chrash
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Apple Considering Ads Inside Visual Intelligence, Code Suggests
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Ewwww. If Apple incorporates ads into Visual Intelligence I will never use it again. Simple as that.
Apple needs to stop injecting ads into its software. This is such a poor look for a seemingly premium brand.
Apple needs to stop injecting ads into its software. This is such a poor look for a seemingly premium brand.
Lunarman25
macrumors member
GregoryPeckEPA
macrumors 6502
User: Hey Siri, find me the nearest Chevron.
Siri: I mean, I can, but wouldn’t you like to buy premium gasoline from Shell? Now with more cleaning power than the leading brands. Save on every dollar you spend with Shell Bucks and a 2% discount on every purchase at the pump! Fill up today with over $100 and receive a complimentary Shell Card, valued at up to 200% savings over the next year! Ask an attendant for details or down the Shell app for a chance to win an all paid trip to Tahiti.
Siri: I mean, I can, but wouldn’t you like to buy premium gasoline from Shell? Now with more cleaning power than the leading brands. Save on every dollar you spend with Shell Bucks and a 2% discount on every purchase at the pump! Fill up today with over $100 and receive a complimentary Shell Card, valued at up to 200% savings over the next year! Ask an attendant for details or down the Shell app for a chance to win an all paid trip to Tahiti.
MysticTalisman
macrumors member
MysticTalisman
macrumors member
This scenario is not all that farfetched. I never thought it would come to this on Apple.
EdwardC
macrumors 6502a
I was actually going to say that exact same thing but then thought no one wants to take a laptop with them everywhere but who knows. I have a Lenovo ThinkPad L14 i5 12500 that rums Zorin with incredible speed that I use along with a M4 Air.
Can't wait for ads in messages, notes and safari next. This is the complete opposite of why I ever bought into Apple in the first place. Extremely disappointing.
GregoryPeckEPA
macrumors 6502
AI is really a conduit to do two things:
1. Make ads not sound like ads. Through using trust and more natural language that has been built and refined by user data training, they can tailor ads to sound almost innocuous. You want the nearest Chevron? Sure here it is, but a Shell is closer and (through variable pricing) the gas there is actually 2 cents cheaper per litre. It doesn't sound like an ad but rather like Siri has your back, just trying to save you money.
2. Track how persuasive an ad was and if it led to an actual purchase. LG TVs were caught by Gamers Nexus to secretly record everything you say. LG's own ad division's pitch (Alphonso, who is run by someone indicted for fraud and can not legal operate a company as a result, so let that sink in) is to track whether an ad had an impact that led to an actual sale by tying in the point of sale. For example, if you saw an ad for a new phone and then later that day purchased one, LG would send that data to the manufacturer. That is their promise to their ad partners. Tracking the ad from start to finish.
They are done simply showing ads in hopes it converts into a sale. They are done trying to merely target demographics (selling big trucks to people who watch UFC). They are now leveraging all those compute centres to ensure they can track the ad's impact from viewing to purchasing. And this is only 2026. Most centres are still being built and the platform is still in its infancy. There is no regulations on this stuff.
The future looks bleak, all jokes aside.
EdwardC
macrumors 6502a
Just checked it out, very cool! This might be something I would be very interested in.
Last I checked, despite its corporate giving profile, Apple was not in business primarily for the purpose of charity. It pays its technical employees well, its executives vastly too much, and its retail Store employees far too little. But the one thing you can count on is that its corporate governance is based on maximizing shareholder value, the first commandment of the cpaitalist religion. If silicon (CPU/GPU, memory, storage) prices are cutting into its margins, it has to look for other profit centers, at least in the short run.
As for my personal reaction, useless AI intrusion into previously straightforward functionality plus ads moves us from annoyance into the middle of Uncanny Valley. If I can't turn the AI intrusions off, I'm really unlikely to use the app. I haven't read anywhere whether Apple will continue to have a single Setting so us troglodytes can Just Say No to AI on our phones ("Oh the siliconity! All those wasted neural processors!"), or, if people find it useful in some apps and nauseating in others, a toggle for each app.
iPay
macrumors 6502
Not clear, really?
so, they farm us for data and feed us garbage. We start looking like cows who must pay for their milking machines.
GregoryPeckEPA
macrumors 6502
Nope! They have built a system impervious to obfuscation. Most DNS traffic can be gleaned even thru DoT and DoH regardless. The promise of anonymity on the web is largely snake oil.
iPay
macrumors 6502
Trillions don't grow on trees, I suppose, but as a user, too much is enough. Next thing you know, they put RAM and ads in iCloth just to be jerks.
Considering to leave for GrapheneOS on Pixel or Motorola, or hopefully Fairphone when supported.
Oblivious.Robot
macrumors 6502a
Well, apple tax on everything apple stops making any sense if it’s going to be an ad riddle mess. At that point might as well buy Xiaomi’s for less than half the price, and maybe not mention a particular square or a beloved cartoon character.
If only people would stop buying, just one or two bad quarters of abysmal sales will make it all go away in an instant.
If only people would stop buying, just one or two bad quarters of abysmal sales will make it all go away in an instant.
jimscard
macrumors 6502
Kind of confused. The ability for developers to hook their apps into Visual Intelligence to provide additional functionality has been around for a couple of years now. How is this any different?
Apple may be exploring a way to let search providers show sponsored results inside Visual Intelligence, according to code uncovered in iOS 27.
The find comes from MacRumors' Aaron Perris, who said in a post on X that the code points to Apple allowing search providers to insert their own sponsored results into Visual Intelligence, rather than Apple selling the ad space itself. He compared it to the sponsored product listings already seen on Amazon and Google. It is not clear whether Apple would take a cut of ad revenue.
The feature would let third party search providers, such as Google, insert items such as sponsored product images alongside the organic results Visual Intelligence already returns when a user points their camera at an item to shop for it. That would set it apart from the advertising pushes Apple has driven directly in its own apps over the past year.
Apple has been steadily expanding its advertising business across the App Store and Maps. The company began showing additional sponsored slots in App Store search results in March, and ads went live in Apple Maps in the United States and Canada last month.
Visual Intelligence already routes shopping queries to services like Google Image Search and retailers such as Etsy, Amazon, and Anthropologie, so ad supported results from those partners would build on functionality that already exists in iOS 27.
Article Link: Apple Considering Ads Inside Visual Intelligence, Code Suggests
jimscard
macrumors 6502
I think this is being misinterpreted, since most of VI isn't image search anyway, and the ability for developers to hook into VI to provide additional features has existed for a long time, and is used by quite a number of apps today.