Elon Musk has put aside his long-standing criticisms of Apple to praise the tech giant’s revolutionary new hearing aid feature for AirPods Pro 2. The Tesla CEO’s endorsement came in response to a touching advertisement shared by Apple CEO Tim Cook, showcasing the feature’s potential to transform lives.
The advertisement, which portrays a heartwarming scene of a hearing-impaired father using AirPods Pro 2 to experience his daughter’s Christmas morning joy, struck a chord with Musk, who simply commented, “This is cool.” This positive interaction marks a notable shift in the typically contentious relationship between the tech mogul and Apple.
The feature in question represents a significant breakthrough in accessibility technology, having received FDA approval as the first over-the-counter hearing aid software. The innovation allows users to either take a hearing test through their device or input existing results from healthcare professionals, enabling the AirPods to adjust sound output to match individual hearing profiles. This development could potentially benefit a substantial portion of the American population, as the FDA reports that over 30 million Americans experience some degree of hearing loss.
Musk’s appreciation for this particular Apple innovation stands in stark contrast to his historical stance toward the company. The friction between Musk and Apple dates back to 2015 when he dismissively suggested in a German newspaper that Apple was hiring Tesla’s rejected employees. More recently, their relationship has been particularly strained over artificial intelligence developments.
The Tesla founder‘s most recent clash with Apple occurred in June when he strongly opposed their partnership with OpenAI. Musk, who co-founded OpenAI but now competes with it through his own AI chatbot Grok, vehemently criticized Apple’s plans to integrate ChatGPT as an opt-in feature in iOS 18. He went so far as to label it an “unacceptable security violation” and threatened to ban Apple products from his companies if the integration proceeded.
His criticism extended beyond security concerns, taking aim at Apple’s AI capabilities directly. Musk publicly questioned Apple’s technological prowess, suggesting they weren’t “smart enough to make their own AI.” In response to Tim Cook’s promotion of Apple Intelligence on X (formerly Twitter), Musk’s response was unequivocal: “Don’t want it,” accompanied by a warning about what he termed “creepy spyware.
Despite this contentious history, Musk’s recent positive engagement with Apple wasn’t limited to praising the hearing aid feature. He also shared Cook’s Thanksgiving message, where the Apple CEO expressed gratitude for the company’s team, users, and those working to improve the world. This gesture, combined with his praise for the hearing aid feature, suggests a possible thawing in the relationship between these tech industry titans.
The hearing aid feature itself represents a significant step forward in making assistive technology more accessible and user-friendly. By incorporating this functionality into a widely-used consumer product like AirPods Pro 2, Apple has potentially opened doors for millions of people to access hearing assistance without the stigma or expense traditionally associated with hearing aids.
This development, and Musk’s unexpected endorsement of it, highlights how technological innovations in accessibility can transcend typical industry rivalries. While Musk and Apple may continue to compete and disagree in areas like artificial intelligence and privacy, their shared appreciation for technology that meaningfully improves people’s lives suggests common ground exists even between the most ardent competitors in the tech industry.
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