11 ms·

Gross Apple Marketing

252 points by mrzool 2y ago

tw04 2y ago
I’m not sure if the author noticed, but the intent of the commercials is to be humorous. If the image of a middle aged man writing an email like he’s in middle school didn’t tip the author off, I’m not sure what will.
- kylebenzle 2y ago
  I think the author is trying to discuss how common lying has become. How it seems like nobody is expected to be honest anymore and everybody's just getting away with whatever they can get away with. How narcissism is an American disease and it's spreading fast do to companies like Apple, Facebook and online dating learning how to profit off it.
  - tomfly 2y ago
    How is narcissism an American disease?
    - dingnuts 2y ago
      any universally appearing personality trait can be attributed to a whole nation with one easy trick: racism!
    - lm28469 2y ago
      https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-11/study-the-world-sees-americans-as-disorder-level-narcissists https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-11/study-the... I think the only way to not be aware of this trend is to be american
      - kylebenzle 2y ago
        Thank you for this article, many of us American's see it too!
  - switch007 2y ago
    Right! It's one thing to accept marketing teams lying about their products, but now they are promoting lying!
  - troyvit 2y ago
    I think you nailed it. And coming from Apple, the company that established its cred by touting creativity, individuality, and innovating, it's a wild shift. Apple in 1997 [1]: "Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do." Apple today: "Very Victorian, which I loved." [1] https://thebrandhopper.com/2023/08/20/apple-top-commercials-and-brand-campaigns/ https://thebrandhopper.com/2023/08/20/apple-top-commercials-...
- qsort 2y ago
  I don't think the problem is with the tone, but rather with the messaging. All AI-related marketing has been along the lines of "let the computer think for you" rather than "use the computer to think better", infantilizing rather than empowering the user. From the bicycle of the mind to the tricycle of the mind.
  - skydhash 2y ago
    s/tricycle/wheelchair/
    - ucosty 2y ago
      More like one of those hover chairs from Wall-E
  - tonyedgecombe 2y ago
    Sadly that's what most users expect. They don't want to be bothered with learning and understanding, they just want a quick result now with as little effort as possible.
- HumblyTossed 2y ago
  > I’m not sure if the author noticed, but the intent of the commercials is to be humorous. The birthday one was in no way meant to be humorous.
  - ceejayoz 2y ago
    It absolutely was. May have missed the mark for many, but the scenario depicted is certainly intended to be funny. "Oh shit, we said no presents but the kids did some!"
  - rob74 2y ago
    Not sure if it's not meant to be humorous - at least it uses (and reverses) several well-known tropes: - "we said no gifts" - right... so you're the only one who actually followed that? Well, bad luck! - usually it's the husband forgetting the wife's birthday, not the other way around. - ...and finally, I'd like to quote Jesus himself: "He who is without sin can cast the first stone" - this ad (and the others) show situations most of us have been in, so they're at least relatable.
- jawilson2 2y ago
  It's like the Google Pixel ads showing how you can take a picture, and change all of the scenery with AI. Nothing is real, and you can't trust anything you see or hear. I would be pretty disappointed in my wife if she A) forgot my birthday, and B) spent 10 seconds putting together a photo collage using AI. I would expect her to feel the same. Personal and financial circumstances aside, it IS the thought that counts, and all of these ads seem to be saying it is fine to offload thinking to your trusty AI companion. It's not really humorous, it is dystopian. Also, those ads showing different AIs acting like HAL but saying "the future doesn't have to be scary" are terrifying. In one the woman is locked in her house by her AI-bot, and uses a menacing tone, doesn't let her leave until she grabs her water bottle. In another, a man is in a self-driving car, which changes routes and takes him to a surprise birthday party. It is NOT a leap to go from these to hearing actual cases where "woman is trapped in her apartment and dies in a fire because the AI wouldn't unlock her door (or AI died first in the fire)", or "self-driving Tesla is hacked by the cartel/abusive ex and drives passenger to their death." I want NO part of the future they are selling.
  - HumblyTossed 2y ago
    I would rather my SO just tell me they forgot. Then we could have an honest conversation about why. That, I believe, is what you should do in a marriage.
    - moralestapia 2y ago
      >Then we could have an honest conversation about why. It doesn't even need to be a conversation. Humans forget things. "Oh damn, I forgot! Let's grab dinner tonight!" or w/e, that's all people need.
      - HumblyTossed 2y ago
        I don't disagree, but sometimes there could be something else going on.
    - boogieknite 2y ago
      In my marriage i have been slowly trying to move my birthday back one day at a time. After 3 years of effort ive successfully moved it back 1 day and my spouse still gets confused if its 1 or 2 days later, all due to my active efforts. I dont believe anyone should do this in a marriage, but they could!
- devmor 2y ago
  I didn’t think they were humorous. If that was the intention, I question the moral baseline of those who wrote them and those that find them funny. To me they looked bleak, depressing and evocative of a culture that views giving respect to other people as an annoyance that needs an app to make it go away.
  - 10729287 2y ago
    Me neither. And it will be funny for some until it's not anymore. I don't like how those, for now, useful ai tools, will dissposses us from our creativity and ability to make things by ourself in the future. It will be fast and hit hard.
- lm28469 2y ago
  Is that because "AI" use cases are a joke ?
- raverbashing 2y ago
  Correct I wonder how much of (people self diagnosing themselves with) autism is actually related to other circumstances like lack of media literacy, lack of familiarity with social circles/norms (or lack of cultural knowledge) The Ubuntu ad is not bad certainly but it is meh, and where it lacks is where it goes on the tech mode.
bowsamic 2y ago
I agree those ads are pretty concerning and reinforcing bad human behaviours, but the Ubuntu one shown is boring and vague animations. Hardly a good comparison. Who cares about those?
- jfoster 2y ago
  I like Ubuntu but agree that this post would've been better off without the comparison. Let's just ignore it. The Apple Intelligence ads really are sending a terrible message. Humanity needs more honesty, not a higher pile of lies.
  - bowsamic 2y ago
    I don't think it will be possible to ignore it, the bad comparison makes the author seem confused and unreliable
- xanderlewis 2y ago
  Overly techie people can’t comprehend marketing and think it shouldn’t even exist. Most Linux users probably think advertising should consist of a bulleted list of features and bugs (set in a standard, easy to read font — none of that hipster shit) followed by the price, perhaps conveniently divided by the expected lifetime of the product.
- iolo 2y ago
  I feel there's a lack of respect for the person being interacted with in these ads. They all end too soon to show the consequences of transparent AI use and imply the other character has never heard of AI. More accurate endings would be: - "I thought we told Warren to stop uploading company emails to chatgpt." - "A photo collage?!, after I spent a week building you that new console table for your birthday."
edweis 2y ago
It's the first time I've seen an advertisement for Ubuntu. Are they getting ready to get new users dissatisfied by Apple's AI?
- Mainsail 2y ago
  Well, it is the year of Linux on the desktop.
  - r3trohack3r 2y ago
    Now that everyone is using laptops, it’s the year of the Linux desktop. The old clunkers under our desks are all Linux.
  - FeepingCreature 2y ago
    Remarkable then, how that entire advertisement managed to not mention Linux once in its entire 85 seconds of runtime.
    - moooo99 2y ago
      That actually makes a lot of sense. If a companies tries to capture non technical users, telling users what kernel the system you’re trying to sell makes little sense
    - amatecha 2y ago
      Yeh, they don't want to give credit to anyone else, only giving attention to "Ubuntu". Even at the end when it says some literal credits, it only cites Ubuntu "and other open source software" (which is almost undoubtedly Blender). Another example of Canonical's extractive approach to the Linux ecosystem (IMO).
thrwaway1985882 2y ago
> I’ve watched that little animation several times, and they tell a better story in a minute twenty-five than all of Apple’s AI commercials combined. If I showed that video to someone who isn't steeped in decades of Linux, I suspect they'd ask me what an Ubuntu is. As compared to the "schlub writes an email" video, which was compelling, funny, and actually shows the product they're marketing.
- Zanfa 2y ago
  It was exactly like every other enterprise animated product video. Random words with some electronic music. I was actually expecting "synergy" to pop up.
  - amatecha 2y ago
    At least they got one noteworthy "hit" on the jargon bingo card: "performant" -_-
- foobarian 2y ago
  Heh. That "little animation" is so generic, you could have substituted Ubuntu with Windows or MacOS and everything they showed would have been valid.
  - vundercind 2y ago
    Right—what "story"? "The appearance of desktop computers has changed over the period of time that Ubuntu has existed"? What does this thing do for me? Especially, what does it do for me that other platforms don't, or that I might not expect it would do for me?
- repelsteeltje 2y ago
  Is there somewhere I can watch the Apple ad(s)? I don't understand what or who this schlub is.
  - ceejayoz 2y ago
longtimelistnr 2y ago
I think people still aren't accepting that Steve Jobs era marketing and product development left with the man. Apple is fundamentally different and is never going back.
- bigstrat2003 2y ago
  Marketing yes, product development no. Jobs was a salesman, not an engineer or designer. He didn't contribute to the product of Apple despite his reputation for doing so.
  - xanderlewis 2y ago
    Steve Jobs didn’t contribute to the product of Apple? Are you sure?
  - briandear 2y ago
    Ridiculous. I worked at Apple and if you have the correct permissions, you can see old Radars that Steve himself wrote and also the comments on them. He was profoundly insightful and absolutely drove product development. An absolute myth that he was just a “salesman.” Many people who comment on Apple have never actually worked there and they think some curated history book tells the real story. Go have a conversation with Eddie Cue or Craig Federighi about Steve. Or even Jony Ive. Perhaps talk to some of the original Lisa and Mac teams.
Apreche 2y ago
I was already bothered by the Apple Watch marketing. The messaging there is total fear. Buy an Apple Watch or literally die. Also, get them for your children or they will die too. The messaging that AI is for lying is another big yikes. Apple marketing department has lost the magic.
- ziddoap 2y ago
  >The messaging there is total fear. Buy an Apple Watch or literally die. Also, get them for your children or they will die too. Is there a specific advertisement you're referring to here, or just all apple watch advertisements? I haven't really seen any ads for the apple watch, and I am curious if this is an exaggeration. I'm assuming by "literally" you meant "metaphorically", but I'd like to look up which ad you are referencing to get an idea of what you mean. Edit: I've watched the ads. They are not in great taste, in my opinion, however they also did not tell me I would literally die if I don't buy an Apple Watch.
  - sickofparadox 2y ago
    I believe this is the ad being described by GP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRwkZWowI8o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRwkZWowI8o
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
  - DHPersonal 2y ago
    This is the kind of ad people take issue with. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRwkZWowI8o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRwkZWowI8o / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k4VVgmuNvU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k4VVgmuNvU / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dD0rUo1wZds https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dD0rUo1wZds Or a similar crash detection feature in iPhone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWBFF9R3VmU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWBFF9R3VmU / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsAL36M8bwE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsAL36M8bwE
  - 2y ago
ahstilde 2y ago
If you think the Ubuntu ad is telling a story, I'd ask you what the story is.
- jfoster 2y ago
  It's just a very standard ad. A lot better than these horrible ads from Apple, though.
  - hbn 2y ago
    It doesn't even give a hint as to what it's an ad for. You could not air that on TV and expect anyone who didn't already know of/use Ubuntu to know what it's advertising. Something about a computer, and there's privacy? You think "certified" means anything to anyone outside of tech circles?
- briandear 2y ago
  What is it selling? And where do you buy it? It’s a terrible ad.
illwrks 2y ago
Appple are speaking to the “Everyman”, Canonical are speaking to the tech literate. Different audiences, Apple has power users, but its largest audience is an average person (my wife for example). The average person doesn’t care about tech, they want it to work, work well enough and be dependable. Linux is can be a minefield, and Windows is a mess IMO.
- preinheimer 2y ago
  I'd really like to hold onto the belief that "make lying easier" doesn't speak to the everyman for just a little bit longer please.
  - the_other 2y ago
    Lying can be seen as a sign of intelligence. Are you saying you hope “everyman” stays dumb? I’m just being provocative to highlight this is a subtle issue. I agree with the general sentiment that Apple shouldn’t be encouraging ppl to lie. I found the actress kying to her colleague one quite tasteless. That said, this all sums up how I feel about generative AI at the moment: a solution looking for a problem.
- ellisv 2y ago
  Apple also shows while Canonical tells. The average person doesn't care about an animation of a terminal or a chip with 3d composited "Performant" or "Secure" text. They care about "what can this thing do".
  - AlexandrB 2y ago
    The Ubuntu ad could also have been for any version of Ubuntu since 14.04, or maybe even earlier. There's nothing that distinguishes 24.04 in there from what I can tell.
    - eddd-ddde 2y ago
      Clearly you missed the change to the background image then.
j45 2y ago
While this post is about the authors own video being better and less cringe than Apple’s videos, the Apple videos might not be for me, and trying to say Apple’s AI is for everyone, including people who aren’t perfect. The scenarios could have been different or better to me. But maybe I’m not the target audience, and iPhone is the beginner smartphone that almost anyone can use.
hggigg 2y ago
AI is mostly about selling something no one needs to people who don't need it. I think they nailed it there. The Ubuntu ad looks cheap.
abalone 2y ago
He had my attention until he posted that mind-numbingly generic Ubuntu ad. Most people would tune that out in seconds. I’m kind of glad Apple is putting a touch more flavor in their ads.
devin 2y ago
I think this is mostly just a problem of not having good reasons to sell AI products to consumers in the first place. I recently saw some Ray Ban Meta glasses ads. One of them had a guy ask the glasses to describe what was in front of his face, and then he remarked “wow that’s accurate” (there are people skateboarding). The guy wasn’t blind. His use of the glasses made little sense. Another ad has a young man asking his glasses how to dress for fall and then blindly following the suggestions like they’ve never dressed themselves before. It was embarrassing to watch. A third ad has someone ask their glasses how to decorate for a disco theme party, and then they implement the very mediocre suggestions. None of these things required AI, it’s just kind of “there”, and companies are like “idk maybe people will use our AI to like… dress themselves? or something?”
- jfoster 2y ago
  No way! There are definitely legitimate use-cases for all of the features demoed in these ads, but Apple's marketing took a darker path. Email to boss: could've been someone who had a genuine struggle with language using it to finally get their boss to notice the effort they put into their work. Remembering a name: could've used it to get the name and left it at them being impressed rather than making it a lie. Summarizing email: could've used it when in a hurry at work whilst someone sent an extremely long email. Video memories: could've used it for two people to share a nostalgic moment together without making it a lie.
  - briandear 2y ago
    Ernest Hemingway once said, “I’m sorry for the long letter, I didn’t have time for a shorter one.” With Apple Intelligence, now you do.
    - B56b 2y ago
      That's a Blaise Pascal quote actually.
    - BobaFloutist 2y ago
      Why would I take the time to read a letter you couldn't be bothered to take the time to write?
AlexandrB 2y ago
> lie about remembering an acquaintance’s name. That's a heck of a reach. Is it also a lie if I ask my partner what someone's name is when I forget? The email writing one is pretty innocuous as well. Grammarly has been running basically the same ad for the last 5 years. I agree the others are not so great.
- jsnell 2y ago
  Asking about someone's name is isn't the lie. Bragging to them about how you remembered their name is. And the latter is the scenario in this ad: > 0:16 Bella: Zac! > 0:17 Zac: Oh wow, I didn't think you'd remember me. > 0:19 Bella: Yeah of course, as soon a I saw you I'm like, it's Zac, nobody walks like Zac.
fazeirony 2y ago
when the largest company in the world is telling you that lying is the main sell of AI....i guess lying is the new honesty in 2024? smfh lmfao
dagmx 2y ago
This article is a prime example of why tech literate people aren’t inherently strong marketers for tech. What does the Ubuntu ad say to the user? How does it capture someone’s attention? None of the ad tells me why this is something worth paying attention to versus other distros or OSs, it doesn’t even tell me it’s about the OS at all unless I already know what Ubuntu is. Contrast with the Apple ads that tell you exactly what they want in the same time frame. Apple ads have always been tongue in cheek, and have always had a portion of people rubbed the wrong way because they took it too literally. But at the end of the day, barring the few missteps like the crush ad, they seem to work for the target audience. I find a lot of technical folk seem to struggle with “I don’t like it therefore it must be bad” and would have failed basically any media analysis class in college as a result. Similarly, the author falls into the “I like Ubuntu and this ad” and hasn’t stopped to think about how it plays to anyone but himself. It’s a really self centered outlook and one that means they’d never be able to market to others.
- nordsieck 2y ago
  > What does the Ubuntu ad say to the user? How does it capture someone’s attention? Exactly. Contrary to the article, it doesn't tell a story at all. It's just some slick-ish graphics with a few words overlayed on top. They're nice words. But they didn't really embrace "show, don't tell".
  - iamtheworstdev 2y ago
    i have no idea what the ubuntu ad is trying to tell me, but OPs points on the Apple ads still seem pretty relevant.
    - imp0cat 2y ago
      The Ubuntu ad is mostly about emotions. The main message is `sudo apt install btop`. But most people who use Linux already have this htop replacement installed.
- bee_rider 2y ago
  I remember iPods being advertised as, like, very cool. Remember all the ads with, like, the silhouettes dancing on colorful backgrounds? I can see thinking these ads were a bit over the top and silly, like a corporate ad exec’s idea of what is cool, but they definitely intended to be cool. The people in these new ads are lame and clearly Apple intends to portray them as lame.
bee_rider 2y ago
I dunno if the birthday video ad is really, like, gross. I guess the main character is sort of dishonest, but it isn’t a huge thing really. It is pretty depressing though. The main character is just kind of tired and sad.
FollowingTheDao 2y ago
The problem with the ad that no one is touching on is that it makes the consumer look like an idiot or a lazy, disingenuous person. "You need AI because you are lazy and stupid and do not care about honesty and accountability."
bobobob420 2y ago
I agree unlike other commenters here that the apple intelligence ads try too hard to be quirky and appease this weird flavour of incompetence being popular. Theres nothing inspiring or awe inducing about the ad that induces excitement about technology
CharlieDigital 2y ago
I work at a startup in the AI space. We've been working with it for over a year now and I'm of the mind that AI, in it's current state, really isn't a tool meant for an end user to interact with. It feels like it's the most useful when it's transparent and you -- as an end user -- don't know that there's an LLM in the process. The best use cases seem to be those that don't require an end consumer to directly interact with an AI, but their journey through some process is assisted by an AI instead. The problem is that a lot of the marketing -- like these examples and Google's very misguided "Write me a letter" to an Olympian -- exists because companies keep trying to make "fetch" happen; the AI becomes the journey instead of being an assistant in that journey. Amazon's Rufus is a prime example. It's tucked away as a button that one has to activate explicitly. But it would almost be better if it could just clean up the search results when I do a search and a bunch of junk is returned.
- empath75 2y ago
  There's basically two places where I see it as being useful -- as part of an automation pipeline where you need some translation layer from natural language to structured data or vice versa, and when the user knows it's an LLM and _wants to interact with an LLM_. I never want to see LLM generated content as an end user when I haven't specifically asked for it.
  - CharlieDigital 2y ago
    I agree with those. The use case our startup is working is one more that I think really works well: why are you showing me these results? Our product basically takes any search output and uses our internal knowledge graph for our clients to "explain" to the customer "why these results for this query/question?" We use the same knowledge graph to then extend our client's native search results with much more relevant results using the LLM to better match results to the semantic intent of the question. It's all quite nifty and transparent; the user wouldn't know that there's an AI involved without labeling it as AI generated.
- candiddevmike 2y ago
  I absolutely despise rufus. I used to be able to search questions and reviews instantaneously. Now I need to wait for rufus to poorly summarize everything, tap at least 2-3 times, and then get to see the search results. Talk about piss poor UX.
crowcroft 2y ago
The Ubuntu animation tells me nothing a short bullet point list couldn't. If you're going to create a video, show me something. Don't just tell Ubuntu is secure and put little boxes around a few icons – show me that Ubuntu is secure. I don't love the Apple ads, but they are at least showing me some evidence of the features they're saying exist in Apple Intelligence.
- cjpearson 2y ago
  The comparison is a great example of the "show don't tell" cliche that English teachers love.
alsetmusic 2y ago
I am terrible with names. If I use my phone to remind me the name of a person who I describe to my phone where and when I met a person, I wouldn’t classify that as a lie. This is a stretch. I remember the person. I remember the interaction. I remember where and when we met. I just can’t remember names, even of people who I work with but only bump into sporadically. I call bs. Edit: the ad in question: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPe8revsg3k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPe8revsg3k
victor106 2y ago
Sorry, but I don’t see them as the author. I love these ads.
- bar000n 2y ago
  They are lovely indeed. Apple seems to be big enough to make fun of the AI fiasco.
gbanfalvi 2y ago
What is this "Ubuntu" and how can I use it? As a consumer, what does it mean to me that it's "Certified"? Certified in what? Apple's ads show you the product, how you can use it and how you and the people around you feel after using it (like you took a sneaky shortcut and happy, respectively).
empath75 2y ago
I agree that the ads miss their mark, and I think a better ad would have instead focused on how it could have _prevented_ the awkward situation to begin with, rather than awkwardly helping you cover it up after the fact.
addicted 2y ago
I’m not so sure about the Canonical ad, but the Apple ones are really bad. I clicked on those thinking that the author may be overstating things but those ads are really really bad. There’s basically 2 messages they’re promoting (the office worker one seems to be promoting a different message from the other 3). The first ad: - You’re a loser and Apple Intelligence will make you look like less of a loser in an email. But also people will look at you, see you as the loser you are, and then immediately be suspicious about that email you sent. The other 3: - Apple Intelligence will make you an even more efficient psychopath and make you great at manipulating loved ones and people who are interested in you. WTF, Apple. The quality of Apple advertising has taken a huge hit over the past decade or so. But these ads go beyond just the anodyne nature of their previous advertising. This stuff is truly deranged.
transcriptase 2y ago
FedEx should licence their model that’s meant to frustrate users into giving up trying to speak to a human. Earlier it told me that it looked into my parcel tracking details and assured me that it was on schedule for delivery, so it wasn’t able to let me connect to an agent. Except I hadn’t yet given it any tracking number.
knallfrosch 2y ago
The blog entry suffers from congratulating the mediocre Ubuntu ad, but it's right about the vile Apple ads. The Apple ads are dystopian and revulsive. She really pulls out her phone while talking to a person and then lies to her face. A wife and mother forgets dad's birthday and smugly "gifts" him 50 auto-playing photos, as shown on her phone screen?
- throwaway106382 2y ago
  Ubuntu nothwistanding, I found the Apple ads quite offensive. Ads tell you what the company thinks about it's target audience and clearly Apple thinks we're all just a bunch of bumbling fools that can't do anything without our phones. Compared to this Samsung Galaxy S24 FE, which frames everything as something that can help you out and is fun and quirky: https://youtu.be/GZ-xGBTvtO4 https://youtu.be/GZ-xGBTvtO4 I've been using Mac as my workhorse my entire career, switched from Android to iPhone recently. These ads are actually making me reconsider what my next hardware upgrades are going to be.
  - cmiller1 2y ago
    > Apple thinks we're all just a bunch of bumbling fool He's out of line, but he's right.
    - throwaway106382 2y ago
      I'm fully aware that Apple has always targeted people who are less tech literate, but this is just another level.
tr3ntg 2y ago
The really funny thing about the "lies about birthday present" one is that the wife asks the AI to make a Woodworking Memory Video, and while they're watching it, it looks like a beach vacation photo is included in the mix. For a second I forgot where I was, and thought she'd be found out, then remembered it's an ad, and everyone is impressed. Maybe the image is actually related to the woodworking? But I couldn't help but think, "that's about right - a random, ill-fitting photo"
- Suppafly 2y ago
  >the wife asks the AI to make a Woodworking Memory Video, and while they're watching it, it looks like a beach vacation photo is included in the mix What's funny is that google photos sorta makes these sort of random little videos all the time for you and asks if you want to see them. It also suffers from the issue of not really understanding the context from some of the pictures it pulls in. But this is a thing that's been around for a few years, like a lot of things, apple is late to the game but pretending they invented it.
  - eddd-ddde 2y ago
    I love google photos little albums and creations. I am the kind of person that almost nevers looks at pictures on their own, so when I get a google photos notifications I always get watch them and get to remember cool memories.
    - Suppafly 2y ago
      yeah I like them, it's just weird what they pull in sometimes. the ones with my kids often seem to always include the same pictures too, so I always end up seeing this one specific one of my son in basically every slideshow. I wonder if it meets some criteria for being colorful or something.
_boffin_ 2y ago
Vibing off the name of the post’s title, I think the fact that Apple sends all Siri and Dictation’s transcripts to Apple without the ability to disallow that behavior, even if all processing happens on device kind of sickening.
joshdavham 2y ago
> I’ve watched that little [Canonical] animation several times, and they tell a better story in a minute twenty-five than all of Apple’s AI commercials combined. I'm afraid I disagree here. While I do find the Apple ads a tad obnoxious, they speak to the problems of normal people and how Apple Intelligence can directly solve these problems. How many people haven't forgotten a birthday, forgotten someone's name or felt stupid while writing an email? The Canonical animation on the other hand, while cool, doesn't communicate to me that it understands my problems and is going to help me fix them. Here's the full transcript of the Canonical ad: "Modern, Private, Performant, Secure, Supported, Certified, Everywhere, For Everyone, for You". This is comparing apples to oranges.
paul7986 2y ago
Getting tired of being sold what may exist or will exist sometime in the future. How is this legal and now Apple is doing it? How is the fake it before you make it (make the actual product a reality for consumers to consume) strategy legal? This video was posted a month ago even when Apple Intelligence wasnt available at all and in any form https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPe8revsg3k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPe8revsg3k . Even present day after it was launched Siri can not do this. Start-ups and other tech companies are doing the whole fake it before you make it so Apple is too. Some recent examples...Open AI demoed and sold if you sign up you might get access to their version of H.E.R. yet Many months later its nowhere to be found yet surely that juiced their revenue. Does it really exist or it was a fake it before you make it demo? Similarly with Musk bringing out those robots implying they were AI driven yet later we learn they weren't. Isnt this all something called false advertising??
23B1 2y ago
I don't think this is gross, I think it's hilarious. My phone is supposed to be a heat sink for other people's B.S.
LeafItAlone 2y ago
In other words, Apple’s ads depict what people are actually going to use it for and already do (lie). I guess this is truth in marketing. Contrast that with the Canonical ad provided as an example in the article, which I found a waste of my time and closed it after 30 seconds, having learned nothing and not drawn to use the product.
diimdeep 2y ago
Holy Jobs, these Ads as if straight from the Black Mirror episode or that The Circle movie, unreal and sad, to the level of Idiocracy (2006) movie cringe.
luxuryballs 2y ago
I installed 18.1 last night and after finishing waitlist I promptly asked Siri if she could answer questions like chatGPT now, didn’t understand. I said what questions can I ask you then? She said “Ask away!” I asked the difference between watts and volts, “I don’t understand”, she understood nothing, I’m so confused! I was upgrading for these features so now I’m thinking of selling this 16 pro and buying a drum set because my 13 mini was easier to hold and apparently Siri isn’t getting any smarter according a the WSJ article yesterday.
neilv 2y ago
The consumer use cases of "AI" right now are mostly about cheating at work that one is still really supposed to do themselves. Maybe the ad people tried to come up with relatively palatable ones? Note that no one is cheating on their school homework, which is a huge consumer use case category. And no creative work was detectably plagiarized (art, code). Though they still did do employment slacking/incompetence gaining advantage, by increasing deceptive and time-wasting noise for everyone else. Or maybe that's the actual use cases of their target audience?
- EasyMark 2y ago
  If you get work done while using AI you clearly aren’t cheating, that’s what they pay you for, not for the drudgery it involves. If my employee can be more productive with AI so be it.
anonzzzies 2y ago
If it cannot write code, I am not very interested.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
parpfish 2y ago
i'm surprised he didn't bring up the ad with the parents playing with the new iphone in bed and make comments that their kids overhear and think something sexy is going on. i hate that ad because: a) they're not really even doing sexual innuendo, they're just saying things in a tone of voice that makes you think they're making racy comments b) why are the kids sitting outside the bedroom door listening? do they want to hear their parents doin' it?
sourcepluck 2y ago
Ahh. "Gross", meaning, the author thinks they should do a better job selling their products from a practical standpoint. At a push, if we wanted to try maintain a more essential meaning of "gross", I guess we could imagine that the author is saying that not doing an optimal job of selling your products is morally repugnant to them. Maybe that's true, I suppose. An example of Apple actually being gross in their marketing is using the word "privacy" to mislead people into thinking they have privacy when they use Apple's devices. It's security they are attempting to offer to users, not privacy. This intentional and somewhat subtle conflation of two terms in order to give people a false impression of Apple products is, in my opinion, properly gross.
drcongo 2y ago
> In another the same young woman again uses it to lie about reading an email from a college, to her face If only he'd let Apple Intelligence proof-read his blog post.
joshstrange 2y ago
The descriptions of the Apple Ads range from “less than charitable” to “that’s a bit of a stretch” but I’ll agree they don’t really do it for me. The “last minute video” and “sure I read your email” felt weird but the “remind me of this person’s name” was pretty cool IMHO. That said the Ubuntu ad at the end eroded what trust I might have put in this blog author’s taste in ads. It was boring and didn’t make me feel anything. In fact if you swapped out the desktop screenshot with Mac or Windows it wouldn’t change any of the meaning. It was borderline AI-generate-able which is ironic given its context.
couchdb_ouchdb 2y ago
"In one a schlub writes an email to his boss and uses AI to make it sound ‘more professional’, in another a young woman uses it to lie about remembering an acquaintance’s name. In another the same young woman again uses it to lie about reading an email from a college, to her face, while she’s sitting with her. In yet another, linked to recently by Scott McNulty, a woman uses AI to lie to her husband about getting him something for his birthday." My dude. These ads were supposed to be funny. Can apple not joke? When did we all get so serious?
retskrad 2y ago
Throughout Apple’s history, I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of their ad campaigns be as brazen and disingenuous as this Apple Intelligence one.
InsomniacL 2y ago
I'm a cynical person. The actor looks and acts a little bit weird, even their mannerisms. The other Actors are being dup'd by the Actor and her AI. I think this add is targeted at the people being dup'd in the ads. People associate the younger generation as a little bit weird and head of the curve wrt technology, and this Actor being younger and visibly a bit weird re-enforces that connection. This ad is saying, buy this new technology or you'll be getting dup'd too.

252 points by mrzool 2y ago

tw04 2y ago

I’m not sure if the author noticed, but the intent of the commercials is to be humorous. If the image of a middle aged man writing an email like he’s in middle school didn’t tip the author off, I’m not sure what will.

kylebenzle 2y ago
I think the author is trying to discuss how common lying has become. How it seems like nobody is expected to be honest anymore and everybody's just getting away with whatever they can get away with. How narcissism is an American disease and it's spreading fast do to companies like Apple, Facebook and online dating learning how to profit off it.
- tomfly 2y ago
  How is narcissism an American disease?
  - dingnuts 2y ago
    any universally appearing personality trait can be attributed to a whole nation with one easy trick: racism!
  - lm28469 2y ago
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-11/study-the-world-sees-americans-as-disorder-level-narcissists https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-11/study-the... I think the only way to not be aware of this trend is to be american
    - kylebenzle 2y ago
      Thank you for this article, many of us American's see it too!
- switch007 2y ago
  Right! It's one thing to accept marketing teams lying about their products, but now they are promoting lying!
- troyvit 2y ago
  I think you nailed it. And coming from Apple, the company that established its cred by touting creativity, individuality, and innovating, it's a wild shift. Apple in 1997 [1]: "Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do." Apple today: "Very Victorian, which I loved." [1] https://thebrandhopper.com/2023/08/20/apple-top-commercials-and-brand-campaigns/ https://thebrandhopper.com/2023/08/20/apple-top-commercials-...
qsort 2y ago
I don't think the problem is with the tone, but rather with the messaging. All AI-related marketing has been along the lines of "let the computer think for you" rather than "use the computer to think better", infantilizing rather than empowering the user. From the bicycle of the mind to the tricycle of the mind.
- skydhash 2y ago
  s/tricycle/wheelchair/
  - ucosty 2y ago
    More like one of those hover chairs from Wall-E
- tonyedgecombe 2y ago
  Sadly that's what most users expect. They don't want to be bothered with learning and understanding, they just want a quick result now with as little effort as possible.
HumblyTossed 2y ago
> I’m not sure if the author noticed, but the intent of the commercials is to be humorous. The birthday one was in no way meant to be humorous.
- ceejayoz 2y ago
  It absolutely was. May have missed the mark for many, but the scenario depicted is certainly intended to be funny. "Oh shit, we said no presents but the kids did some!"
- rob74 2y ago
  Not sure if it's not meant to be humorous - at least it uses (and reverses) several well-known tropes: - "we said no gifts" - right... so you're the only one who actually followed that? Well, bad luck! - usually it's the husband forgetting the wife's birthday, not the other way around. - ...and finally, I'd like to quote Jesus himself: "He who is without sin can cast the first stone" - this ad (and the others) show situations most of us have been in, so they're at least relatable.
jawilson2 2y ago
It's like the Google Pixel ads showing how you can take a picture, and change all of the scenery with AI. Nothing is real, and you can't trust anything you see or hear. I would be pretty disappointed in my wife if she A) forgot my birthday, and B) spent 10 seconds putting together a photo collage using AI. I would expect her to feel the same. Personal and financial circumstances aside, it IS the thought that counts, and all of these ads seem to be saying it is fine to offload thinking to your trusty AI companion. It's not really humorous, it is dystopian. Also, those ads showing different AIs acting like HAL but saying "the future doesn't have to be scary" are terrifying. In one the woman is locked in her house by her AI-bot, and uses a menacing tone, doesn't let her leave until she grabs her water bottle. In another, a man is in a self-driving car, which changes routes and takes him to a surprise birthday party. It is NOT a leap to go from these to hearing actual cases where "woman is trapped in her apartment and dies in a fire because the AI wouldn't unlock her door (or AI died first in the fire)", or "self-driving Tesla is hacked by the cartel/abusive ex and drives passenger to their death." I want NO part of the future they are selling.
- HumblyTossed 2y ago
  I would rather my SO just tell me they forgot. Then we could have an honest conversation about why. That, I believe, is what you should do in a marriage.
  - moralestapia 2y ago
    >Then we could have an honest conversation about why. It doesn't even need to be a conversation. Humans forget things. "Oh damn, I forgot! Let's grab dinner tonight!" or w/e, that's all people need.
    - HumblyTossed 2y ago
      I don't disagree, but sometimes there could be something else going on.
  - boogieknite 2y ago
    In my marriage i have been slowly trying to move my birthday back one day at a time. After 3 years of effort ive successfully moved it back 1 day and my spouse still gets confused if its 1 or 2 days later, all due to my active efforts. I dont believe anyone should do this in a marriage, but they could!
devmor 2y ago
I didn’t think they were humorous. If that was the intention, I question the moral baseline of those who wrote them and those that find them funny. To me they looked bleak, depressing and evocative of a culture that views giving respect to other people as an annoyance that needs an app to make it go away.
- 10729287 2y ago
  Me neither. And it will be funny for some until it's not anymore. I don't like how those, for now, useful ai tools, will dissposses us from our creativity and ability to make things by ourself in the future. It will be fast and hit hard.
lm28469 2y ago
Is that because "AI" use cases are a joke ?
raverbashing 2y ago
Correct I wonder how much of (people self diagnosing themselves with) autism is actually related to other circumstances like lack of media literacy, lack of familiarity with social circles/norms (or lack of cultural knowledge) The Ubuntu ad is not bad certainly but it is meh, and where it lacks is where it goes on the tech mode.

bowsamic 2y ago

I agree those ads are pretty concerning and reinforcing bad human behaviours, but the Ubuntu one shown is boring and vague animations. Hardly a good comparison. Who cares about those?

jfoster 2y ago
I like Ubuntu but agree that this post would've been better off without the comparison. Let's just ignore it. The Apple Intelligence ads really are sending a terrible message. Humanity needs more honesty, not a higher pile of lies.
- bowsamic 2y ago
  I don't think it will be possible to ignore it, the bad comparison makes the author seem confused and unreliable
xanderlewis 2y ago
Overly techie people can’t comprehend marketing and think it shouldn’t even exist. Most Linux users probably think advertising should consist of a bulleted list of features and bugs (set in a standard, easy to read font — none of that hipster shit) followed by the price, perhaps conveniently divided by the expected lifetime of the product.
iolo 2y ago
I feel there's a lack of respect for the person being interacted with in these ads. They all end too soon to show the consequences of transparent AI use and imply the other character has never heard of AI. More accurate endings would be: - "I thought we told Warren to stop uploading company emails to chatgpt." - "A photo collage?!, after I spent a week building you that new console table for your birthday."

edweis 2y ago

It's the first time I've seen an advertisement for Ubuntu. Are they getting ready to get new users dissatisfied by Apple's AI?

Mainsail 2y ago
Well, it is the year of Linux on the desktop.
- r3trohack3r 2y ago
  Now that everyone is using laptops, it’s the year of the Linux desktop. The old clunkers under our desks are all Linux.
- FeepingCreature 2y ago
  Remarkable then, how that entire advertisement managed to not mention Linux once in its entire 85 seconds of runtime.
  - moooo99 2y ago
    That actually makes a lot of sense. If a companies tries to capture non technical users, telling users what kernel the system you’re trying to sell makes little sense
  - amatecha 2y ago
    Yeh, they don't want to give credit to anyone else, only giving attention to "Ubuntu". Even at the end when it says some literal credits, it only cites Ubuntu "and other open source software" (which is almost undoubtedly Blender). Another example of Canonical's extractive approach to the Linux ecosystem (IMO).

thrwaway1985882 2y ago

> I’ve watched that little animation several times, and they tell a better story in a minute twenty-five than all of Apple’s AI commercials combined. If I showed that video to someone who isn't steeped in decades of Linux, I suspect they'd ask me what an Ubuntu is. As compared to the "schlub writes an email" video, which was compelling, funny, and actually shows the product they're marketing.

Zanfa 2y ago
It was exactly like every other enterprise animated product video. Random words with some electronic music. I was actually expecting "synergy" to pop up.
- amatecha 2y ago
  At least they got one noteworthy "hit" on the jargon bingo card: "performant" -_-
foobarian 2y ago
Heh. That "little animation" is so generic, you could have substituted Ubuntu with Windows or MacOS and everything they showed would have been valid.
- vundercind 2y ago
  Right—what "story"? "The appearance of desktop computers has changed over the period of time that Ubuntu has existed"? What does this thing do for me? Especially, what does it do for me that other platforms don't, or that I might not expect it would do for me?
repelsteeltje 2y ago
Is there somewhere I can watch the Apple ad(s)? I don't understand what or who this schlub is.
- ceejayoz 2y ago

longtimelistnr 2y ago

I think people still aren't accepting that Steve Jobs era marketing and product development left with the man. Apple is fundamentally different and is never going back.

bigstrat2003 2y ago
Marketing yes, product development no. Jobs was a salesman, not an engineer or designer. He didn't contribute to the product of Apple despite his reputation for doing so.
- xanderlewis 2y ago
  Steve Jobs didn’t contribute to the product of Apple? Are you sure?
- briandear 2y ago
  Ridiculous. I worked at Apple and if you have the correct permissions, you can see old Radars that Steve himself wrote and also the comments on them. He was profoundly insightful and absolutely drove product development. An absolute myth that he was just a “salesman.” Many people who comment on Apple have never actually worked there and they think some curated history book tells the real story. Go have a conversation with Eddie Cue or Craig Federighi about Steve. Or even Jony Ive. Perhaps talk to some of the original Lisa and Mac teams.

Apreche 2y ago

I was already bothered by the Apple Watch marketing. The messaging there is total fear. Buy an Apple Watch or literally die. Also, get them for your children or they will die too. The messaging that AI is for lying is another big yikes. Apple marketing department has lost the magic.

ziddoap 2y ago
>The messaging there is total fear. Buy an Apple Watch or literally die. Also, get them for your children or they will die too. Is there a specific advertisement you're referring to here, or just all apple watch advertisements? I haven't really seen any ads for the apple watch, and I am curious if this is an exaggeration. I'm assuming by "literally" you meant "metaphorically", but I'd like to look up which ad you are referencing to get an idea of what you mean. Edit: I've watched the ads. They are not in great taste, in my opinion, however they also did not tell me I would literally die if I don't buy an Apple Watch.
- sickofparadox 2y ago
  I believe this is the ad being described by GP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRwkZWowI8o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRwkZWowI8o
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
- DHPersonal 2y ago
  This is the kind of ad people take issue with. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRwkZWowI8o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRwkZWowI8o / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k4VVgmuNvU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k4VVgmuNvU / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dD0rUo1wZds https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dD0rUo1wZds Or a similar crash detection feature in iPhone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWBFF9R3VmU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWBFF9R3VmU / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsAL36M8bwE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsAL36M8bwE
- 2y ago

ahstilde 2y ago

If you think the Ubuntu ad is telling a story, I'd ask you what the story is.

jfoster 2y ago
It's just a very standard ad. A lot better than these horrible ads from Apple, though.
- hbn 2y ago
  It doesn't even give a hint as to what it's an ad for. You could not air that on TV and expect anyone who didn't already know of/use Ubuntu to know what it's advertising. Something about a computer, and there's privacy? You think "certified" means anything to anyone outside of tech circles?
briandear 2y ago
What is it selling? And where do you buy it? It’s a terrible ad.

illwrks 2y ago

Appple are speaking to the “Everyman”, Canonical are speaking to the tech literate. Different audiences, Apple has power users, but its largest audience is an average person (my wife for example). The average person doesn’t care about tech, they want it to work, work well enough and be dependable. Linux is can be a minefield, and Windows is a mess IMO.

preinheimer 2y ago
I'd really like to hold onto the belief that "make lying easier" doesn't speak to the everyman for just a little bit longer please.
- the_other 2y ago
  Lying can be seen as a sign of intelligence. Are you saying you hope “everyman” stays dumb? I’m just being provocative to highlight this is a subtle issue. I agree with the general sentiment that Apple shouldn’t be encouraging ppl to lie. I found the actress kying to her colleague one quite tasteless. That said, this all sums up how I feel about generative AI at the moment: a solution looking for a problem.
ellisv 2y ago
Apple also shows while Canonical tells. The average person doesn't care about an animation of a terminal or a chip with 3d composited "Performant" or "Secure" text. They care about "what can this thing do".
- AlexandrB 2y ago
  The Ubuntu ad could also have been for any version of Ubuntu since 14.04, or maybe even earlier. There's nothing that distinguishes 24.04 in there from what I can tell.
  - eddd-ddde 2y ago
    Clearly you missed the change to the background image then.

j45 2y ago

While this post is about the authors own video being better and less cringe than Apple’s videos, the Apple videos might not be for me, and trying to say Apple’s AI is for everyone, including people who aren’t perfect. The scenarios could have been different or better to me. But maybe I’m not the target audience, and iPhone is the beginner smartphone that almost anyone can use.

hggigg 2y ago

AI is mostly about selling something no one needs to people who don't need it. I think they nailed it there. The Ubuntu ad looks cheap.

abalone 2y ago

He had my attention until he posted that mind-numbingly generic Ubuntu ad. Most people would tune that out in seconds. I’m kind of glad Apple is putting a touch more flavor in their ads.

devin 2y ago

I think this is mostly just a problem of not having good reasons to sell AI products to consumers in the first place. I recently saw some Ray Ban Meta glasses ads. One of them had a guy ask the glasses to describe what was in front of his face, and then he remarked “wow that’s accurate” (there are people skateboarding). The guy wasn’t blind. His use of the glasses made little sense. Another ad has a young man asking his glasses how to dress for fall and then blindly following the suggestions like they’ve never dressed themselves before. It was embarrassing to watch. A third ad has someone ask their glasses how to decorate for a disco theme party, and then they implement the very mediocre suggestions. None of these things required AI, it’s just kind of “there”, and companies are like “idk maybe people will use our AI to like… dress themselves? or something?”

jfoster 2y ago
No way! There are definitely legitimate use-cases for all of the features demoed in these ads, but Apple's marketing took a darker path. Email to boss: could've been someone who had a genuine struggle with language using it to finally get their boss to notice the effort they put into their work. Remembering a name: could've used it to get the name and left it at them being impressed rather than making it a lie. Summarizing email: could've used it when in a hurry at work whilst someone sent an extremely long email. Video memories: could've used it for two people to share a nostalgic moment together without making it a lie.
- briandear 2y ago
  Ernest Hemingway once said, “I’m sorry for the long letter, I didn’t have time for a shorter one.” With Apple Intelligence, now you do.
  - B56b 2y ago
    That's a Blaise Pascal quote actually.
  - BobaFloutist 2y ago
    Why would I take the time to read a letter you couldn't be bothered to take the time to write?

AlexandrB 2y ago

> lie about remembering an acquaintance’s name. That's a heck of a reach. Is it also a lie if I ask my partner what someone's name is when I forget? The email writing one is pretty innocuous as well. Grammarly has been running basically the same ad for the last 5 years. I agree the others are not so great.

jsnell 2y ago
Asking about someone's name is isn't the lie. Bragging to them about how you remembered their name is. And the latter is the scenario in this ad: > 0:16 Bella: Zac! > 0:17 Zac: Oh wow, I didn't think you'd remember me. > 0:19 Bella: Yeah of course, as soon a I saw you I'm like, it's Zac, nobody walks like Zac.

fazeirony 2y ago

when the largest company in the world is telling you that lying is the main sell of AI....i guess lying is the new honesty in 2024? smfh lmfao

dagmx 2y ago

This article is a prime example of why tech literate people aren’t inherently strong marketers for tech. What does the Ubuntu ad say to the user? How does it capture someone’s attention? None of the ad tells me why this is something worth paying attention to versus other distros or OSs, it doesn’t even tell me it’s about the OS at all unless I already know what Ubuntu is. Contrast with the Apple ads that tell you exactly what they want in the same time frame. Apple ads have always been tongue in cheek, and have always had a portion of people rubbed the wrong way because they took it too literally. But at the end of the day, barring the few missteps like the crush ad, they seem to work for the target audience. I find a lot of technical folk seem to struggle with “I don’t like it therefore it must be bad” and would have failed basically any media analysis class in college as a result. Similarly, the author falls into the “I like Ubuntu and this ad” and hasn’t stopped to think about how it plays to anyone but himself. It’s a really self centered outlook and one that means they’d never be able to market to others.

nordsieck 2y ago
> What does the Ubuntu ad say to the user? How does it capture someone’s attention? Exactly. Contrary to the article, it doesn't tell a story at all. It's just some slick-ish graphics with a few words overlayed on top. They're nice words. But they didn't really embrace "show, don't tell".
- iamtheworstdev 2y ago
  i have no idea what the ubuntu ad is trying to tell me, but OPs points on the Apple ads still seem pretty relevant.
  - imp0cat 2y ago
    The Ubuntu ad is mostly about emotions. The main message is `sudo apt install btop`. But most people who use Linux already have this htop replacement installed.
bee_rider 2y ago
I remember iPods being advertised as, like, very cool. Remember all the ads with, like, the silhouettes dancing on colorful backgrounds? I can see thinking these ads were a bit over the top and silly, like a corporate ad exec’s idea of what is cool, but they definitely intended to be cool. The people in these new ads are lame and clearly Apple intends to portray them as lame.

bee_rider 2y ago

I dunno if the birthday video ad is really, like, gross. I guess the main character is sort of dishonest, but it isn’t a huge thing really. It is pretty depressing though. The main character is just kind of tired and sad.

FollowingTheDao 2y ago

The problem with the ad that no one is touching on is that it makes the consumer look like an idiot or a lazy, disingenuous person. "You need AI because you are lazy and stupid and do not care about honesty and accountability."

bobobob420 2y ago

I agree unlike other commenters here that the apple intelligence ads try too hard to be quirky and appease this weird flavour of incompetence being popular. Theres nothing inspiring or awe inducing about the ad that induces excitement about technology

CharlieDigital 2y ago

I work at a startup in the AI space. We've been working with it for over a year now and I'm of the mind that AI, in it's current state, really isn't a tool meant for an end user to interact with. It feels like it's the most useful when it's transparent and you -- as an end user -- don't know that there's an LLM in the process. The best use cases seem to be those that don't require an end consumer to directly interact with an AI, but their journey through some process is assisted by an AI instead. The problem is that a lot of the marketing -- like these examples and Google's very misguided "Write me a letter" to an Olympian -- exists because companies keep trying to make "fetch" happen; the AI becomes the journey instead of being an assistant in that journey. Amazon's Rufus is a prime example. It's tucked away as a button that one has to activate explicitly. But it would almost be better if it could just clean up the search results when I do a search and a bunch of junk is returned.

empath75 2y ago
There's basically two places where I see it as being useful -- as part of an automation pipeline where you need some translation layer from natural language to structured data or vice versa, and when the user knows it's an LLM and _wants to interact with an LLM_. I never want to see LLM generated content as an end user when I haven't specifically asked for it.
- CharlieDigital 2y ago
  I agree with those. The use case our startup is working is one more that I think really works well: why are you showing me these results? Our product basically takes any search output and uses our internal knowledge graph for our clients to "explain" to the customer "why these results for this query/question?" We use the same knowledge graph to then extend our client's native search results with much more relevant results using the LLM to better match results to the semantic intent of the question. It's all quite nifty and transparent; the user wouldn't know that there's an AI involved without labeling it as AI generated.
candiddevmike 2y ago
I absolutely despise rufus. I used to be able to search questions and reviews instantaneously. Now I need to wait for rufus to poorly summarize everything, tap at least 2-3 times, and then get to see the search results. Talk about piss poor UX.

crowcroft 2y ago

The Ubuntu animation tells me nothing a short bullet point list couldn't. If you're going to create a video, show me something. Don't just tell Ubuntu is secure and put little boxes around a few icons – show me that Ubuntu is secure. I don't love the Apple ads, but they are at least showing me some evidence of the features they're saying exist in Apple Intelligence.

cjpearson 2y ago
The comparison is a great example of the "show don't tell" cliche that English teachers love.

alsetmusic 2y ago

I am terrible with names. If I use my phone to remind me the name of a person who I describe to my phone where and when I met a person, I wouldn’t classify that as a lie. This is a stretch. I remember the person. I remember the interaction. I remember where and when we met. I just can’t remember names, even of people who I work with but only bump into sporadically. I call bs. Edit: the ad in question: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPe8revsg3k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPe8revsg3k

victor106 2y ago

Sorry, but I don’t see them as the author. I love these ads.

bar000n 2y ago
They are lovely indeed. Apple seems to be big enough to make fun of the AI fiasco.

gbanfalvi 2y ago

What is this "Ubuntu" and how can I use it? As a consumer, what does it mean to me that it's "Certified"? Certified in what? Apple's ads show you the product, how you can use it and how you and the people around you feel after using it (like you took a sneaky shortcut and happy, respectively).

empath75 2y ago

I agree that the ads miss their mark, and I think a better ad would have instead focused on how it could have _prevented_ the awkward situation to begin with, rather than awkwardly helping you cover it up after the fact.

addicted 2y ago

I’m not so sure about the Canonical ad, but the Apple ones are really bad. I clicked on those thinking that the author may be overstating things but those ads are really really bad. There’s basically 2 messages they’re promoting (the office worker one seems to be promoting a different message from the other 3). The first ad: - You’re a loser and Apple Intelligence will make you look like less of a loser in an email. But also people will look at you, see you as the loser you are, and then immediately be suspicious about that email you sent. The other 3: - Apple Intelligence will make you an even more efficient psychopath and make you great at manipulating loved ones and people who are interested in you. WTF, Apple. The quality of Apple advertising has taken a huge hit over the past decade or so. But these ads go beyond just the anodyne nature of their previous advertising. This stuff is truly deranged.

transcriptase 2y ago

FedEx should licence their model that’s meant to frustrate users into giving up trying to speak to a human. Earlier it told me that it looked into my parcel tracking details and assured me that it was on schedule for delivery, so it wasn’t able to let me connect to an agent. Except I hadn’t yet given it any tracking number.

knallfrosch 2y ago

The blog entry suffers from congratulating the mediocre Ubuntu ad, but it's right about the vile Apple ads. The Apple ads are dystopian and revulsive. She really pulls out her phone while talking to a person and then lies to her face. A wife and mother forgets dad's birthday and smugly "gifts" him 50 auto-playing photos, as shown on her phone screen?

throwaway106382 2y ago
Ubuntu nothwistanding, I found the Apple ads quite offensive. Ads tell you what the company thinks about it's target audience and clearly Apple thinks we're all just a bunch of bumbling fools that can't do anything without our phones. Compared to this Samsung Galaxy S24 FE, which frames everything as something that can help you out and is fun and quirky: https://youtu.be/GZ-xGBTvtO4 https://youtu.be/GZ-xGBTvtO4 I've been using Mac as my workhorse my entire career, switched from Android to iPhone recently. These ads are actually making me reconsider what my next hardware upgrades are going to be.
- cmiller1 2y ago
  > Apple thinks we're all just a bunch of bumbling fool He's out of line, but he's right.
  - throwaway106382 2y ago
    I'm fully aware that Apple has always targeted people who are less tech literate, but this is just another level.

tr3ntg 2y ago

The really funny thing about the "lies about birthday present" one is that the wife asks the AI to make a Woodworking Memory Video, and while they're watching it, it looks like a beach vacation photo is included in the mix. For a second I forgot where I was, and thought she'd be found out, then remembered it's an ad, and everyone is impressed. Maybe the image is actually related to the woodworking? But I couldn't help but think, "that's about right - a random, ill-fitting photo"

Suppafly 2y ago
>the wife asks the AI to make a Woodworking Memory Video, and while they're watching it, it looks like a beach vacation photo is included in the mix What's funny is that google photos sorta makes these sort of random little videos all the time for you and asks if you want to see them. It also suffers from the issue of not really understanding the context from some of the pictures it pulls in. But this is a thing that's been around for a few years, like a lot of things, apple is late to the game but pretending they invented it.
- eddd-ddde 2y ago
  I love google photos little albums and creations. I am the kind of person that almost nevers looks at pictures on their own, so when I get a google photos notifications I always get watch them and get to remember cool memories.
  - Suppafly 2y ago
    yeah I like them, it's just weird what they pull in sometimes. the ones with my kids often seem to always include the same pictures too, so I always end up seeing this one specific one of my son in basically every slideshow. I wonder if it meets some criteria for being colorful or something.

_boffin_ 2y ago

Vibing off the name of the post’s title, I think the fact that Apple sends all Siri and Dictation’s transcripts to Apple without the ability to disallow that behavior, even if all processing happens on device kind of sickening.

joshdavham 2y ago

> I’ve watched that little [Canonical] animation several times, and they tell a better story in a minute twenty-five than all of Apple’s AI commercials combined. I'm afraid I disagree here. While I do find the Apple ads a tad obnoxious, they speak to the problems of normal people and how Apple Intelligence can directly solve these problems. How many people haven't forgotten a birthday, forgotten someone's name or felt stupid while writing an email? The Canonical animation on the other hand, while cool, doesn't communicate to me that it understands my problems and is going to help me fix them. Here's the full transcript of the Canonical ad: "Modern, Private, Performant, Secure, Supported, Certified, Everywhere, For Everyone, for You". This is comparing apples to oranges.

paul7986 2y ago

Getting tired of being sold what may exist or will exist sometime in the future. How is this legal and now Apple is doing it? How is the fake it before you make it (make the actual product a reality for consumers to consume) strategy legal? This video was posted a month ago even when Apple Intelligence wasnt available at all and in any form https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPe8revsg3k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPe8revsg3k . Even present day after it was launched Siri can not do this. Start-ups and other tech companies are doing the whole fake it before you make it so Apple is too. Some recent examples...Open AI demoed and sold if you sign up you might get access to their version of H.E.R. yet Many months later its nowhere to be found yet surely that juiced their revenue. Does it really exist or it was a fake it before you make it demo? Similarly with Musk bringing out those robots implying they were AI driven yet later we learn they weren't. Isnt this all something called false advertising??

23B1 2y ago

I don't think this is gross, I think it's hilarious. My phone is supposed to be a heat sink for other people's B.S.

LeafItAlone 2y ago

In other words, Apple’s ads depict what people are actually going to use it for and already do (lie). I guess this is truth in marketing. Contrast that with the Canonical ad provided as an example in the article, which I found a waste of my time and closed it after 30 seconds, having learned nothing and not drawn to use the product.

diimdeep 2y ago

Holy Jobs, these Ads as if straight from the Black Mirror episode or that The Circle movie, unreal and sad, to the level of Idiocracy (2006) movie cringe.

luxuryballs 2y ago

I installed 18.1 last night and after finishing waitlist I promptly asked Siri if she could answer questions like chatGPT now, didn’t understand. I said what questions can I ask you then? She said “Ask away!” I asked the difference between watts and volts, “I don’t understand”, she understood nothing, I’m so confused! I was upgrading for these features so now I’m thinking of selling this 16 pro and buying a drum set because my 13 mini was easier to hold and apparently Siri isn’t getting any smarter according a the WSJ article yesterday.

neilv 2y ago

The consumer use cases of "AI" right now are mostly about cheating at work that one is still really supposed to do themselves. Maybe the ad people tried to come up with relatively palatable ones? Note that no one is cheating on their school homework, which is a huge consumer use case category. And no creative work was detectably plagiarized (art, code). Though they still did do employment slacking/incompetence gaining advantage, by increasing deceptive and time-wasting noise for everyone else. Or maybe that's the actual use cases of their target audience?

EasyMark 2y ago
If you get work done while using AI you clearly aren’t cheating, that’s what they pay you for, not for the drudgery it involves. If my employee can be more productive with AI so be it.

anonzzzies 2y ago

If it cannot write code, I am not very interested.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

parpfish 2y ago

i'm surprised he didn't bring up the ad with the parents playing with the new iphone in bed and make comments that their kids overhear and think something sexy is going on. i hate that ad because: a) they're not really even doing sexual innuendo, they're just saying things in a tone of voice that makes you think they're making racy comments b) why are the kids sitting outside the bedroom door listening? do they want to hear their parents doin' it?

sourcepluck 2y ago

Ahh. "Gross", meaning, the author thinks they should do a better job selling their products from a practical standpoint. At a push, if we wanted to try maintain a more essential meaning of "gross", I guess we could imagine that the author is saying that not doing an optimal job of selling your products is morally repugnant to them. Maybe that's true, I suppose. An example of Apple actually being gross in their marketing is using the word "privacy" to mislead people into thinking they have privacy when they use Apple's devices. It's security they are attempting to offer to users, not privacy. This intentional and somewhat subtle conflation of two terms in order to give people a false impression of Apple products is, in my opinion, properly gross.

drcongo 2y ago

> In another the same young woman again uses it to lie about reading an email from a college, to her face If only he'd let Apple Intelligence proof-read his blog post.

joshstrange 2y ago

The descriptions of the Apple Ads range from “less than charitable” to “that’s a bit of a stretch” but I’ll agree they don’t really do it for me. The “last minute video” and “sure I read your email” felt weird but the “remind me of this person’s name” was pretty cool IMHO. That said the Ubuntu ad at the end eroded what trust I might have put in this blog author’s taste in ads. It was boring and didn’t make me feel anything. In fact if you swapped out the desktop screenshot with Mac or Windows it wouldn’t change any of the meaning. It was borderline AI-generate-able which is ironic given its context.

couchdb_ouchdb 2y ago

"In one a schlub writes an email to his boss and uses AI to make it sound ‘more professional’, in another a young woman uses it to lie about remembering an acquaintance’s name. In another the same young woman again uses it to lie about reading an email from a college, to her face, while she’s sitting with her. In yet another, linked to recently by Scott McNulty, a woman uses AI to lie to her husband about getting him something for his birthday." My dude. These ads were supposed to be funny. Can apple not joke? When did we all get so serious?

retskrad 2y ago

Throughout Apple’s history, I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of their ad campaigns be as brazen and disingenuous as this Apple Intelligence one.

InsomniacL 2y ago

I'm a cynical person. The actor looks and acts a little bit weird, even their mannerisms. The other Actors are being dup'd by the Actor and her AI. I think this add is targeted at the people being dup'd in the ads. People associate the younger generation as a little bit weird and head of the curve wrt technology, and this Actor being younger and visibly a bit weird re-enforces that connection. This ad is saying, buy this new technology or you'll be getting dup'd too.