‘Apple Aggregates AI’

Ben Thompson:

So what is Apple Intelligence, then? To me the explanation flows directly from Strategy 101: Apple Intelligence is the application of generative AI to use cases and content that Apple is uniquely positioned to provide and access. It is designed, to build on yesterday’s Article, to maximize the advantages that Apple has in terms of being the operating system provider on your phone; and, on the other hand, what it is not is any sort of general purpose chatbot: that is where OpenAI comes in — and only there. […]

To put it another way, and in Stratechery terms, Apple is positioning itself as an AI Aggregator: the company owns users and, by extension, generative AI demand by virtue of owning its platforms, and it is deepening its moat through Apple Intelligence, which only Apple can do; that demand is then being brought to bear on suppliers who probably have to eat the costs of getting privileged access to Apple’s userbase.

It pains me to admit how great a take this is. Nailed it.

★ Thursday, 13 June 2024