Apple’s Falling: AI Plops into the Truck of Another Farmer
March 5, 2026
Another dinobaby post. No AI unless it is an image. This dinobaby is not Grandma Moses, just Grandpa Arnold.
Two companies have been late to the AI “next big thing.” One of these outfits is Telegram. I understand how the arrest, travel restrictions, and impending trial on about a dozen charges of serious crime can derail a company. Pavel Durov, the GOAT in Russian social media, has been trying an end around. So far his efforts have been less than inspiring. Therefore, Telegram’s fumbling in AI can be understood.
However, Apple — run by the affable Tim Apple — has also been late to the game. And when the company entered the fray, it was benched with injury after injury. The dismal performance of Siri, the announcements of what was coming, and then AI that did not arrive allowed some to point out that Apple was really brilliant. No billions dumped into the AI cast iron stove. No rushing forward only to flail like those pesky Microsofties.
Then Apple had a Jobsian moment. The company would team up with another affable outfit just up Highway 101. Google would provide the AI software and Apple’s engineers would work their Lisa-style magic. Google would not have access to Apple data. Apple would control privacy. The pot of gold is at the end of the rainbow in the apple orchard.
I read “Report: Apple Asks Google to Run Siri on Its Servers.” The write up presents as actual factual:
Apple now wants to be prepared for a potential surge in AI use on its devices when the more powerful, Gemini-based version of ?Siri? debuts later this year, motivating the request for Google to run ?Siri? directly on its servers.
I have bumbled around a data center or two in my 60 year work career. Some of these were in different countries. Others were adjacent the machines running the FirstGov.gov search and retrieval service. Others were in small towns where no one was the wiser about what was zipping around. In each of these were log files, systems managers, technicians, and other skilled professionals.
An illustration of a hypothetical situation in a large AI data center at about 3 am on a Sunday morning. This Venice.ai generated image does not reflect how the world works in big time data centers. But you know AI? Hallucinations R’Us.
The most interesting thing my team and I learned is that one of these outfits which I shall not name had an employee whose name thankfully is lost in the mists of my dinobaby mind told me, “Yeah, I am running bitcoin mining on the company’s servers. No one has a clue.”
Yep, no one has a clue. That’s possibly a risk when Apple allows the super estimable Google to run Apple customers’ AI queries.
Then I read “Some Apple AI Servers Are Reportedly Sitting Unused on Warehouse Shelves, Due to Low Apple Intelligence Usage.” This write up asserts:
The Apple finance team has apparently been frustrated about the costs of this duplicate infrastructure, but also unwilling to invest billions in overhauling the stack. There has apparently been several attempts inside the company to unify everything, but those projects have stalled several times over the last decade. For Private Cloud Compute specifically, the system is described as underpowered and perhaps more trouble than it’s worth.
Let’s assume that these two cited articles’ information is sort of accurate. What does a dinobaby like me make of the information?
Answer 1. Apple has zero management control over AI other than dithering. A little bit this way and then a little bit that way. Dither. Repeat.
Answer 2. Apple has a master plan but the fluidity of AI combined with the guillotine of China dependence have created the same type of distraction that has caused Pavel Durov to miss so far the AI opportunity at Telegram.
Answer 3. Apple’s users don’t care one way or another about Apple’s AI efforts. If an Apple user wants AI, just download an app. Problem solved.
Net net: Management churn, ho hum mobiles, impossible to differentiate iPads, stupid pop ups to use iCloud, and the China thing — Apple is now turning to a fellow travelers in Monopoly Land. I am not sure the Google can solve Apple’s problem in AI, but I wonder if Google’s technical team may just take a little peak at those Apple data. Nah, impossible. No engineer with admin privileges would check out what a customer was doing on a Google system. No way! Right, Apple?
Stephen E Arnold, March 5, 2026
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