In new interview, Apple CEO Cook explains why he doesn’t like to talk about the future

“In an exclusive interview, the CEO of Apple talks about artificial intelligence in iPhones and why he doesn’t want to talk about the future,” Nanette Byrnes reports for MIT Technology Review.

“Though Apple is often termed a laggard on AI when compared to companies like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, Cook argues that machine learning is already well integrated into iPhones,” Byrnes reports. “Cook ticks off a list: image recognition in our photos, for example, or the way Apple Music learns from what we have been listening to and adjusts its recommendations accordingly. Even the iPhone battery lasts longer now because the phone’s power management system uses machine learning to study our usage and adjust accordingly, he says.”

“Cook says the fact that the press doesn’t always give Apple credit for its AI may be due to the fact that Apple only likes to talk about the features of products it is ready to ship, while many others ‘sell futures,'” Byrnes reports. “While he calls AI ‘profound’ and increasingly capable of doing unbelievable things, on matters that require judgment he’s not comfortable with automating the human entirely out of the equation. ‘When technological advancement can go up so exponentially I do think there’s a risk of losing sight of the fact that tech should serve humanity, not the other way around.'”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Pretty much all Google and Microsoft do, beyond serving web ads and knocking off Apple operating systems, is “sell futures.”

SEE ALSO:
Why Apple is struggling to become an artificial-intelligence powerhouse – June 7, 2017
Apple’s Artificial Intelligence Director discusses computers that can remember – March 29, 2017
New hire could be critical step toward attracting high-profile AI research talent to Apple – October 18, 2016
Apple hires a big brain in AI to smarten up Siri – October 17, 2016
Apple transforms Turi into dedicated machine learning division to build future product features – August 31, 2016
An exclusive inside look at how artificial intelligence and machine learning work at Apple – August 24, 2016
Apple rumored to be taking big piece of Seattle-area office market in expansion – August 12, 2016
Why Apple will become a leader in artificial intelligence – August 8, 2016
Apple buys machine-learning startup Turi for $200 million – August 6, 2016
Apple touts Artificial Intelligence in iOS and opens ‘crown jewels’ to developers – June 14, 2016
Smartphones to die out within five years, replaced by artificial intelligence – survey – December 9, 2015
Apple’s extreme secrecy retarding its artificial intelligence work – October 30, 2015
Apple hires NVIDIA’s artificial intelligence director – October 24, 2015
Apple acquires advanced artificial intelligence startup Perceptio – October 5, 2015
Apple buys artificial intelligence natural language start-up VocalIQ – October 2, 2015

29 Comments

        1. Wow, we should call you Butt-vinnik. With all those free shitty comments.

          In the meantime, fasten your seatbelt and watch the end of the year for Apple.

          Your butt will bleed pucks… In the near future that said…

    1. What?…you mean like the fake POTUS sees the future as a return to the early 20th Century where deregulation allowed wholesale industrial raping of the planet and exploitation of their slave workers?
      Whooosh…that’s the puck_of_irony whizzing past your head into the future, leaving you far behind.

  1. MDY Take – “Pretty much all Google and Microsoft do, beyond serving web ads and knocking off Apple operating systems, is “sell futures.”

    Yea, they’re selling Apple futures.

    1. For several years these other companies have been first out of the gate with all these features. Apple with all its money is complacent and slow.

      Quite ironic that MDN, a Google Adsense customer that owes its entire income to disgusting ad tracking, would choose to bite the hand that feeds it. Hypocrites.

  2. He might well have many ideas about the future. He’s just not going to talk much about it or “sell” it. By the way, the general consumer has no idea who is first to market with their products. If Apple didn’t exist, I don’t think we’d see much in the way of real innovation.

  3. The future? I’m looking forward to full AI capabilities integrated into AR avatars. Over the past couple of days some developers have begun testing Apple’s ARKit:

    Imagine external cameras embedded into Apple TVs, Apple Speakers, etc. that read users’ expressions and prompt AI AR avatars to respond appropriately.

    1. I just did another search for ARKit on YouTube (My first ARKit search for today), and came across this one:

      Look how fluid that is. And, it’s being viewed on an iPhone or iPad. This AR stuff could be bigger than the invention of the modern smartphone.

    1. Tim Cook is looking so far into the future that his vision will never exist in the present of existing company. For Tim it’s all too easy to promise than deliver.

        1. Spare it Gotcha,

          Understand that Kolache doesn’t even know what he is talking about. This stuff is way over his head.

          Kolache is sticked in 2015 with his TC overbaked comments.

          Poor kid.

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