Hey Apple, where are you?

Copilot, Microsoft’s AI assistant, is marching on, working to increase every user’s productivity by integrating AI with the company’s office suite. Copilot can help write documents, prepare spreadsheets, summarize emails, design presentations, and perform a variety of other tasks. Users can do this with a minimum of training and administrative effort.

But where is Apple? Although I was a member of IBM’s Personal Computer team when the PC was first released and where we relied on Microsoft products to power the PC, I converted my office to Apple about fifteen years ago. That gave me easier version updating and dramatically decreased maintenance time and cost.

I have a soft spot for Apple’s word processor, Pages. Its simplicity and user-friendliness are a breath of fresh air compared to the often convoluted MS Word. And Keynote, the PowerPoint equivalent, is a joy to use, perfectly aligning with my presentation style. However, Numbers, Apple’s spreadsheet app acts more like a souped-up table maker than a sophisticated data analytics machine.

I jumped on board when Open AI released ChatGPT in November 2022, eager to explore a new world. That tool moved me to a new level of creativity and performance. But dang, the app does not integrate easily with my other apps. When ChatGPT generates text, I must cut and paste to get it into a word processor for editing. ChatGPT will generate downloadable spreadsheets already in Excel format and open in Excel with a click, but so much for integration.

So…I’m in a dilemma. Do I subscribe to Microsoft’s Copilot and its office suite or wait to see what Apple releases (if they do it at all)? My AI exploration curiosity tells me to go with Microsoft at least to understand their state of the art so I can advise my clients. Then if Apple finally releases a AI-empowered integration suite, my office can adapt accordingly. But let’s hope one doesn’t have to buy Apple’s VR device at $3,500 to employ Apple’s solution.

Perhaps some of you Apple Watchers out there can give me more insight of what to expect.