Apple
Apple is considering whether it should charge for access for people who use Siri a lot.

As Apple prepares to launch an AI-powered Siri in the fall, the company also is considering whether it should charge for access for people who use it much.

"We do believe there will be people that want to use it a lot, and so we will have some kind of upgrade possibilities on iCloud+," CEO Tim Cook said during Apple's most recent quarterly earnings call, according to Axios.

The comments came as Cook discussed the computing costs and the value an upgraded Siri could provide.

"(Siri) underscores our philosophy that building AI that is private and based on personal context can change how users find information and get things done with our products in a way that truly enriches their lives," Cook said.

Unlike most big tech companies, Apple has taken a more measured approach to investment in AI.

CNBC noted that Apple spent much less on AI development than companies like Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft. Those companies are each spending more than $100 billion in capex. By comparison, CNBC reported that Apple's capex was about $2.46 billion.

"The ability to run some percentage of requests on device is also very strategic and sort of a competitive weapon," Cook said.

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Investments in AI and the cost of the computing power needed to generate and operate the technology have increasingly garnered scrutiny. Some worry that the investments being made by Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft will never be recouped and could threaten the American economy.

"This AI thing better work out because if it doesn't... we're going to have a problem," Torsten Slok, chief economist at investment firm Apollo Global Management, told the Washington Post.

According to the newspaper, Google, Microsoft, Meta and Amazon all referenced soaring AI-related sales and deals to justify their ongoing investments. However, the Post noted that for every $1 of revenue Google's entire business generated, $1.15 went to fund only AI.

"I'm not saying AI is going to go away, it's just not clear to me these guys are going to make money on it," Christopher Wood, global head of equity strategy at investment bank Jefferies told the Post.

Apple