Against a background of sun-soaked superyachts, the blending blues of pale waters and paler skies, and the battle between technology and human expertise, Apple sought to dispel the marketing industry's AI anxieties at Cannes Lions.

"There is no technology capable of making us feel emotion better than the human mind can," Apple's vice president of marketing communications, Tor Myhren, told Cannes Lions attendees this week. Myhren’s session, opening the festival, sought to reassure an audience of marketers and brand design experts that AI and human creativity can co-exist. At a moment of tension for the industry, this was no mean feat. 

The appearance follows Apple's annual developers conference last week, where the firm shared that it would allow millions of app developers access to its AI models for the first time. Apple’s decision marks a sharp break from its historically closed ecosystem. Speaking at the event last week, chief executive Tim Cook said the company was looking to "harness the power of Apple Intelligence", referring to an AI overhaul of its software first announced at last year's event.

Developers have been able to test the new software features from 9^th of June, while a full rollout for consumers will follow in the autumn. However, the AI tools will be restricted to the latest iPhone models, a decision that invites scrutiny over its accessibility. In Cannes, Apple paid tribute to its app developer base via a music video, featuring lyrics drawn from glowing reviews of its apps, such as: "Being human is hard, this [app] is helpful."

That tension – between very accessible, helpful tech and the inevitable hard knocks of human experience – loomed over the Cannes Lions festival this year. Exhibitors pushed for optimism, hope and open-mindedness, but, privately, marketers wonder whether they are training the very devices that will replace them.   

The rise of AI has also placed pressure on one of Apple’s long-held principles: user privacy. Unlike rivals such as Meta and Google - whose business models rely on harvesting data to fuel personalised ads - Apple has long marketed itself as a protector of personal information. But in the AI boom, data protectionism is shifting from a strength to a liability. Playing catch-up with competitors may require tapping user data at a scale the iPhone developer has promised to avoid.

Many may also dispute Myhren’s claim that AI can't draw out human emotion; there are weekly cases of young people, feeling lonely or rejected, turning to the warm embrace of AI's companionship and flattering words. With social lives severed by screens and ruptured by lock-down social distancing, AI tools offer a personability that can be hard to find offline. And agencies are catching on. Earlier this year, WPP quickly remade one of its clients' Super Bowl television ads. Instead of human actors or pricey production, the agency opted for far cheaper artificial intelligence tools. What previously took months of scrupulous planning and brainstorming now only takes hours, for far less money. 

What many in the industry are instinctively feeling is apprehension, scepticism and intimidation, traits which are as human – perhaps more so – than optimism. At this important point in the war between AI's enthusiasm and human experience, it may be human vulnerability and self-doubt that preserves our creative edge.