Apple's Real AI Crisis Isn't Siri, But the Talent It's Losing to Rivals

[macbookj0e]

Did you guys get permission from these people to post their names? Seems a bit of an invasion of privacy.

Isn’t this all public knowledge? They’re simply repeating what’s already known.

Anyway, it does seem there’s a bit of a crisis in the AI department at apple though if these were the main people responsible for apple’s lack of progress will they really be missed? Not saying they were fully responsible though…

 

[Enlightened Doggo]

This. Anybody that thinks AI isn’t useful is a complete idiot. LLMs are game changing for me.

I haven't heard any serious person say that LLMs lack usefulness. The criticism is that they are not intelligent and fundamentally cannot be through their current iterative development processes, but people looking to sell LLM products be acting like ChatGPT is going to be superintelligence any moment now. It won't be.

 

[Sphincty]

Well since Apple AI is a hot mess and these were the big guns at Apple responsible for that hot mess I'd say it's a win for Apple!

 

[NewOldStock]

Im just waiting on the Patent Trolls and all the dandruff and feathers to start flying.
We aint seen nothing yet!
Apple is on sideline for a reason IMO. Wait and see.

 

[canadianreader]

Some of us need to step out of the Apple Reality Distortion Field here..

"Losing talent" ≠ "maybe that's actually good!"
"Good .. getting rid of dead weight!"
"Do they even need to be working on this stuff!?"

😮‍💨 😵‍💫

I have a feeling the less they work on this the more they’ll likely hardcode some privacy invasive 3rd party ai into iOS. Imagine one day Meta ai integrated into iOS the way ChatGPT is and can't be uninstalled.

 

[Corefile]

Did you guys get permission from these people to post their names? Seems a bit of an invasion of privacy.

I think they asked AI and then it confessed.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I have a feeling the less they work on this the more they’ll likely hardcode some privacy invasive 3rd party ai into iOS. Imagine one day Meta ai integrated into iOS the way ChatGPT is and can't be uninstalled.

That would definitely be an iOS I am no longer using.

 

[chris1958]

Nobody is indispensable and we don't know how much of this "stardom" aura around some AI researchers is a byproduct of the AI mania.

80 years after Hiroshima, the names of the people, which made the Manhattan-project happen, are still known. It takes a group or extraordinary people if you have a high goal. And these people are not only quite rare, but the need a proper environment. This means foremost that you have to build a team of like minded people. Obviously some of the best didn't find the right environment with Apple.

 

[smulji]

Presumably Apple has been hiring new talent as people leave, right? That is generally how the world works.

When you have a crisis of confidence, even new upcoming players are hesitant to join the team so it becomes harder to attract new employees.

 

[mjs916]

Spot the boomers or blue collar workers.

LLMs are insanely useful in my profession.

Anyone who still thinks LLMs are a gimmick or cute little features must be absolutely insane.

Insane? I can think they are sometimes useful and still be unwilling to allow a company I don’t trust (yes, I trust Apple a little more than Open AI, Microsoft & Google) unfettered access to my devices before they’ve fully understood how their core product (it will be if it isn’t already) works.

Why must I be insane to temper my enthusiasm for this feature? The gimmick aspect of LLMs are the non-fact-checked summarizations they spit out with full confidence.

 

[ibh]

Project Mulberry. Be patient...

 

[turbineseaplane]

Spot the boomers or blue collar workers.

LLMs are insanely useful in my profession.

Anyone who still thinks LLMs are a gimmick or cute little features must be absolutely insane.

This is such a tired take.

Just because folks aren't eating up the hype, hook line and sinker, doesn't mean they are "boomers or blue collar workers".

Try to disagree without name calling or stereotyping.
You'll get much further into useful analysis and understanding.

 

[Plutonius]

I'm not sure how talented the people were that Apple lost.

Apple wasn't making much progress before the people left.

If Apple waits long enough, they can use the competitor's AI to generate the Apple AI .

 

[AgentOSX]

A very real partnership with Grok is the ideal solution. There could easily be an Apple version of Grok, and that would help both companies immensely. Yeah, there is the sad tantrums being thrown over Musk, but right now there is nothing better at the consumer level for media generation than Grok, and that ties into Apple's aesthetic.

And maybe we need a Big Apple B*lls.

 

[iLLUMI]

Did you guys get permission from these people to post their names? Seems a bit of an invasion of privacy.

Siri, the jilted lover, ratted them all out.

 

[RobertoDLV]

AI this, AI that, one can't do without it. Yeah cool. But has any genius found a solution to make it green? We are ruining our planet (and running towards our end) but nobody cares. Money is more important I guess.

 

[Enlightened Doggo]

80 years after Hiroshima, the names of the people, which made the Manhattan-project happen, are still known. It takes a group or extraordinary people if you have a high goal. And these people are not only quite rare, but the need a proper environment. This means foremost that you have to build a team of like minded people. Obviously some of the best didn't find the right environment with Apple.

Comparing building off-brand ChatGPT to the Manhattan project is wild. The revolution already happened my man. Their names are on the paper.

 

[LoggerMN]

I'll say it again. I'm too busy using AI on Apple devices to notice that I can't use Apple's AI on Apple devices. It'll be great when we get OS level integration, but in the mean time I'm not missing anything important.

 

[Octavius8]

Apple is DOW.
Is just spiraling downward. iPhones keep being the same year after year. “Next year will be magical”.
iOS is primitive by comparison now

 

[ID0]

I pray that the emoji department remains untouched. After all, this is Apple's powerhouse, that has revolutionized the tech industry!

 

[maflynn]

Presumably Apple has been hiring new talent as people leave, right? That is generally how the world works.

the problem isn't just black and white, someone leaves, you plug the hole with another. These are talented people who started working on AI for apple, now they're gone. It will take time to find someone just as good, and once they're hired it will take for them to get up to speed.

Losing so many talented people is called a brain drain and puts a negative spin on what otherwise would be an attractive job.

If talented and gifted people think Apple is losing ground to others in AI, and those others are offering extremely attractive packages to come on board, there's little motivation for them to join apple.

Apple will hire people but will they be of the same caliber of the departing?

 

[Saturn007]

Apple will hire people but will they be of the same caliber of the departing?

They could be better! 😎

In fact, let's hope they are!

 

[2DeedleD]

Maybe. It's certainly possible.

 

[TracerAnalog]

Spot the boomers or blue collar workers.

LLMs are insanely useful in my profession.

Anyone who still thinks LLMs are a gimmick or cute little features must be absolutely insane.

Ha! Spot the AI hyper! Just kidding. What line of work are you in and how does using LLM change your work? Serious question.
LLM's are not a gimmick or cute. I just haven't seen a useful large scale impact -yet-. Sure, if you're a content creator, or work in the creative fields the impact can be felt today already. But a real & trustworthy general AI of the non-hallucinating kind is still a way off I think.

 

[themacobserver]

What is "AI talent"? An intelligent person whose talent is artificial? A person who knows how to enter prompts in a software that was created by other intelligent people and that is way more intelligent than he himself is, albeit artificial? These people are only fueling their own demise. Their work will be very soon replaced by the very work they're doing now. And Apple knows this.