Dear Apple, Please Don't Get Weird With AI

Silicon Valley is having a midlife identity crisis. Big tech companies are changing names, changing logos and desperately clawing at the idea that they are part of something new and fresh, even if that means changing the company's main product focus.

Mark Zuckerberg throws everything at Facebook into the metaverse, and then loses $21 billion. Elon Musk trashes Twitter and renames it "X.com", with dreams of making it a future hub of all things finance. Google goes all-in on artificial intelligence, bringing back its founder to turn the search giant into an AI giant, all because it was jealous of… Microsoft working with the startup OpenAI? 

But Apple doesn't usually get caught up in the drama. Its approach is more thoughtful and strategic. Its focus is on hardware and privacy. It doesn't have to make giant leaps and risks to look relevant. Or does it?

In this week's episode of One More Thing, which you can watch embedded above, I discuss some of today's new pressures that may lead to Apple acting unpredictably and losing focus on what really matters to its consumers.

Soon Apple will be letting go of some of its usual control as the Vision Pro headset is sent into the wild with developer kits. The pressure is on to inspire developers. Will Apple have the patience needed to let this new tech find its footing? 

Meanwhile, reports say Apple developed its own version of generative AI nicknamed "Apple GPT." But is an AI chatbot core to Apple's future, or is it just chasing the fad?

In the rapidly pivoting and panicky world of Big Tech, we need Apple to just be the normal one. Please.