Open markets
Will AI service providers like this? Probably not. They might argue that giving customers the option to enjoy trusted access to their services is anti-competitive. But Apple could argue that depriving customers of access to their services within this trust boundary is also inherently anticompetitive.
It is, after all, quite clear that access to trusted AI is something people need, and opening markets is meant to ensure competitors are able to deliver things consumers want. That means third-party AI services must open up, so others can access their services in innovative ways, such as via PCC. Markets are either open, or they aren’t. It’s inevitable that pure AI companies will become service providers, rather than anything else.
Apple, as a combined hardware/software/services company, is therefore in a good position to become the most trusted intermediary through which to access all these services, thanks to PCC. Doing so should support what seems to be its AI game plan, which is to provide its own suite of highly useful AI tools, while enabling its customers to access other services they might need without sacrificing the privacy and security so important to the Apple experience.
