AI tracker: Apple and the future of AI

Apple rolls out AI features, a de-aged Tom Hanks and more AI news this week:

Apple Intelligence is here  

Apple on Monday rolled out its first set of artificial intelligence features, dubbed “Apple Intelligence,” across its iPhone, iPad, and Mac devices, marking its major push into generative AI.  “Apple Intelligence is generative AI in a way that only Apple can deliver, and we’re incredibly excited about its ability to enrich our users’ lives,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a blog post. Apple’s new features include enhanced writing tools, improved photo searching capabilities, and a more conversational Siri virtual assistant. The company also plans to integrate ChatGPT’s capabilities into its services by December. Additional features planned for December include the ability to generate custom emoji and create images from text descriptions. The features, largely limited to the latest iPhones and iPads and Mac computers, include system-wide writing tools that can rewrite and proofread text, and the ability to remove unwanted objects from images. Yes, Apple Intelligence is available in India for eligible devices running iOS 18.1, including various iPhone models like iPhone 16 and iPhone 15 series.

Also read: Apple AirPods 4 ANC review: Reliable convenience

Tom Hanks thinks AI is “amazing” 

Tom Hanks has praised the “amazing” use of artificial intelligence to de-age him “in real time” on the set of new movie Here. The film stars Hanks and Robin Wright as a couple striving to keep their family together through births, marriages, divorces and deaths, across multiple decades and even generations. Hanks portrays his character from an idealistic teen, through various stages of youth and middle age, to a frail, elderly man. But rather than just relying on makeup, filmmakers teamed up with AI studio Metaphysic on a tool called Metaphysic Live, to rejuvenate and “age up” the actors. The technology worked so fast that Hanks was able to immediately watch his “deep-faked” performance after each scene. “The thing that is amazing about it is it happened in real time,” said Hanks. “We did not have to wait for eight months of post-production. There were two monitors on the set. One was the actual feed from the lens, and the other was just a nanosecond slower, of us ‘deep-faked.’ “So we could see ourselves in real time, right then and there.” 

From AI to UBI

In a conversation this week at the TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 conference, Indian-American businessman and venture capitalist Vinod Khosla sounded bullish on AI. “Almost all expertise, it doesn’t matter whether you’re talking about primary care physicians, mental health therapists, oncologists, structural engineers or accountants — all of it can be near free,” he said. According to Khosla, humanity's AI-enabled future will ensure most human labor is free and will lead to “great abundance.” At the same time, he sounded words of warning against open source AI, citing concerns about its potential exploitation by countries and individuals who may be able to weaponize AI. Khosla, who believes in universal basic income (UBI) and income redistribution, said, “Capitalism tends to concentrate wealth, so we have to have policy to equalize it so everybody has a stake.” Khosla Ventures has invested in green tech, healthcare, and AI startups around the world and was an early investor in OpenAI to the tune of $50 million in 2019.