Apple’s iPad ‘Crush’ ad causes uproar amid AI anxiety

The one-minute ‘Crush’ ad, in which a pile of creative artifacts including a piano and paint cans explode under the pressure of Apple’s press, immediately came under a firestorm of criticism from social media users who derided it as painfully tone-deaf at a time when the creative community is worried about its future with the emergence of generative AI. — Screenshot from YouTube/Apple

SAN FRANCISCO: An ad for the new iPad Pro caused an uproar on May 8 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 criticised 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.