Apple gets AI and IoT; privacy.

There’s a refrain about Apple that I keep reading over and over. Walt Mossberg played to it today. “Apple doesn’t get AI.” There are variations on the theme of course; Apple is behind the 8-ball, privacy will impede Apple’s ambitions, the iPhone is dead and Amazon Echo will soon rule the world.

None are right. AI, in the context of consumer electronics, is as much the future as both the connected home and VR are. It’s the next big thing, and will continue being the next big thing for a long time to come.

For consumers, AI isn’t a product, it’s an interface. A gateway to functionality. Without its apps, the iPhone wouldn’t have been the success that it is. Smart phones wouldn’t have been the actual next big thing and a must have.

And that’s where AI as an interface rests right now. Siri is nice for setting timers and Amazon’s Echo is interesting for those who like playing around on the cutting edge. But no matter who is behind such technology, the masses aren’t using them in any meaningful way. We’re yet to invite them into our homes our every moment of our lives.

Today we learn that Apple will soon offer a Siri SDK and complement it with an Amazon Echo rival. The latter shows that they get the interface — voice. The former doesn’t show their actual advantage: a massive user base that is trumped only by Google’s own endavours.

And while Apple may not be known for its AI software, they too know that fact and have bought those that do;

• Emotient; machine learning software focussed reading human emotion.
• Perceptio; machine learning without the privacy implications.
• Siri; needs no introduction.
• VocalIQ; machine learning through conversational interactions.

Voice. Learning. Privacy.

Apple can do the first as well as anyone else, and have a data footprint to impact the second better than most. The third is where they’ll outstrip all others. Their competitors’ business models are geared towards mining your private interactions for data. Apple’s model focuses on selling you premium hardware and system lockin.

For the internet of things, voice controlled AI is a killer interface. It’s simple and we all know how to use it already. But you have to invite it into your home. Privacy and security will have a massive appeal, and Apple tells that story best.