“Our goal is obviously to make podcasts more accessible, more immersive,” says Ben Cave, Apple’s global head of podcasts.
Sarah Herrlinger, who manages Apple’s accessibility policy, says the development of the transcription tool involved working with both disabled Apple employees and outside organizations. Transcription became a priority for Apple Podcasts because of increasing demand from both disabled users and podcast creators, she said.
Apple Intelligence might prove to be a disruptive and scary force no matter how benignly it’s packaged. If Apple does pull off its vision for Siri—something where a single command might allow a computer to knock off tasks that otherwise would take hours or days to complete—an avalanche of unintended consequences might ensue. Even knowing your preferences, how will Siri make its choices? Will it put you in a middle seat when it books a flight for you because it’s figured out you’re frugal–even though you’d gladly pay an extra $11 to sit on the aisle? When you ask it to catch up on headlines, will it cater to your biases? No matter what Apple calls it, AI is going to change the way we do things. At WWDC this week, Apple promised to be part of the transformation.
While this idea sounds deceptively simple, pulling it off will be hard. AI systems are probabilistic, meaning they make their best guess at returning the right answer. Apple has yet to show how well the new Siri works.
This raises broader questions about the future of technology. If Siri becomes the on-ramp to everything you do on an iPhone, reducing the need to open apps, what does that do to the many developers whose businesses depend on building direct relationships with Apple’s users?
The tech industry is not respecting copyright in the ways that it trains these models, and it will not respect copyright in the way that it distributes the outcomes of these models. Too much of the conversation about AI remains focused on outputs that resemble direct copies of images, music, or text. What is lost is that the data is itself copied into the training model. Regardless of the legal status of that movement from “image” into “data,” it leaves many feeling deeply uncomfortable. Rather than dismiss this discomfort, it merits understanding the source. If case law on copyright cannot support a popular consensus around data rights, perhaps policy changes are needed.
But the big advantage of third-party password managers has been compatibility with a wide range of platforms. They are also generally more robust than first-party offerings. Although those additional features often come at a cost, paying for a widely accessible password manager is usually worth the price.
During Apple’s showcase this week for new artificial intelligence and other software, one company employee after another strode into view and assumed the position: standing with legs spread and toes pointing out.
This Apple Stance — as it was dubbed by a group chat on X, according to one participant — looked awkward when everyone did it. People have noticed the same Apple position at other company product demonstrations, too.
Now that WWDC week is over, and the operating systems have been previewed, and the beta released, it is time for everyone to compile their wishlists and make known to Apple.
Don't wait until May of 2025 to publish your wishlist -- it's too late by then.
~
Thanks for reading.