iPad 'Crush' ad causes uproar amid AI anxiety

An ad for the new iPad Pro caused an uproar Wednesday for showing an industrial-sized hydraulic press crushing objects linked to human creativity -- such as a record player and trumpet -- into a sleek tablet.

Social media users immediately criticized the ad, which was posted on X by Apple CEO Tim Cook, as painfully tone-deaf at a time when the creative community is worried about its future with the emergence of generative AI.

"The destruction of the human experience. Courtesy of Silicon Valley," wrote actor Hugh Grant on X.

Set to the song "All I ever need is you" by Sonny and Cher, the one-minute ad titled "Crush" sees the pile of creative artifacts, also including a piano and paint cans, explode under the pressure of Apple's press.

"I’m not sure 'wanton destruction of all the good and beautiful things in this world' was really the vibe you were trying for," wrote X user Judd Baroff on X.

The ad links to viral TikTok videos of industrial presses and other machines that are watched by millions on the platform.

Many critics pointed to the iconic 1984 commercial that launched the first Mac computer and depicted Apple as a hammer-throwing rebel against a monolith big brother.

"Forty years ago, Apple released the 1984 commercial as a bold statement against a dystopian future. Now you are that dystopian future. Congratulations," wrote X user Yuval Kardov.

Apple did not immediately answer AFP's request for a comment.

The ad comes as ChatGPT and Dall-E creator OpenAI, as well as other AI giants, are facing lawsuits from artists and publishers saying that their material was used to train AI models without permission.