Apple Is Starting to Fall Behind in the AI Race: A Signal to Stay Alert and Act in Time

Apple, valued at around 3 trillion dollars, is facing a complex situation when it comes to Artificial Intelligence.

Its Apple Intelligence project has been delayed on several fronts, especially around Siri’s ability to control apps in a deeper way. One of Apple’s biggest problems is also one of its greatest strengths: its ecosystem. The fact that Apple wants everything to happen within its own borders, on its own devices or inside its own cloud, is now creating technical limitations compared to its competitors.

Another important factor is the brain drain. According to Infobae, key people have left Apple. Zuckerberg, from Meta, has recruited Apple’s head of AI. And now the war is no longer only about software or microchips. It is also about talent.

On the other hand, Jony Ive, perhaps the best weapon Steve Jobs had when he returned to Apple, and the designer behind many of the devices that marked Apple’s new era, is now playing for another team. Together with Laurene Powell Jobs, does that name sound familiar? Steve Jobs’ widow, and Sam Altman from OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, they are working on a new generation of screenless assistants.

In other words, the end of the phone as we know it.

Between technical problems, internal talent retention issues, the possible decline of the smartphone, and, as if that were not enough, Apple’s lack of recognition as a key player in Artificial Intelligence innovation, the company seems to be losing ground.

According to Bloomberg, Apple was left out of the contracts the Pentagon awarded to the companies it considers most relevant in AI for military implementation. Companies such as Google, OpenAI, Anthropic and xAI received contracts of up to 200 million dollars, but Apple was not part of that list.

And losing that means more than losing money. It means losing influence, access and proximity to key developments.

Faced with this technological gap, and perhaps with the urgency of trying to position itself again among the top players, Apple is reportedly considering the possibility of acquiring Artificial Intelligence companies such as Anthropic or the European company Mistral AI.

So now we have to wait and see whether this last attempt can bring Apple back to the place where many of us used to see it: as the ultimate reference for success, innovation and good taste.

But the real reflection here is this:

If a giant like Apple, with all its money, talent, brand power and ecosystem, is struggling to find its place in Artificial Intelligence, then this is a powerful signal for the rest of us.

This is not just an Apple story.

It is a warning.

Artificial Intelligence is no longer an optional experiment, a trend for the curious, or something we can leave for later.

It is becoming the difference between adapting and becoming obsolete.

And in a scenario like this, the key question is no longer whether we should use Artificial Intelligence.

The real question is how we start using it intelligently, without losing control, without falling into the hype, and without waiting until it is too late.

Because if even Apple can lose ground, so can any company, professional or project that keeps looking at AI from the outside.

The important thing is not to know everything.

The important thing is to start asking better questions, to understand what is changing, and to move with focus before the market moves without us.

See you in the next edition.

Success!

Fabricio De los Santos

AI Solutions Architect – Business Automation & Systems Integration | Digital Transformation | Applied AI