Pick your AI fighter 🥊 Apple vs. Microsoft tech wars are BACK!
19th March 2024
Welcome to AI Collision 💥,
In today’s collision between AI and our world:
Eye of the Tiger
The hype train keeps rolling on
Gummy wars
If that’s enough to get the fists flying, read on…
AI Collision 💥 is AI just machine learning?
Apple is having quite the run at the moment isn’t it?
First the company cancelled its multi-billion dollars’ worth of expenditure project to develop an “Apple Car”.
That looks like it was money well spent…
In dumping the car, Apple decided to turn more of its attention to its work on AI.
And thus it’s now likely going to…
Partner with Google to integrate Gemini into its applications.
Uhh, what?
You might remember that a couple of weeks ago I wrote to you about why woke AI might be the end of Google.
If you missed that edition, you can catch up here now. It’s fun, with everything from the wrong kind of Nazis through to why my two-year-old just wants to “speak to Copilot” all the time.
But the crux of it is that Google’s Gemini AI was more or less trying to rewrite history thanks to its data and design. By ensuring it was keeping culturally appropriate and sensitive, it completely reinterpreted history.
Which leads us down a path towards how much can we actually trust AI as we know it today.
Or how quickly AI could lose our trust if it starts to get things wrong all of a sudden.
The conclusion I have is that the way in which we find information is changing. Good old “Google Search” may soon be relegated to the past… I wonder if Google’s own AI would erase its own technologies from the past?
Point being, that who needs a Google search when you can just ask your native AI?
Now as I have pointed out previously, Google’s AI, Gemini, was a bit crappy to say the least.
And if you’re an Apple iPhone (or Apple device) user you’ll know that Apple’s Siri is about as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike.
Amazon’s Alexa is great… for setting timers in the kitchen, forcibly corralling you to sign up for Amazon music and (if you’re a parent of kids under 10) playing fart sounds on demand (until you need to pay for the fart sound expansion pack).
Which leaves us with Microsoft and its excellent AI, Copilot.
I’m yet to find a massive fault in Copilot. In terms of AI that does what you ask, it’s as close to the pin as any of them.
Which is why the latest news surrounding Apple and Google is a little… confusing to say the least.
After all, Google is the company that makes the highly competitive Android operating system which works on every single phone in the world that a) isn’t Chinese, and b) isn’t an iPhone.
Now Bloomberg is reporting that Apple is going to license Google’s Gemini AI to integrate into the iPhone.
I get the need for better AI from Apple’s end. Siri is woefully incompetent. But if you were going to pick an AI partner to jump into bed with, in lieu of developing it yourself, Google is not the direction I’d head.
But you see, Apple is stuck in between the proverbial rock and a harder hard place.
Apple is so far behind in its AI development that it’s going to plug in someone else’s. My guess is that’s until the company cracks open its own AI in another year or so.
But in the open market right now, at least until someone like Meta comes out with something big and beautiful, you’ve got to choose from Google, Microsoft or OpenAI (which is still kind of Microsoft).
And for Apple, its mortal enemy is Microsoft. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was an unwritten rule somewhere at Apple to never deal with Microsoft (and vice versa).
Albeit there was that one time when Microsoft saved Apple’s backside with a chunky investment.
So it kind of makes sense that Apple would look to Google for now.
But it also sets quite the stage for a showdown of epic AI proportions.
If Apple and Google do get AI-cosy, you can bet your bottom dollar that Microsoft is going to take straight aim at every other Apple device manufacturer for their integration of Copilot.
And once again, I expect that we’ll have a very tribal tech contest between Apple and Microsoft.
We have been here before… several times.
Remember this:
Or a bit more recently, this:
Well as it happens, both Siri and Cortana are on the out, and Gemini and Copilot are on the in.
And you can expect more of the them vs. us rhetoric from both companies.
Who wins this war? Well I guess stock price might have a bit to do with it. This deal is good for Google – and in my opinion, not so good for Apple. But maybe the winner of them all is Microsoft. That’s because right now, at least from where I sit, its AI is the one to beat and no one else is near it so far.
AI gone wild 🤪
If you were ever looking for a major catalyst for the AI industry, then this week is it.
At the time of writing, there’s six hours and 50 minutes to go until Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of Nvidia, hits the stage for his keynote at Nvidia’s GTC 2024 conference.
I like how Nvidia is already calling it a “transformative moment in AI.”
That’s some serious hype from the most hyped company in the world right now.
Which leaves us with the question, is the hype justified?
And will Nvidia’s (almost) week-long GTC conference be that next “level-up” for the AI industry, or just a level-up for Nvidia?
I guess time will tell.
By the time you read this, the keynote will be over, Nvidia’s stock will have done whatever it is that it’s going to do in trading today – my guess is it will be UP.
But it’s worth paying attention to GTC this week, as Nvidia won’t have hyped it up without having an ace or two up the sleeve. Remember, its aim is to dominate its industry, sell as many of its products to customers, grow the company and deliver value to shareholders – that is Nvidia’s sole purpose.
So while we look at all these companies, their impact on the world and the way in which they’re shaping our future, also remember that they are there to drive and deliver cold, hard profits for shareholders. And GTC is going to be a big momentum driver for Nvidia.
It may even be the case that it’s the spark that drives the stock price over $1,000 and then forces the company’s hand into a stock split – I’ve been highlighting that as a possibility for a little while now.
Anyway, GTC is going to lead to a wild week for both the AI industry and particularly for Nvidia. It is worth noting that if nothing big comes from it, that would be as significant as a crappy earnings release.
It’s so hyped now that anything short of some kind of major breakthrough will likely be seen as a negative by the market.
So like I say… one way or the other, it’s going to be a wild week for Nvidia.
By the way, when you do read this, I would imagine Nvidia will have a replay of the keynote on its GTC landing page.
You can register for the conference for remote access (I don’t know how much it costs, but I’m guessing not cheap), but at least the keynote doesn’t need a conference pass.
I’d check back on its site here or its YouTube page to see if the keynote replay is available – it’s probably going to be worth a watch. I’ll also link out to it on Thursday.
Boomers & Busters 💰
AI and AI-related stocks moving and shaking up the markets this week. (All performance data below over the rolling week).
Boom 📈
Veritone (NASDAQ:VERI) up 73%
Darktrace (LSE:DARK) up 27%
GuardForce AI (NASDAQ:GFAI) up 14%
Bust 📉
iRobot (NASDAQ:IRBT) down 4%
C3.ai (NYSE:AI) down 8%
AMD (NASDAQ:AMD) down 7%
From the hive mind 🧠
It’s hard to think that AI music will be something in our future. The whole idea of music is the artistry in its creation. But then again, in 1,000 years’ time, will anyone care? I can’t figure out if this is good or bad.
Rule #1: don’t steal. Rule #2: don’t steal from Google. Rule #3: don’t steal from Google (by proxy the US government) and then sell your loot to the Chinese!
Here we go again… AI, elections, threats to democracy. You know the drill by now. But here’s some more dire warnings of how AI is going to upend democracy as we know it…🙄
Artificial Polltelligence 🗳️: The results show
After our last poll was incredible close, only a percentage point separating one from the other, this week’s poll result couldn’t be more one sided.
Well, it could be more one sided, but you’ll see what I mean in a moment.
The question was, “Do you believe regulation is overall good or bad for innovation, a flourishing economy and wealth creation opportunities?”
This topic already got a lot of great comments and conversation going, and we had a great turnout of voters for this one too.
But there can only be one winner…
And the “Bad” take it!
In an overwhelming majority most respondents see that regulation is bad for innovation overall.
Couldn’t agree with (most) of you more.
Another poll with you on Thursday.
Weirdest AI image of the day
Military equipment made of gummies and candy in a museum exhibit – r/Weirddallee
ChatGPT’s random quote of the day
""In an era of fast tech, people's patience has become the most obsolete technology." — Unknown Author
Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to leave comments and questions below,
Sam Volkering
Editor-in-Chief
AI Collision
