on the other hand failing at it or pushing it to the edges until they figure out where if anywhere it would actually make sense (which is I believe the entire crux of their strategy) might equally reasonably be helping their brand.

I don't see strong evidence the average consumer is demanding 'AI features' in everything. I mean even amongst the technically inclined this is often bemoaned, anecdotally.

thats exactly what i'm saying they should be doing, but aren't. we're in agreement!!

why don't they just wait and not ship any AI junk at all? instead of promising a Siri AI rework, which then doesn't deliver? or Image Generation stuff that feels wildly put of character and generates tasteless and often downright creepy images?

not to mention that all of the new AI stuff they announced won't go live in China and the EU for a while.

why not do exactly what you proposed and wait it out? instead they seem to be trying to deliver AI stuff and just unable to.

there's also reports that apple execs held a secret emergency "oh shit what do we do about AI" type meeting.

they very much didn't intend to be this behind