Apple's iPad ad literally crushes all the things we hold dear — and it's making people sad and mad

• Apple's ad for the new iPad Pro shows various artistic tools being crushed. It feels off.
• It hit a nerve: People are concerned with human creativity being replaced by tech, like the iPad.

Apple's promotional video for the newly upgraded iPad Pro has struck a discordant tone. CEO Tim Cook, who tweeted it, is being ratioed to the heavens on X over the ad.

The video shows a large pile of creative tools — cans of paint, a piano, a trumpet, a record player, books, a vintage arcade video game — being slowly crushed in a hydraulic press.

When the press reopens, it's all replaced by the ultrathin iPad Pro.

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Of course, it's meant to show off how an iPad is a great tool for creatives.

But it also struck a raw nerve. We're in a moment of heightened anxiety about the idea of AI replacing human creativity. Already, visual artists, photographers, musicians, and writers are seeing that their work can be mimicked by AI — and they see it as a very real threat to their livelihoods. And it's not just artists who are upset about this; the public is also uneasy about the idea of soulless computer-generated music or visuals.

We're also seeing how AI is accelerating the "enshittification" of the internet — Facebook pages loaded with AI images of "shrimp Jesus" are just the tip of the iceberg.

The reactions online were probably not what Apple was expecting:

if you think this is bad, just know that in the advert for the M5 iPad Pro they lure 5 art school graduates into a pressurised chamber, then Tim Cook walks in with a hatchet and byford dolphins them. https://t.co/8PAjfWa2ZZ

— michael graphics (@_MichaelOswell_) May 8, 2024

unintentionally perfect metaphor for how we are destroying beauty for profit

Bravo https://t.co/vxLquRFkwU

— David Goldfarb (@locust9) May 8, 2024

Yes, the ad is a rare miss for Apple, which has some iconic advertising, like the "1984" hammer ad, the dancing silhouettes for the iPod, and Zooey Deschanel asking Siri, "Is that rain?"

I'll admit, the thinness of that new iPad Pro really is impressive. It's thinner than an iPhone! And it has the new M4 chip even before the MacBook Pro. And an OLED screen. All that stuff is thanks to human ingenuity. It's a shame the iPad ad wants to crush it.