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Who's AI Is It Anyway?

Who's AI Is It Anyway?

Microsoft is shook.

Brandon Butch
May 31, 2024

Welcome back! 🍎
Here’s the latest with Apple.

Big iOS 18 news
Apple’s AI deal has Microsoft nervous
All of the Mac vs PC benchmarks
& more!

📖 Read time: 3.7 minutes

📊 Poll

Last week, I asked: If you have a Mac, would you ever consider switching to Windows?

Here are some of my favorite replies:

Yes - “This is a complicated topic. I'm already on Windows so I might be a little biased. Windows offers more customization, apps, and features, but Mac comes more "simple" out of the box. Windows you need to customize it like heck to get all that. When it comes to privacy, Mac is the winner because Windows you can get a virus if you aren't careful enough. Mac, it's pretty hard.”

No - “I must confess, the thought of switching to a Windows machine sends a shiver down my spine. Since the early '90s, I’ve been a Mac enthusiast, starting with the iconic black and white PowerBook. It was more than a computer; it was a statement, a piece of art. Through the years, I’ve occasionally stepped into the PC world, using laptops provided by clients, and each time, it’s like entering a foreign land. The experience is jarring—like going from a smooth ride in a luxury car to bumping along in a rickety wagon. The Windows environment feels clunky, and I find myself missing the intuitive elegance of macOS. So, in response to the poll, my answer is a resolute no. I’ve grown accustomed to the seamless harmony of Apple’s ecosystem, and anything less just doesn’t feel right. It’s not just about using a computer; it’s about enjoying the experience, and that’s something I’m not willing to compromise on.”

This week: Do you want ChatGPT built directly into the iPhone? Why or why not?

Do you want ChatGPT integrated into the iPhone?

🗞️ The Latest

👀 Siri 2.0 is Actually Happening

Apple’s annual WWDC conference will take place on June 10th and now we have even more iOS 18 details!

iOS 18 will allegedly allow you to change the color of app icons and also place apps wherever you want on the screen.
It will also bring generative AI to emojis. You’ll be able to create custom emojis on the fly, based on what you’re typing.
Siri is expected to get an overhaul and be more natural-sounding. And for the Apple Watch, there’s a more advanced Siri coming, which will assist in on-the-go tasks.
Developer tools, including Xcode, will be getting AI enhancements that will help you code more efficiently.
Apple’s new AI tools will deeply integrate into apps like Safari, Photos and Notes. The AI push also includes operating system features, such as enhanced notifications.

Siri 2.0

The biggest change coming in iOS 18 will be a major upgrade to Siri.
Siri will allegedly be able to control & navigate an iPhone with more precision. That includes being able to open individual documents, moving a note to another folder, sending or deleting an email, opening a particular publication in Apple News, emailing a web link, or even asking the device for a summary of an article.
Basic AI tasks in ‌iOS 18‌ will be processed on device, but more advanced capabilities will rely on Apple's cloud servers.
Most of these on-device ‌AI capabilities will require an iPhone 15 Pro or later to work, and M1 or later for iPadOS 18 and macOS 15.
At launch, the new Siri will still only handle one command at a time, but Apple has plans to allow users to chain commands together.
So, the more advanced Siri is not expected to launch until a later iOS 18 update in 2025, says Gurman.

There’s no doubt that AI will be the focal point of WWDC and, to be honest, the amount of AI-related leaks is getting tiring. But that is a good sign that this software will be jam-packed with new features!

To get you hyped for WWDC, Apple has created a special Apple Music playlist.

🫣 Apple Has Microsoft Shook

Microsoft and Apple have been competing for decades, and now there’s some tension between the two tech giants. Why? OpenAI.

In mid-2023, Apple met with OpenAI and they eventually secured a deal to use OpenAI’s APIs for internal testing. Yes, it seems the deal is now official!
In those tests, Apple engineers connected ChatGPT to Siri, creating impressive demos of Siri handling complex queries.
However, as the report reveals, Microsoft is concerned about the partnership between Apple and OpenAI.
Why? Well, Microsoft also has a deal with OpenAI. They provide the tech behind Microsoft Copilot, while Microsoft lets OpenAI use its data centers to power ChatGPT.
Specifically, Microsoft is worried about handling the demand for servers when Apple launches new features. They will be directly competing with Apple here.

So basically, OpenAI is now dating Siri and Copilot is jealous.

💻 Mac vs PC Follow-Up

Last week, we discussed the new Copilot+ PCs and how Microsoft directly compared them to the M3 MacBook Air. Well, now we have more specifics.

The Verge

Microsoft claimed that the new Surface laptop is 58% faster than the M3 MacBook Air but they never showed any single-threaded benchmark scores. This is presumably because the MacBook Air would score higher.
Microsoft also tested “real performance” with the HandBrake benchmark, which measures how long it takes to encode a 4K video file. The Surface laptop with the Snapdragon X Elite chip completed this test in 5:08, compared to the MBA’s 6:26.
Battery life is also superior compared to the MacBook, as shown in the chart above. This was tested using a script to simulate web browsing.
Lastly, Microsoft claims that the NPU inside the Snapdragon X Elite is 2x faster at AI acceleration tasks than Apple’s M3 Neural Engine. This was tested using the cross-platform Procyon AI Computer Vision benchmark and the scores (shown above) prove that it’s much quicker.
A big issue with these tests is that the new Surface laptop has a fan inside, which allows for better performance due to active cooling. The MacBook Air does not have a fan.

There’s no denying that the new Snapdragon X Elite chip looks solid, but we have to keep in mind that benchmarks are not indicative of real life usage. Plus, Microsoft has a history of over-promising on battery life, so there’s no telling how it will actually perform until it launches on June 18th.

Regardless of how they perform IRL, competition is a good thing. And it’s refreshing to see a line of laptops that can legitimately compete with the Mac, even if that is only with benchmarks.

📰 Quick Bites

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Until next week, ✌️

- Brandon

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