By Kevin Hawkins with Korey Hawkins | Vol. 2 Post 24
REAL AI is a human-created weekly roundup of all things AI in real estate and emerging AI innovations in other sectors likely to impact real estate. We post a new edition every Friday, and our free newsletter is delivered every Monday.
Will it be the Apple of your AI?
As we predicted two weeks ago, the tech world (and Wall Street) was abuzz this week about Apple’s AI-related announcements at its developer conference. Our take: most press reports were off the mark, lamenting how Apple is playing “catch up” when it comes to AI. Generative AI, yes. Overall AI? Not accurate.
In the last five years, Apple has quietly acquired more than 30 AI-related companies, making it the tech leader in AI acquisitions. But you would never know that from the reports out of Apple’s WWDC24. From The Financial Times (Can Apple catch up with its rivals in the AI race?) to the Wall Street Journal (How Apple Fell Behind in the AI ARMs Race) to even tech trades like CoinGeek (Apple plots massive AI unveiling to catch up with industry first-movers), Apple appears to be almost counted out when it comes to all things AI.
Hardly.
Apple continues to do what it has always done best: it has never been known for being the first to develop the newest technology. No, they did not invent the smartphone or the first tablet, but most people would guess Apple did.
What Apple does best is make the newest technology the coolest and make its tech work better for consumers than anything else.
It is doing the same thing with AI, even branding it Apple Intelligence.
Apple has a different take than Microsoft and Google, which drives the AI hype cycles by purposefully chasing AI headlines. Apple sees AI as a way to improve features rather than a product to push. Instead, they focus on the benefits AI brings to an Apple user.
When it comes to AI, Apple is more like a Vidalia than a Macintosh because of all the layers you have to peel back to appreciate how it is handling the AI revolution fully. If you look at the features it has announced over the last couple of years and what it unveiled this week, you will see an approach to AI that delivers a better experience to the Apple consumer.
Again, Apple has been branded as playing catchup with iPhone features that Android phones had first, but somehow, Apple continues to remain on top. Why? Because they take a good idea and make it great, and they take a great idea and make it the best.
We think Apple will continue to take a better approach to AI. Leading with their on-device strategy will, over time, leave others in the dust, just as they have in the past when counted as laggers. If being a lagger is what it takes to get it right, that will be a good thing for AI.
PS Yes, this AI newsletter is created on a Mac, and we both own iPhones, so we drink the Apple Kool-Aid. (-Kevin)
Apple Intelligence could be the AI game-changer
If you are like most real estate professionals (and us), your life is on your iPhone, right? Misplace it, and you have an instant panic attack. Apple knows that, and the AI it is integrating into the next generation of that supercomputer in your pocket will make it more valuable to you than ever.
Apple AI focuses on these four Ps: personal, practical, powerful, and private. Let’s unpack a few key items Apple revealed this week, some practical stuff real estate agents should love.
- Finally, Siri will no longer be stupid. Siri will help you fill in a PDF form, including tasks like searching your photo library for a picture of your driver’s license, scanning your DL number, and inputting it in the right spot.
- Free real-time audio transcriptions will be added to the Notes app.
- The integration of AI into Notes, Mail, Pages, and other Apple Apps will allow users to summarize, rewrite, and proofread (is that the sound of Grammarly shaking in its boots?).
- New photo editing capabilities that are as good or better than Google: removing objects, text-based editing commands, specific element changes (hat, hair, eye color), and more.
- Need to find something in an email a client sent you? Or was it in a text? No worries, as Siri searches for both.
- Ask Siri, “When does my out-of-town buyer’s plane land?” and Siri hunts and retrieves the answer.
- A new AI-assisted focus mode, “reduce interruptions,” finds your most important notifications and silences most others.
- The Photos app will help you avoid seeing unwanted content, like screenshots and receipts.
- Using machine learning, the Safari browser will now create highlights and summaries from Web pages.
- Notes adds handwriting features. If you take notes with an Apple Pen, it mimics your writing style and can improve its legibility.
- Free ChatGPT will take over when a question is too complex for Siri to answer, but it always asks for permission first. Privacy features mean this data is not stored in ChatGPT or used to train ChatGPT. No ChatGPT account is needed, but if you have one, you’ll get access to even more features. Also, expect other chatbot integrations in the future.
- Eventually, Siri will answer questions using the context of what’s on your screen.
The big picture:
- Apple is turning the iPhone into a personal assistant that can actually do stuff for you. As a “context engine,” your Apple assistant will understand you based on your information and what you consume and will be able to determine the people who matter most to you.
- 9 to 5 Mac reports that Apple is not paying OpenAI to use ChatGPT, and OpenAI is not paying Apple. The article notes Apple “believes that the exposure (its) iOS 18 integration is giving OpenAI” is worth as much or more than cash. The longer-term play: Apple will get a cut in the future from rev-share deals from AI partners that “monetize results in chatbots on Apple platforms.”
- Apple has the edge when it comes to privacy and building customer trust. Our iPhones contain an enormous amount of personal data, and combining these two things gives Apple an edge over other AI competitors, including Google.
Finally, a few things that serve Apple better than it does its customers:
- One reason Apple stock did so well after the announcement is that Wall Street figured out that the hot new AI-empowered features mean more people will see their iPhones as outdated, speeding up the replacement cycle. That translates into more $$$ for Apple.
- Many of the coolest features announced (this was a developer’s conference, after all) are coming in the fall, or 2025.
- The biggest obstacle for most of us is that you must have an iPhone Pro 15 or newer, or a Mac or iPad with an M-series chip.
Footnote: The cynical side of me ponders if Apple Intelligence is all about making your newish phone, tablet, and computer obsolete even faster, so you will have to buy a new one, introducing a new kind of AI: Automatically Irrelevant. (-Kevin)
AI Fast Facts
- 46% of business owners use AI for their internal communications – Forbes
- 4 out of 5 executives surveyed believe generative AI will change employee skills and roles – IBM
- 92% of U.S.-based developers in large companies use an AI coding tool – GitHub
- 65% of C-Suite executives surveyed stated they are comfortable with adopting AI into their business practices – Qualtrics
- 79% of marketers believe that AI improves the quality of the content they create – HubSpot
Source: Synthesia (-Korey)
AI Headlines
Your Next Real Estate Agent Could Be AI. But Should It Be? | 6/13/24 CNET
AI Agent Joy may be coming this summer but lacks the knowledge needed to close the deal.
Flyhomes launches AI-powered search tool after deal for ZeroDown | 6/11/24 Seattle Inno
Another entry that is using AI to change the way buyers search online.
Avenue 8 to shut down brokerage operations, turn to AI app | 6/11/24 The Real Deal
Sidekick, Avenue 8’s new AI app, will be its exclusive focus starting in August.
Apple Intelligence: A Guide to Apple’s AI-In-Everything Strategy | 6/11/24 The Wall Street Journal
What you need to know about what’s coming to your iPhone.
AI Models Decode Dogs’ Moods, Breeds Through Barks | 6/10/24 AI Business
AI speech recognition will soon help you understand your dog better.
MUST READ: Luma Dream Machine makes mind-blowing AI video open to all | 6/14/24 Creative Bloq
Unlike Sora, anyone can try it now, and the realistic imaging, like Sora, is mind-blowing. (Bonus video here) (-Korey)
AI Quote of the Week
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