Google, Microsoft, and Meta can’t stop talking about A.I. — here’s why Apple rarely mentions it

The most powerful technology companies simply cannot stop talking about artificial intelligence, and in particular, the “generative AI” flavor that can create human-like text, images and code.

During calls after this week’s earnings reports, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and his team said “AI” 66 times. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and his execs said it 47 times. And on Wednesday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and the Facebook executive team said the magic phrase 42 times, according to a CNBC analysis of transcripts.

But Apple barely talks about artificial intelligence, and you shouldn’t expect to hear much about it during the company’s earnings next week.

Its sober approach to the new technology contrasts sharply with its rivals, which are stoking excitement and elevating expectations every chance they get.

During May’s Apple earnings call, CEO Tim Cook only said AI twice, and that was in response to a question. During Apple’s two-hour software launch event in June, it never said the phrase, although it announced several new features powered with AI.

Apple execs instead use the phrase “machine learning,” which is more popular with academics and practitioners. Apple execs also prefer to talk about what software does for the user, such as organizing their photos, improving their typing, or filling out fields in a PDF, as opposed to the technology that makes all that possible.

Apple’s approach to AI as a core underlying component instead of the future of computing represents a way to present the technology to its consumers. Apple’s AI works in the background. And the company doesn’t yell about it the way some of the other companies do because it doesn’t need to.