Is this how Apple will make AI a choice?

Do you want to make a podcast from notes you record on your iPhone? You can, as Google has introduced an iOS version (and an Android version) of its popular NotebookLM tool, which can do this, among other things.

The news follows hot on the heels of speculation that Apple may try to overcome shortcomings in its own AI development by opening up its platform to third-party AI services in addition to ChatGPT and Apple Intelligence. It may be relevant to point out that Apple this week made it possible to use Google Translate instead of Apple’s own Translate app on iPhones.

What is NotebookLM?

Notebook LM has won a ton of praise since it appeared. It is a really useful document summarization system that is very handy for researchers — and can even turn topics you write about into engaging and thought-provoking podcasts. The service achieves this through use of Google’s Gemini genAI system, which seems to be improving rapidly when it comes to focused tasks.

“We’ve received a lot of great feedback from the millions of people using NotebookLM, our tool for understanding and engaging with complex information. One of the most frequent requests has been for a mobile app — for listening to Audio Overviews on the go, asking questions about sources in the moment, and sharing content directly to NotebookLM while browsing,” said Google when it announced the new apps.

Making a podcast on your iPhone

NotebookLM has been available as a web app, and now also as an app for iOS and Android. Once installed, you can use the mobile app to create new notes and access those you may already have created via your Google account. You can also add new sources to notes and create podcasts of those notes. But one of the best new features is the ability to get involved in the podcast/conversation. 

Tap the Join button and you can interact with the AI-generated hosts, asking them questions or steering the conversation. It’s remarkable, particularly if you are still trying to explain which song you want Siri to play in Apple Music. 

It shows the extent to which Apple’s AI services are playing catch-up and may also be why Apple’s management is thinking about opening up the company’s platform to third-party AI services.

Is this how Apple will make AI services optional?

The move to make Google Translate an option for users shows how that may be done. Just as Apple is being forced to permit users to choose between browsers in Europe, the options tool for Translation lets you select which service to use for that. 

Finding a way to offer these choices while preserving platform integrity is easier said than done. Apple has admitted to having thousands of engineers tasked with figuring out how to make that possible. 

But as the company moves forward with developing solutions that deliver such choice, it is also creating the template we will probably see it follow as it moves to offer up support for different forms of AI services on its devices.

With that in mind, it is likely that, as AI services introduce apps for Apple’s systems, the company will introduce a new setting in which users will be able to choose what service to use. It is possible that Apple will need to keep Apple Intelligence as the first point of contact, acting as a kind of concierge for queries, which it then directs to an appropriate AI. Users will then select which service will offer the default AI.

What about people who don’t want to use these services?

For enterprise users, this poses additional challenges. To avoid data leaks, not every business will be prepared to authorize employees to use every available genAI model. That challenge implies that Apple will also need to build APIs for Mobile Device Management to enable IT to switch off access to these third-party genAI models for managed devices.

The problem with access must therefore logically extend to app-based control. IT will want to be able to prevent people from using apps such as NotebookLM on managed devices, presumably by setting restrictions on the use of certain apps.

It also seems viable to expect Apple to offer up an additional choice — one in which users are given the opportunity to select to stay with a purely Apple experience. After all, that should also be an option for those who like it, right?

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