#166 Apple’s AI Health Coach, Pilates Backlash & the Danger of Energy Drinks

[whooshing] So this week we are talking about AI.

Now, of course, everyone's talking about AI.

It feels like every sector, every headline, AI seems to be front and center, but especially when it comes to health, wellness, personal information, and safety.

So this headline is that Apple's AI health coach is delayed.

So Apple's WWDC event is just around the corner, I think it happens mid-June, which means we can expect a host of software announcements from the tech giant.

Oh, it's June 8th, so by the time this episode goes out, this event will have happened.

Yes.

So according to Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman, Apple's AI health coach, apparently dubbed Project Mulberry, where do they get this information? [laughs]

Love those

... from inside Apple, might not be revealed at the event after all.

So past rumors have suggested that Apple is building an AI helper that can study your fitness metrics and identify key areas of improvement, then give you tips and plans to help you get there.

Another feature might involve using your device camera to monitor your workouts and give you pointers to step up your posture and performance.

Now, there's a couple of things that stand out to me about this headline.

As I mentioned, we've discussed before the benefits of AI and technology when it comes to health, and I think specifically with diagnostics and looking at, you know, our, our scans, et cetera.

Yeah.

Now, I've definitely seen more and more in the zeitgeists recently, especially on tech podcasts, people talking more about the, their, the concerns, I suppose, and, like, who owns this data and, like, some podcasters have been, I guess, received a bit of backlash after suggesting to people that they should, you know, upload information to ChatGPT and say, you know, get ChatGPT to help you out, whether that's uploading your diet, whether that's uploading your metrics from your wearable, uploading, uh, a recent x-ray results from the hospital and saying Ch- ChatGPT can help you to kind of differentiate, or even medications, you know.

I've done that before.

I've taken a photo of a medication and uploaded it to ChatGPT and said, "What dosage? This is what I've been recommended.

What could the possible side effects be? What should I expect?" Et cetera.

Yeah.

So some of the concerns have come from people saying, "Well, actually, we shouldn't be uploading all of this stuff to ChatGPT because Sam Altman, who owns it, hasn't actually..." You know, they own anything you upload, they own.

So if you upload financial documents, health documents, anything, they own it, Sam Altman.

So I feel like where Apple comes in, Apple often is kind of seen as with more of a kind of, I don't know, safer, secure.

When people, you know, typically, like, berate the tech giants like the Googles and the Metas when it comes to safety and privacy and security, they seem to kind of leave Apple out of that conversation.

[laughs]