Apple Intelligence recently made its debut as part of the iOS 18.1 update. This is Apple’s take on AI. So far access to Apple Intelligence remains free, but some have wondered if Apple could eventually start charging users to access its AI services. The good news, at least for now, is that there are no plans in place.
An essential tool
This is according to Apple’s CEO Tim Cook, who recently sat down in an interview with WIRED’s Steven Levy. The interview covered a lot of topics, and one of those topics is AI. Levy mentioned to Cook that some companies are charging users for AI services and asked if Apple has plans to do the same.
According to Cook, this is apparently something Apple has never even talked about. Cook was quoted as saying, “We never talked about charging for it. We view it sort of like multitouch, which enabled the smartphone revolution and the modern tablet.” This is kind of surprising.
Companies like Apple have found that in the past few years, the revenue generated by subscription services is starting to contribute quite a bit to its bottom line. This means that charging to use its AI services could be a good way to bring in more money.
Cook’s reasoning is that AI is an essential piece of technology. Based on his statement, charging for AI would be like charging users to access multitouch. To Apple, it doesn’t make sense to charge users for it.
Standing apart from the competition
Apple’s decision not to charge users to use its Apple Intelligence AI services is quite refreshing. This is because other companies that have launched their own AI services are either planning to charge users or are already charging them.
The most notable and closest comparison to Apple would be Samsung. The company unveiled its Samsung Galaxy AI earlier this year. While its AI features are free, the company mentioned plans to eventually charge users for it. However, note that the core Galaxy AI features will likely remain free. Samsung will probably place more advanced features behind a paywall.
Other companies such as Google and OpenAI have free versions of their own AI services, like Gemini and ChatGPT. Both companies also offered a paid version that offers more advanced features. In OpenAI’s case, the paid version of ChatGPT offers access to more advanced AI models as well as priority in terms of bandwidth usage.
It is possible that Apple could eventually head down this path, but for now, Apple Intelligence will remain free to users.
