Apple's 2024 Proxy Statement for its annual shareholder's meeting reveals several little-known initiatives it's been following to improve artificial intelligence (AI) across its product range, and the company seems to go a little further than others to attend to the details.

The company shared insights into how it thinks in response to a shareholder proposal supported by two corporate investors - Legal & General Investment Management (one of the top 25 Apple stockholders) and Abrdn.

The investors want Apple to publish a transparency report on the company's AI usage and ethical frameworks. Apple had tried to exclude the resolution, but the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) dismissed that attempt.

Should AI roam free?

The central argument of the shareholder proposal is respectable. No one should be blind to the deeply transformative impact AI is about to have on every society and every profession. The legal profession, for example, is preparing for one of the most deeply disruptive impacts it has ever experienced from tech.

The drive to force companies in the business of building AI and generative AI tools and platforms to adhere to ethical standards will only intensify as populations wake up to the significance of mass deployment. In the end, Apple's perceived slowness in widening AI deployment in contrast to some competitors might reflect that the company sees things the same way.

"We believe it is important to be deliberate and thoughtful in the development and deployment of artificial intelligence, and that companies think through the consequences of new technology before releasing it," Apple said in response to the shareholder proposals.

Apple thinks about it seriously

Apple also shared a couple of examples to back up its argument:

• "Apple is engaged in an ongoing process to make Siri a more inclusive and accessible feature, including by engaging socio