Yesterday's Apple lack of AI is a positive signal (of sorts)

In terms of innovation, the only remotely interesting announcement from Apple's yesterday's keynote was certainly a first concrete AI application. I'm referring to live translation via AirPods paired to an iPhone.

If you missed it (or didn't bother — as I nearly did), while wearing AirPods, you'll be able to have live translation of someone speaking to you in a foreign language, while the person's original voice is muted in the background. When trying to talk back to her, you will have your own speech translated to text on the screen of your phone, or if the person is also wearing AirPods, she will have symmetrical live translation.

I guess that on that side, doing business in China has become much simpler from now on. And still, Siri is still dumb as a rock, and most email or word processing tools here to 'help' us out will keep on acting as obnoxious gremlins.

Last fun fact?

I couldn't find a dedicated video on this key problem-solving feature from Apple's YouTube channel... I wouldn't read too much into it, but they may have become quite shy about discussing AI since their last keynote debacle.

For the rest of us, this is nonetheless a clear signal.

What innovation AI will deliver for consumers remains quite vague. Effective use cases are still scarce, and even megacorps like Apple are struggling to determine proper use cases. Google, Huawei, and Samsung are mostly boasting about smart photo editing and other gimmicky features, while Microsoft and others are focusing on proper large-scale B2B opportunities. Of course, we do see clear impacts in such sectors as education, but mostly they are, for now, unwelcome.

All in all, AI in the B2C market is going to face a massive drop in hype in the coming months. Remember, though, that this negative signal is a necessary step before the whole market finds a way to recycle and reuse the technology to reach some form of productivity.

Which also means, it's the right time to launch consumer-AI initiatives if you want to secure a headstart and outcompete everyone else...