As a trillion-dollar company with one of the most recognizable brands in the world, I don’t think Apple has a lot to worry about. But when I looked at the results of a recent poll I ran, asking you, dear readers, if you use Apple Intelligence, the results made me grunt an ‘ooph’.
That’s because a hefty 96% of respondents selected the ‘Nope, it’s not for me’ option, leaving a mere 4% to select ‘Yes, it’s pretty good’ as a response.
Given that the world and its virtual dog seems to be using AI or talking about it, either positively or negatively, I’d have expected at least a good percentage more people to be using Apple Intelligence. But it seems that Apple just isn’t scratching the AI itch in the way people expect.
Now, as I’ve mentioned before, I can’t say I’ve been blown away with what’s on offer with Apple Intelligence. But unlike our Phones Editor Axel Metz, I’ve yet to actively turn its features off on my iPhone. However, I’ve definitely found AI features on Android to be more effective, and while I’m not really a ChatGPT user I will occasionally flirt with Google Gemini.
Yet I don’t find myself ever really using Apple Intelligence with any gusto. I keep notification summaries on just for the hell of it, despite them not exactly being the most accurate. Occasionally, the summary will misinterpret a cluster of notifications and serve up a few words that set a sense of dread or panic in me until I properly open up a message or email and find out that all is fine.
But I’m just one tired man who’s perhaps a little bored with phones; those of you who are more actively engaging with the latest smartphone software features perhaps demand a lot more from AI tools. And it would seem to me that Apple is still doing its iPhone users a disservice.
“Apple can’t figure out their AI strategy to save their life,” said a commenter going by the handle of ‘laughfactory'. “I love Apple stuff, but they’re WAY off-base on AI.”
I’d say the commenter has a point, and with such a high percentage of people not looking favorably at Apple Intelligence, I’d also say that Apple has cause to be a bit embarrassed, even though it’s unlikely to be stung by such failure in a significant monetary fashion.
And as there's a movement towards 'AI phones' and other actually smart tech, I do think Tim Cook and his Cupertino crew should be a little worried that Apple could get left behind in the AI world.
There’s hope on the horizon with the news that Apple will tap into Google Gemini to give Siri and Apple Intelligence a boost in smarts, but that’s not happened yet. And now that there’s a rumor that iOS 27 might be delayed, Siri could soon become one of Apple’s biggest ever embarrassments.
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