Hi [FORMATTED_FIRST_NAME GOES HERE],

​
One of the nice things about my position in the Apple community is that I get to hear about people's concerns. And one concern I've heard about a lot lately is Apple and AI. Specifically, Apple fans are worried that Apple is missing the boat on this important new step in technology, and they're going to get left out with the next big advances in artificial intelligence. I'm not worried about this.

A thing you have to remember about Apple is that they don't shout from the rooftops when they're working on something new. (We just heard recently they canceled a car program that they'd never actually officially announced after working on it for 10 years!) Apple has clearly been working on AI for some time. We've already started to see it show up in elements of Apple software.

For example, the new voice-to-speech dictation engine in Siri is much better than prior years because, according to Craig Federighi, it’s based on a “transformer” engine—that's AI.

Another thing you have to realize about Apple is that they're very picky about branding. Even though they're working on AI, I doubt the words “Artificial Intelligence” or “AI” will ever emerge from their lips. They don't like the idea of their technology being tied to some common phrase or description. Instead, they'll give it some “magical” name. That makes it sound a little different than AI, even though underneath, it’s AI.

Another thing about Apple is that they're respectful of user privacy. Up until now, AI hasn't been particularly privacy-focused. If you go to most of the current popular AI engines, you're sending whatever you tell it up to their servers, where they can study it and help you out but also use it as part of their own corpus. I expect when Apple announces an AI product, one of its big selling points will be that it’s done on your device and, as a result, not read by Apple servers, leaving your data private. I expect that'll be a big selling point for Apple when the time comes.

I want to make a final point that Apple is feeling pressure on this question, specifically from shareholders, which they need to answer to sooner or later. It’s no secret that this is the year they're going to be announcing AI improvements. Tim Cook's even said so publicly. I’ll be shocked if we don’t hear much more about Apple and AI this June at WWDC.

As to what we'll hear, it's too early to tell. I do expect Apple will not take it on with a fully interactive ChatGPT-like product. Instead, they will incorporate elements of AI into all of their systems where they make sense and make your life easier while still protecting your privacy. Don't expect Apple to be at the head of the pack with AI (at least publicly). But do expect them to be looking for actionable, usable features to take advantage of this technology for their users. Regardless, I don't think you'll have to wait long.

Otherwise, in the news this week:

The M3 MacBook Air

Some news this week is that the lower-end model has a much faster SSD. We no longer need to warn our friends not to buy the entry level MacBook Air because of a slow drive. (Now we can tell them not to buy it because the drive is too small.)

The New iPad Pro

It’s rumored to be lighter, faster (with M3), with a new camera location, and a new keyboard and Apple Pencil. It is also rumored to be released this month.

Your pal, David

​

​Fixkey - Make Your Writing Better Today (Sponsor)

​

​

Speaking of AI, this week's sponsor, Fixkey, is an excellent implementation of AI that you can start using today. Fixkey is an app on your Mac that, with a single shortcut, can grab your text and check it against an artificial intelligence grammar checker. It can intelligently rephrase an entire sentence, and there’s no need for you to manually click on individual problems; it just fixes them. It can even show you what it changes. You don't need to click on single words to correct them; just trigger Fixkey and let it do its work.

I've been using it, and I’m impressed. I love that it works everywhere and gives me a way to quickly clean up and improve my writing.

With Fixkey Pro, you can access all the new features, get 24-hour support, and unlimited use of AI models to translate any language into English. You can even set up custom prompts. Find out more at fixkey.ai.​

Best of all, as a MacSparky reader, you can get 30% off with code MACSPARKY30. Check it out today.​