Tim Cook at Apple WWDC 2025. Jason Hiner/ZDNET
One of my editors once told me that a cynic will always sound more rational, but that doesn't mean they're right. French statesman Francois Guizot basically said the same thing from the other POV: "The world belongs to optimists. Pessimists are only spectators."
Apple's AI strategy has a lot of cynics and pessimists -- and they sound pretty rational based on what we've seen over the past year. The long-awaited revamp of Siri has never materialized and is reportedly delayed to 2026. Apple's vision of your own custom AI-powered assistant with your "personal context" has been little more than a hopeful vision. And the AI features that have arrived -- such as summaries of a string of text messages -- have been both game-changing and, at times, super frustrating to use.
Also: Apple's de-chatbot-ification of AI is nearly complete
Still, the generative AI revolution that is sweeping the tech industry is in desperate need of many of the qualities that Apple usually exemplifies in its approach to products. I'm talking about qualities like polish, attention to detail, user trust, and patience.
While generative AI is racing forward at a breakneck pace, it continues to feel half-baked and overhyped much of the time. That's likely why ZDNET/Aberdeen research showed that only 8% of the broader public say they're willing to pay for AI features on their devices. Even more challenging, 69% said they would stop using a product or consider stopping if it had AI features that they couldn't turn off.
The AI enthusiasm gap
In other words, our research shows a massive gap between the next-big-thing narrative that companies like OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, and others are telling us about the AI revolution and the lack of enthusiasm from the people who are learning about these new AI features and trying to use them in the real world.
CNET survey: Just 11% of people upgrade their phone for AI features. Here's what they want instead
Don't get me wrong, there's a lot to be excited about. If you've used one of these generative AI tools to summarize a 500-page document for you, help you write a recommendation letter, or translate a document from a relatively obscure language into English, then you've gotten a taste of how useful they can be in the right circumstances. And if you're a coder or a programmer, generative AI is a life-changer.
... continue reading