Friday Q&A
Today's Above Avalon Daily update includes the following story:
Friday Q&A
Hello everyone. Here is a special Friday edition of Q&A. It’s been a while since we last did a Q&A. Based on the number of incoming questions, it’s probably a good idea to run an installment more often.
The update covered the following questions:
If the U.S. Supreme Court rules the IEEPA tariffs to be illegal does that mean the tariff cost Apple reported is the only cost that goes away (or gets refunded depending on the ruling), or is Apple also paying non-IEEPA tariffs?
Do you think Apple’s share price will be affected by an overall bubble in AI tech shares bursting? (Or a balloon deflating!)
What does Apple think its stock is worth?
What is your opinion regarding the possibility of Apple acquiring Curiosity Stream or licensing their contents?
When is Apple releasing an updated Apple TV 4K unit?
Why didn’t Apple didn’t see the need for core technologies to power AI features back in 2022 (like many other big tech companies)? When Apple did see it, why didn’t they place a big bet on developing their own LLM rapidly (like other big tech companies) to become independent?
Are you concerned by the continued poaching of Apple employees by Jony Ive / OpenAI?
Did Apple make a mistake cancelling Project Titan?
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Apple Intelligence Is a Game Changer
Hello everyone. Given the way Apple put together the WWDC 2024 keynote, there is a natural divide that we will utilize for our review and analysis. The next two updates will be dedicated to Apple Intelligence. Today’s discussion will have a broader theme while we will go over the Apple Intelligence features and more on ChatGPT integration tomorrow. Thursday’s update will go over everything else from the keynote.
Yesterday, we had an entertaining (virtual) meetup in the member forum. If you haven't checked out how it went down, hop on over to the forum (using this link) and take a look. You can leave your own comments to any of the discussions as well.
Apple Intelligence Is a Game Changer
Apple has been tiptoeing into AI and ML for years. According to Apple's Craig Federighi, there are approximately 200 ML models being utilized for the latest iPhone flagships. There is then Apple’s extensive efforts with custom silicon and neural engines (going on seven years).
Yesterday, we saw a significantly more concerted and focused effort from Apple regarding intelligence. Some of that is due to the broader AI climate that we find ourselves in. For the past 18 months, we have been in generative AI mania. There is no question that Apple has felt pressure to tell the world its AI plans. However, we also saw Apple take its time to unveil a comprehensive alternative path for how to bring intelligence to the masses. While yesterday’s announcements will take time to fully rollout, what was announced yesterday was surprisingly detailed and multi-faceted.
Before we go any further, attention must be given to branding. Apple’s decision
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The OpenAI Saga, AI Shortcomings and Apple’s Opportunity
Happy Monday.
The tech news flow had no interest in taking a breather ahead of Thanksgiving this year.
In today’s update, we will talk about the OpenAI situation which is still unfolding as of Monday afternoon. There are some connections to Apple when it comes to the broader AI space.
Let's jump into today's update.
The OpenAI Saga
There are some tech news stories that simply need time to pass before taking a deep dive into them. That applies to OpenAI, the AI start-up responsible for kicking off the generative AI buzz/hype cycle with ChatGPT. Some of the OpenAI drama ends up being irrelevant to these updates. However, there is enough here, especially with Microsoft’s involvement that would be of interest to Apple. Once more time passes, we can revisit the takeaways.
Here’s a very quick recap of what happened.
This past Friday, OpenAI's board fired co-founder and CEO Sam Altman. As part of the board’s decision, co-founder Greg Brockman, who was Open AI’s chairman and president, was booted off the board. He quit instead. This kicked off something of a social-media fueled frenzy involving Altman and Brockman trying to return to OpenAI via an employee and investor uprising. Instead, both announced they would head to Microsoft. OpenAI employees are now pledging to do the same.
Here are a few of my prevailing thoughts:
1) Blindspot. In what may end up being the biggest lesson from this drama, Sam Altman had a major blindspot in terms of not having firm control over the OpenAI board. While there is an unusual governance hierarchy at play when it comes to the OpenAI board and its responsibilities (described below), Altman should have known that the possibility of being fired existed. This was not a Black Swan event, although most will say it was. The fact that the OpenAI board was not reinforced after key departures (Reid Hoffman etc.) to be closely aligned with Altman was a huge mistake on his part.
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Microsoft’s Copilot Event, Microsoft (Quietly) Pulling the Surface Plug, Apple Is Thinking Differently
Hello everyone. Last Thursday, we talked about Amazon's product event. Today, we focus on the Microsoft event that took place last week.
Let's jump right in.
Microsoft’s Copilot Event
For Amazon’s product event, the overall theme was a smarter, more conversational Alexa with the company betting on voice as the medium to push generative AI in the home. Last Thursday, Microsoft held its annual fall event for new products in NYC. A video of the presentation is available here.
Out of the two, Microsoft’s event came across as weaker. Some people wondered if Panos Panay’s surprise departure complicated Microsoft's event plans. It's not clear how much advanced notice Panay provided Microsoft. The event did have the vibe of being thrown together at the last moment. Coming in at only 58 minutes, a good portion of which went to demos and CEO Satya Nadella's opening monologue, the presentation was lean. One wonders why Microsoft even bothered to hold an actual in-person event.
Without Panay's energy, the audience seemed to be asleep for much of the presentation.
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