In Apple's new ad, a shredding machine goes to work on both analog objects and digital symbols.
An ad for Apple's new iPad Pro shows a giant shredding machine destroying a trumpet, piano, guitar metronome, paint cans and other creative tools. Not everyone is appreciative of the visuals, with critics hurling jabs like “deaf,” “grisly,” “heartbreaking” and “comically stupid” at Apple.
“Why did Apple make an ad that crushes the arts? Technology and AI means destroying the arts and society in general,” said the actor and filmmaker Justine Bateman wrote in X, formerly Twitter. The announcement comes as the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence sparks passionate responses among artists, from excitement about its potential to steer art in weird and wonderful directions to fear that it will steal jobs and possibly alter the nature of creativity.
“The Destruction of Human Experience,” wrote actor Hugh Grant in response to Apple's announcement. “Courtesy of Silicon Valley.”
Apple launched two new iPad Pros at its “Let Loose” event on Tuesday, where it also introduced two new iPad Airs, revamped Pencils and Magic Keyboards. It claims that the iPad Pro is the most powerful iPad yet and the thinnest.
The device comes in 11-inch and 13-inch sizes, with a new, brighter display, a new keyboard, and a new Apple M4 chip that Apple says prepares the device to handle the demands of AI. That the processor has arrived “is Apple's way of saying how seriously it's taking both the iPad and AI,” my Forbes colleague David Phelan writes.
From the announcement it is clear that Apple is promoting the iPad Pro as a tool for artists. “Imagine all the things that will be used to create,” Apple CEO Tim Cook wrote Tuesday when he posted the ad on X. One of the ad's detractors responded: “But the video it shows a thousand beautiful things being destroyed.”
Apple didn't immediately respond to a request for comment, but given the sensitive climate surrounding generative AI and art, it shouldn't be surprised by the pushback. In March, a metal band removed an AI-generated album cover after a rant that it insulted real-life artists. In the same month, an AI-generated advertising image released by an Australian symphony orchestra struck a sour note among creative professionals.
Still, the artistic community is far from monolithic. At an event on art and AI at San Francisco's Commonwealth Club on Wednesday, Hugh Leeman, an artist and professor of art at Duke and Johns Hopkins University, cited the “bifurcation of narratives” in the art world in this key moment in the development and adoption of AI.
“On the one hand, we have that everybody will be displaced, on the other hand we have this incredible optimism that it will profoundly increase creative opportunities and creative skills,” Leeman said.
In fact, we're witnessing the power of AI to unlock creative expression for people with disabilities, like Steve Gleason, a football hero with ALS who uses the tool to make art again, and music legend country Randy Travis, who recorded a new song through AI years after a stroke.
While Apple's ad could easily be interpreted as squashing the arts, it could also be seen as cramming a mockery of artistic tools into a single device. Apple titled the site “Crush,” which reflects the slang use of the word, which means to do something really well. Still, a disgruntled actor, writer and producer decided the ad needed to be reworked.
“Here Apple, I fixed it for you” Reza Sixo Safai wrote to X next to the new version. In it, the Shredder works in reverse, with objects that were decimated in the original slowly coming back to life. The spectators immediately applauded Safai. “This would have been a much better message,” wrote one. Another said: “Great and totally changes the tone of the ad. Perfect.”
