The Backlash Against Apple’s New iPad Pro Ad, Explained

Apple sparked outrage online after releasing an ad for the new iPad Pro, which inadvertently mirrored the fierce controversy surrounding generative AI in the arts.

Apple CEO Tim Cook posted the announcement on X (Twitter) with the cheerful caption: “Imagine all the things that will be used to create.”

The Internet, however, did not share Cook's optimism.

What is the AI-generated art controversy?

Many working creatives have been horrified by the rise of generative AI, and the technology is seen as diminishing the value of human labor, replacing it with cheaper, sloppier AI-generated output.

Artists have seen their work used to train generative AI models without permission or compensation, flattened into machine-made content that threatens their livelihood.

If you want to create a visual representation of the fear and anger directed at generative artificial intelligence, it's hard to imagine a more accurate representation than Apple's new iPad Pro commercial.

What's up in Apple's new iPad Pro commercial?

The ad, titled “Crush!”, shows a variety of artistic tools and instruments, including a piano, guitar, typewriter, cameras and paint cans, mercilessly crushed under an industrial press.

The result is the sleek new iPad Pro, which is Apple's thinnest tablet yet, with the new M4 chip, designed to be an AI powerhouse.

The ad is clearly intended to communicate the convenience of creating art through a tablet, a global tool that can replicate the function of these crushed objects.

Commentators on social media, however, saw the announcement as a tasteless Silicon Valley brag, a literal crushing of human creativity.

A user X he wrote: “Apple has inadvertently made one of the most fitting and revealing announcements of the modern era. My credit.”

Many commentators were surprised that Apple seemed so out of touch with the current cultural climate.

In the past, Apple has presented itself as a modern, countercultural corporation, a company that appeals to creatives who work to make stylish, easy-to-use tools.

Apple's controversial ad marked a stark contrast to the company's famous “1984” ad, directed by Ridley Scott, which successfully framed the Macintosh computer as a liberating tool against corporate monoculture.

A commentator he wrote: “Forty years ago, Apple released the 1984 ad as a bold statement against a dystopian future. Now you are that dystopian future. Congratulations.”

The announcement seemed particularly insipid against the backdrop of turmoil in the entertainment industry, with Hollywood recently rocked by strikes partly motivated by the use of generative AI in film production, among other major issues.

AX, actor Hugh Grant described the ad as “The Destruction of the Human Experience”.

Director and writer Asif Kapadia he wrote“Like iPads, but I don't know why anyone thought this ad was a good idea. It's the most honest metaphor for what tech companies do to the arts, to artists, musicians, creators, writers, filmmakers: squeeze- them, use them, do not pay well, take everything and say that everything was created by them.

Some even edited the ad to play backwardscreating a surprisingly moving depiction of flourishing human creativity, pushing back against the power of Silicon Valley.

The backlash against generative AI is growing

It seems that the honeymoon period of generative AI is over; for many, the initial wave of optimism has been replaced by anxiety as the negative impacts of technology become increasingly apparent.

Today, AI-generated content is spreading like wildfire across social media, sweeping misinformation, spam, strange images and non-consensual pornography.

Generative AI even proved a sore point in the Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar beef, with one of Drake's songs featuring a digital imitation of the late rapper Tupac Shakur, prompting Shakur's estate to threaten legal actions

AI also affected the Met Gala speech, with AI-generated fakes fooling many social media users into believing that Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and Rihanna had attended the event.

In the novel 1984George Orwell memorably described his fascist dystopia as “a boot that marks a human face, forever.”

With the new iPad Pro announcement, Apple has created a similar metaphor for AI skeptics: a hydraulic press crushing the spirit of human creativity.