A new Apple ad is sparking backlash from viewers who say it hits the wrong note

[durangodawood]

New Apple ad shows various creative tools, and prominently, musical instruments, getting smooshed in a hydraulic press..... into an iPad. Apparently, people are a bit revolted. It echoes the current concern of AI replacing human creativity in many domains.... and more generally, the replacement of the visceral by the digital.

Drums dont get crushed tho. So I'm ok. For now.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/08/tech/apple-ipad-pro-ad-backlash-cec/index.html

 

[AlexB23]

New Apple ad shows various creative tools, and prominently, musical instruments, getting smooshed in a hydraulic press..... into an iPad. Apparently, people are a bit revolted. It echoes the current concern of AI replacing human creativity in many domains.... and more generally, the replacement of the visceral by the digital.

Drums dont get crushed tho. So I'm ok. For now.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/08/tech/apple-ipad-pro-ad-backlash-cec/index.html

I am 15% okay with the commercial, though depicting destruction of instruments is a little overkill. Hopefully those were not real instruments, and just CGI. The other 85% of me says that it was wrong to destroy analog tech (instruments, record player).

AI can be used as a tool, to augment our creativity, such as if we get a writer's block, not a tool to replace our creativity. If I played piano again in 2024 (which I did from ages 7-12 from 2007-2012), I would probably use AI to explain certain musical concepts, as some teachers are not that good.

The University of Florida has info about using AI for teaching music: Make AI Your Personal Music Teaching Assistant | UF MMME Online

Mistral 8x7B (46.7 billion parameters, run on a free AI platform named Gradio) AI explains the dotted quarter note with an analogy.

 

[PloverWing]

Wow, what a warning about what our computers can do to us. I'm gonna go make some music on a physical musical instrument today.

 

[Nithavela]

Should have crushed some musicians, too, since they're next on the AI chopping block.

 

[durangodawood]

Should have crushed some musicians, too, since they're next on the AI chopping block.

Thanks for the edit.

 

[Chesterton]

Drums dont get crushed tho. So I'm ok. For now.

"Drum machines" were invented in the 1930's. You've just been lucky, Till now.

But yeah I hate the ad. Then again I hate all ads. The only thing more uncomfortable than poor people begging for money is rich people begging for money.

 

[durangodawood]

"Drum machines" were invented in the 1930's. You've just been lucky, Till now.

Yeah I do realize that I was the first sort of musician to be widely electronically replaced. Tho piano players were mechanically replaced prior.

Im just surprised at how "tone deaf" Apple marketing is.

 

[Maria Billingsley]

New Apple ad shows various creative tools, and prominently, musical instruments, getting smooshed in a hydraulic press..... into an iPad. Apparently, people are a bit revolted. It echoes the current concern of AI replacing human creativity in many domains.... and more generally, the replacement of the visceral by the digital.

Drums dont get crushed tho. So I'm ok. For now.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/08/tech/apple-ipad-pro-ad-backlash-cec/index.html

New Apple ad shows various creative tools, and prominently, musical instruments, getting smooshed in a hydraulic press..... into an iPad. Apparently, people are a bit revolted. It echoes the current concern of AI replacing human creativity in many domains.... and more generally, the replacement of the visceral by the digital.

Drums dont get crushed tho. So I'm ok. For now.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/08/tech/apple-ipad-pro-ad-backlash-cec/index.html

I feel crushed by this ad.

 

[Laodicean60]

Wow, how technology has changed. I used to love my Canon Ae1 with all the various lenses but that camera bag weighed a ton.

 

[iluvatar5150]

Wow, how technology has changed. I used to love my Canon Ae1 with all the various lenses but that camera bag weighed a ton.

meh, phones are good, but any halfway decent SLR will smoke one. I have an EOS 70D that lives under the bed for a couple years at a time, and every now and then, I'll pull it out to snap some photos of my kid, and the sharpness, dynamic range and depth of field absolutely crush those on my iphone without even trying. And I'm a very mediocre photographer with absolutely zero post-processing skills (arguable negative skills, since my Lightroom work often makes things worse).

But yes, it's horribly inconvenient, which is why it lives under the bed, right next to my remote audio rig that was even more expensive.

 

[AlexB23]

Yeah I do realize that I was the first sort of musician to be widely electronically replaced. Tho piano players were mechanically replaced prior.

Im just surprised at how "tone deaf" Apple marketing is.

Glad I use an Android, well not the Android tablets, but a Samsung A54 phone.

 

[Goonie]

The message of the advert. Apple the death of the creative.

Seriously if your creative avoid apple.

 

[AlexB23]

The message of the advert. Apple the death of the creative.

Seriously if your creative avoid apple.

Agreed 110%. I am not good at art, but I prefer drawing with pencil and paper, not some tablet. For writing short stories (they are not that good, and are about a fictional alien race), I use Google Docs on a non-Apple laptop. Below is an opinion piece by TechCrunch (a fitting name) about why Apple's commercial is disgusting, and agree wholeheartedly with the article.

Apple's 'Crush' ad is disgusting | TechCrunch

With Apple's latest ad, the problem is not the media but the message.

techcrunch.com

 

[ThatRobGuy]

There's a few ways to look at it...

Some people see it as artists getting "replaced"

The contrasting viewpoint would be that it's the current incarnation of art getting supplanted by another mechanism for creating art.

If a person "pouring their heart & soul into their music" and a software developer writing code that produces something that gives people the same emotional response and feelings as listening to the former, then I fail to see the issue. It's still producing art, just with a different set of instruments.

At the end of the day, AI can only be reactive to accessible known info and what people like at the time as part of the algorithm, so there will still be a place for people creating new unique sounds and styles.

IE: it can only try duplicate and slightly what it thinks people will like based on what people like at the time.

Would even the best modern AI model have been able to predict (based on what was known about music and musical tastes in 1940) that Jimi Hendrix's style of music would've been widely popular a few decades later?

AI is good at a lot of things, psychic abilities aren't one of them. AI models are only as good as the information you put into them. ...and when it comes to musical/artistic aspects that may be popular in the year 2040...nobody knows yet, because they don't exist. The #1 music artist in the year 2050 may not even be born yet, AI would have no basis for predicting that.

Now, if it's a case where certain pleasing melodies and pitches and rhythms are "pleasing to the ear" or certain visual patterns are "pleasing to the eye", and can draw out the same kind of emotions in people whether it's a human sitting in front of you, or something generated on a computer, then perhaps we've been overthinking "art".

It's either something deep and meaningful (which means artists will be fine), or it's merely just a chemical response in mammals based on brain chemistry responding to specific types of outside stimuli (in which case, why would it matter where the source of that stimuli comes from?)

 

[FireDragon76]

I think it just shows how alot of these folks live in a cultural bubble.

 

[MartyF]

I didn't like the ad. That being said, I think if Samsung did this, no one would have cared.

Apple is really wanting to advertise that the iPad is thin . . .

As many people have said - I don't think anyone asked for a thinner IPad.

Drawing and artwork on the iPad is awesome. I use my iPad every day at work. Music can be done better on a mac mini IMO, but iPad could be used for travel/portability.

A lot of what was crushed was consumption of media (Arcade machine, TV, records, books) - not production of media. I'm pretty sure most iPads are used for consumption of media.

Those who actually use iPad for creation are not likely to be deterred by this video. At the moment, no alternative exists for an iPad.

 

[AlexB23]

I didn't like the ad. That being said, I think if Samsung did this, no one would have cared.

Apple is really wanting to advertise that the iPad is thin . . .

As many people have said - I don't think anyone asked for a thinner IPad.

Drawing and artwork on the iPad is awesome. I use my iPad every day at work. Music can be done better on a mac mini IMO, but iPad could be used for travel/portability.

A lot of what was crushed was consumption of media (Arcade machine, TV, records, books) - not production of media. I'm pretty sure most iPads are used for consumption of media.

Those who actually use iPad for creation are not likely to be deterred by this video. At the moment, no alternative exists for an iPad.

Cracks knuckles (well, I can not actually do that).

Ahem, there is an alternative to the iPad. It is called the Linux tablet, though it is overpriced and uses an Intel processor instead of an ARM processor. Pretty neat, isn't it? The 2020s has a lot of new tech that isn't just made by Apple or Micro$oft.

Purism's new 11-inch Linux tablet runs a full desktop version of PureOS

The Librem 11 slate's modest specs are more than enough to tackle your everyday tasks quite well.

www.zdnet.com

 

[AlexB23]

I think it just shows how alot of these folks live in a cultural bubble.

The culture of Apple. Well, a similar culture revolves around Microsoft and Android, though not as pronounced. An old article from 2013 highlighted this culture.

[Article contains a cuss word that has the same sound as hydroelectric dam, ages 12+]: iSheep, Fandroids, and why we care so damn much about our smartphones

 

[MartyF]

Cracks knuckles (well, I can not actually do that).

Ahem, there is an alternative to the iPad. It is called the Linux tablet, though it is overpriced and uses an Intel processor instead of an ARM processor. Pretty neat, isn't it? The 2020s has a lot of new tech that isn't just made by Apple or Micro$oft.

Purism's new 11-inch Linux tablet runs a full desktop version of PureOS

The Librem 11 slate's modest specs are more than enough to tackle your everyday tasks quite well.

www.zdnet.com

It's not an alternative and the fact that you have to post an article on it instead of describing how vital it is to your work, just shows how useless it is.

The Linux tablet is a toy.

Problems with the tablet

1. no security
2. Computer instead of table operating system.
3. No battery life.
4. Can't run graphics.
5. Can't edit art with advanced effects quickly.
6. No communication.
7. sub par software.
8. sub - par hardware.
9. So awful they already dropped the price $400 in less than half a year.
10. Too heavy.
11. Hardware is not yet fully supported by software.

For many, the iPad is just a gimmicky toy. For those who really on it to make $$$$$, it is something far more and no other company is even close to making an alternative.

 

[AlexB23]

It's not an alternative and the fact that you have to post an article on it instead of describing how vital it is to your work, just shows how useless it is.

The Linux tablet is a toy.

Problems with your tablet

1. no security
2. Computer instead of table operating system.
3. No battery life.
4. Can't run graphics.
5. Can't edit art with advanced effects quickly.
6. No communication.
7. sub par software.
8. sub - par hardware.
9. So awful they already dropped the price $400 in less than half a year.
10. Too heavy.
11. Hardware is not yet fully supported by software.

For many, the iPad is just a gimmicky toy. For those who really on it to make $$$$$, it is something far more and no other company is even close to making an alternative.

Yeah, I do not use a Linux tablet myself. But yeah, tablets in general are kinda useless, regardless of manufacturer or OS. Laptops have far more programs, including Macs and PCs.