to be that picky guy; > Android phones might even momentarily be more desirable than iphone

Most of the world is already there, and it's not momentary. iPhones only dominate the market in North America - Android has the majority basically everywhere else

As for docs, I can see them pushing for more Gemini integration depending on how M$ Copilot goes when it reaches saturation

[lmm]

OpenAI has close ties to Microsoft and we've already seen them integrate AI into Bing; MS may not be a player in phones but they make a major OS and some of the best hardware money can buy. I'm really not convinced vertical integration matters all that much, but if it does, they can do it.

[wayfinder]

Unsurprisingly, they already integrated OpenAI into Windows. You can ask it questions and pass it files.

[poulsbohemian]

>Apple can play since they control OS and hardware, but at the moment they appear pretty far behind in the AI aspect.

I disagree strongly with this, and it has everything to do with how we conceptualize AI.

I get in my car and plug in my iPhone. CarPlay immediately causes the Maps app to pop up and route me to my next meeting. I can say "hey siri, set a reminder to call Mr. Jones at 3:00" and she will gladly comply. If my buddy texts me while I'm driving to the meeting and asks if I'm free for golf tomorrow, she will automatically try to pin that on my calendar. I can throw out lots of examples here, but you get the idea.

Now granted, voice recognition in Siri has been pretty bad. She struggles with a lot of basic things, like putting on the music I request. But, there's no question in my mind that these augmented reality moments are where AI is actually making a difference in our lives and represent the actual business opportunity bridgeheads. In Apple's case, they not only already control the hardware (the phone, the watch, the earbuds, the tablet) but they've also figured out how to start bridging this into other hardware like a vehicle.

[anileated]

The impressive ML is ML that’s part of daily life. Even as I tap on this iPhone’s keyboard, button regions (tappable, not visible) slightly change in size depending on what it predicts the next letter would be. No one calls this “AI” yet it’s the same tech, and arguably more beneficial for the society as a whole than “AI” as a dedicated commercial service purpose-built to launder copyrighted creative works for profit (which is what AI is in the eyes of an ordinary person these days).

[ben_w]

Conversely, I've recently had Apple software mess up in a whole bunch of different ways:

• Maps doesn't understand that I don't own a car, defaults to driving sometimes

• Autocorrupt rather than autocorrect

• Calendar suggestions only work for the simplest of dates, so it suggested an event for the wrong month

• One case where it seemed to think the only timezone in the world was California

(It's not all negatives: for me, Apple has the least wrong voice transcription AI, and I do like their computational photography and definitely the ability to select text in images and Safari's website translation — but even then I don't think they're way ahead of the rest with these things, and website translation was definitely behind).

[jeffbee]

I suggest you try the assistant features on a Pixel 8 Pro. They have all the features you mentioned (except the creepy eavesdropping golf one) and the interaction is miles ahead, especially the text to speech.