I just killed “Apple Intelligence” on my device.

hank

Apple Intelligence feature was introduced a couple months ago with the IOS 18 upgrade. I figured the purpose was to make Siri smarter. To no avail. She’s still dumber than a rock.

But what I noticed was that when my incoming emails showed up in my Apple Mail App, instead of showing the first few words of the incoming message (as normal), the App was first reading the entire contents and then posting a short summary in its own words. Some of these summaries were close. Some were very incorrect and misleading. None had it completely accurate. One made it sound as if an acquaintance were requesting a favor of sorts when that was not what the message said.

There seems to be no setting to turn off AI for only mail. So I torched the entire function by toggling off AI completely You have to wonder how much of our daily email correspondence is being stored in the cloud somewhere or - even worse - summarized by AI and stored inaccurately. (I know - 100%, but this new wrinkle is still spooky)

Gosh - Maybe Buffett was right to start dumping Apple stock about the time this feature was introduced. Never underestimate the guy. Without checking, ISTM the stock has been sliding of late. And I wonder what Jobbs would have thought of this new AI feature as it’s being used?

Just checked: AAPL -14% past 6 months, but positive for longer periods

Old_Joe

I've been an Apple/Mac person since day One, back in the 90's. But they have morphed into the Big Brother Who Knows All and Best. I don't trust them at all now.

Anna

@Old_Joe So, my computer guru guy, who can you place any trust in now?

Old_Joe

U'mmm... let me get back to you on that one...

Sven

Apple Intelligence feature was introduced a couple months ago with the IOS 18 upgrade. I figured the purpose was to make Siri smarter. To no avail. She’s still dumber than a rock.

Siri is useful but has its limitations. We speak into it to find specific contact for driving direction; useful in the dark after pick up a rental car.

Apple was fined recently for unauthorized sharing user data with third parties. Probably it is telling someone that I prefer Dutch Brother coffee than those from Starbuck.

Crash

Privacy is gone. Has been that way for some years. If gummint should ever decide again to do what government is supposed to do (serve PEOPLE) then at least the theft of our privacy might be a bit slowed-down. But every time I turn around, the cry is heard, near and far: "deregulation!" Yes, deregulation is needed to some extent. But look what happened after Phil Gramm of TX got his way, with the repeal of Glass-Steagall.

hank

Sven said:

Siri is useful but has its limitations. We speak into it to find specific contact for driving direction; useful in the dark after pick up a rental car.

Agree. Siri can read a map frontwards and backwards. I was totally impressed by the assistance I received on a couple recent 3+ hour drives on unfamiliar roads. But that’s not intelligence. That’s not higher level thinking. That’s memory “recall” which computers have been capable of for decades. Albeit, the availability of GPS + cellular connectivity made it possible.

To test Siri’s intelligence (higher level thinking skills) I I just told her to compare the singing style of Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan. Siri’s response: “Here’s Willie Nelson” - And Willie began to sing. : (That’s not an aberration. That’s typical of my experiences with this robot.) AI promises so much more than we are being afforded (and paying for.

Added note: Tonight’s PBS News Hour featured a segment on how AI is causing medical patient distress and confusion. Some clinics are having AI listen in on patient / doctor conversations, summarize them (in the same way my emails were being summarized) and then transcribe / write them into the official medical history. Often the result has been inaccurate, false, even racist comments being written into patients’ files, The term used by computer engineers for this phenomenon is ” Hallucinations”.

Anna

hank said:

To test Siri’s intelligence (higher level thinking skills) I I just told her to compare the singing style of Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan. Siri’s response: “Here’s Willie Nelson” - And Willie began to sing. : (That’s not an aberration. That’s typical of my experiences with this robot. AI promises so much more than we are being afforded (and paying for).

I put this same task to Google's search AI overview. Here was the result:

While both Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan are iconic singer-songwriters with distinctive voices, Nelson's style is generally considered smoother and more melodic with a consistent vibrato, while Dylan's voice is often described as raspy, sometimes mumbled, and intentionally less polished, with a greater emphasis on lyrical delivery and character than pure vocal quality; essentially, Nelson aims for a more traditional, pleasing sound while Dylan embraces a unique, sometimes rough-edged vocal style that reflects his poetic lyrics.
Key Differences:
Vocal Quality:
Nelson has a warm, rich tenor voice with a noticeable vibrato, making his singing easily recognizable, while Dylan's voice is often described as gravelly and sometimes difficult to understand, particularly in his early career.
Delivery:
Nelson sings with a more consistent pitch and smooth phrasing, often delivering a conversational tone, whereas Dylan can vary his pitch and intonation significantly to emphasize the meaning of his lyrics, sometimes even bordering on speaking rather than singing.
Influences:
Nelson draws heavily from traditional country music, leading to a more polished vocal style, while Dylan's early influences from folk music like Woody Guthrie contributed to his raw and sometimes deliberately rough vocal delivery.

It appears to id the comparison as singers and to access a set of attributes for the comparison. Then, apparently (and I say apparently) finds a set of already stated descriptions of those atttributes. Maybe or maybe not, just reports what it found. Maybe or maybe not, tries to reconcile what it finds and come up with a consensus?

I rather doubt it went away and "listened" (electronic listen - signal processing/comparisions) and formed the proper vocabulary to describe the result.

hank

Awesome! Thanks @Anna