Apple's week March 27: The final form of AI

There was a time where things wouldn't happen for a while. Empty space devoid of actionable news would actually occur between product announcements and events.

Yeah, we're well beyond that era of Apple reporting.

Here's the news of the week:

• Grammarly CEO doesn't understand what users want from AI
• New routers are banned in the US
• Apple is using distillation to train AFM with Gemini
• Google and Meta get a slap on the wrist for everything they've caused
• That iPhone Fold really doesn't look like it is going to happen
• Siri to access more AI tools through app APIs
• RIP Mac Pro
• Crunchyroll is now an Apple TV channel

There's no point in me having a whole section on this, so I'll get it out of the way at the top. No components have leaked for the iPhone Fold. Also, leakers are now saying it is launching later in the year.

Color me shocked.

AI is slowly reaching its final form

The term "artificial intelligence" has been applied to a very specific kind of computing paradigm since the 1980s, so while it is a poor term for what it describes, it is nothing new. It refers to a computer that can learn from itself, but that's an oversimplification.

The concept may have existed for decades, but the ability for this kind of computing to actually exist wasn't reached until the 2010s. Machine learning had reached its peak, and we were ready to move beyond finite decision trees into something a little less deterministic.

The first signs of modern AI appeared after 2015, though the term was being bandied about a bit too liberally. The general public might point to ChatGPT's debut in November 2022 as the true start of modern AI, but of course, that's all debatable.

Fast forward to today, and we've seen quite the roller coaster of events surrounding this technology. Companies like OpenAI wanted the AI promised in sci-fi that could become self aware, and potentially enslave humanity – or save it.

That never arrived, and never was going to arrive with this base technology set. Sadly, the modern version of AI can't think, it can't reason, and it will never become more than it is – glorified autocomplete.

The data sets that train it can always get bigger, and the prompts can get more specialized, but at the end of the day, AI is just a tool that addresses a data set to provide an output. There was never a point when it would achieve sentience or create anything new.

For whatever reason, people were slow to understand this. Many still don't, which is why AI still has any juice left in the discourse.

AI's final form is approaching, if it isn't already here. It is an amalgamation of human knowledge that can be quickly searched and parsed to provide unreliable results. We can refine it, but that is what it will always be.

That isn't to say AI is useless. The problem is these companies expected AI's growth to be infinite. All they had to do was build more data centers, and use more energy and they'd eventually solve all of humanity's problems.

If anything, they've made things immeasurably worse.

Hopefully, all of those GPUs and energy resources can be repurposed. If we've learned anything in the past four years, it's that AI models will shrink even as they get more complex. What requires a server farm today will run on your iPhone tomorrow.

There is a ceiling, and I believe we hit it a while ago.

Signs are already appearing that the bubble is collapsing. People expected a pop, but with so much financial incentive, there's very little chance this all implodes so suddenly. Instead, we're going to see a reallocation of resources and a slow deflation in demand and craze until it finally reaches equilibrium.

What's most interesting here is that while Apple was embarrassed at its lack of participation in the AI boom, it may have dodged a bullet. It focused on on-device AI and private, ethical tools that could be powered either by your phone or a server connected to renewable energy.

On top of that, Apple has been building its Apple Intelligence to run not only on Apple Foundation Models, but whatever else is available. Gemini is being distilled to help revamp AFM, but also, Apple is working to ensure third-party AI can be accessed by users via Siri through app APIs.

As AI reaches a steady state and becomes a background tool instead of a headline, Apple will be there providing what may be the best ecosystem for the task. And it did so without wasting billions in finances or manpower.

Social media is a controlled substance

A paltry fine was applied to Facebook and YouTube, and even that might be overturned in appeals. Some say this is wrong because it is the parents that are the problem when the kids get addicted, while others want courts to intervene more.

The issue is that we let it get this bad in the first place.

I have people in my family that react quite violently and emotionally at the idea that any of their social media might get taken away. It is a pitiful sight and one that resembles what I've seen of advanced drug addiction and withdrawal.

It isn't the individual's fault, whether they're 23 or 11. These apps are literally designed with psychological manipulation tactics to ensure the user not only uses the app longer, but comes back as often as possible.

Every time the app launches, they're fed either with dopamine hits of cute videos or adrenaline-inducing hate scrolling. Either way, the brain is engaged and the world disappears. Only the content matters.

The genie is out of the bottle. I don't think we can easily fix this, as it will take generational gaps to overcome it. I see it similar to smoking addiction. When I was a child, it was commonplace to see every adult smoke in every single place they sat in, until it was banned.

Years of ads about smoking causing harm to your health and social stigmas catching up finally led to a significant decline in smoking. It wasn't because people stopped. It was because the youth rejected it entirely. Vaping is going to have to go through a similar transition.

Social media use is already being heavily scrutinized by Gen Alpha. It's going to be a long and difficult road ahead, as places like TikTok are still too popular and addicting for their own good. But even as users stick with TikTok, they look for other ways to socialize too.

There's also the movement where a lot of younger folk are seeking offline tools. CD players, digital cameras, Nintendo DS, and similar products are being sought out because of their lack of internet connectivity.

There's hope for the future anyway.

For now, I still think the best social network is a small and private one. Create an iMessage group chat for family and friends, make a shared photo album, use shared Calendars, Invites, Apple Music playlists, and the other tools your iPhone provides.

Live in the moment that is in front of you, not the one that is on your screen.

Crunchyroll's awkward Apple TV rollout

Apple TV Channels was always a fantastic idea that none of the popular streaming services bothered with. HBO was there until it wasn't, and Disney never bothered. But now Crunchyroll is finally on board, but with asterisks.

The rollout is no doubt still happening as I type this. I believe it literally was meant to launch today, so there are bugs to work out. FAQs are only just going out on the Crunchyroll website too, and support staff have no helpful insights either.

If you're a heavy Apple TV app user like me, it might make total sense to jump on the Crunchyroll channel. I did, but there are some problems that will need to be solved, and hopefully soon.

First off, there will never be a tie-in to your Crunchyroll account. If you have the manga service or ultimate fan subscription, don't bother with the Channel. The subscription in Apple TV Channels is totally separate and can't be used to log into Crunchyroll either.

You're also locked into the $9.99 per month subscription, which means no annual option. That's $20 extra a year. Worth it for the integration for me, but that may not be the case for everyone.

The biggest problem is one I don't have an answer to, but it clearly appears to be either an issue with the rollout or a result of a slow rollout. Either way, the entire catalog is supposed to be available in the Apple TV Channel – it is not. (as of this publication)

There are several reasons why I think it is a bug and not a feature.

• The Apple TV Channel promotes series that aren't available
• Dubs available in the Crunchyroll app aren't showing up in the Channel
• Some new shows from the winter season are available, while others aren't

These all seem likely to be related to a problem with the rollout and not the service itself. Crunchyroll even says the entire catalog for a given region is available, and at the full $9.99 price, I expect nothing less.

I hope this is also a sign that Apple is actively working to bring new partners into Channels. I don't subscribe to anything else continuously except Apple TV and Crunchyroll these days, but Hulu, Disney, or Netflix in Apple TV could help persuade me.

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