The question burning on every Apple fan’s lips is fulfilled: how will AI take shape in iOS18? The event discusses updates for every operating system, with no glimmer of AI appearing anywhere. Eventually, Apple closes with a banger and announces its own AI.
AI is everywhere but it wasn’t there yet at Apple. As of iOS18, that should change. There were plenty of rumors circulating, but what turned out to be the truth? During WWDC24 on 10/06, 7 p.m. local time, we will get the answer.
Apple is joining the AI hype late, as the company previously did not seem to really believe in the technology. However, a delayed rollout is not doomed to failure at Apple, as the company was also not the first smartphone maker and has had tremendous success with the iPhone.
The AI partner
In recent weeks, Apple has been in talks with several important AI companies to finalize an AI partnership. In this, the company held the upper hand and left it to the interlocutors to charm Apple into a partnership. While OpenAI always seemed to be the favorite, Google seemed to get some scraps as well. In addition, there was uncertainty about Apple’s own contribution to the whole story, as from a security perspective, the iPhone maker prefers to retain control. Negotiations with Anthropic did not seem to have yielded enough, or will Apple surprise the public?
Apple Intelligence
Apple is largely taking matters into its own hands. That is taking shape in “Apple Intelligence,” an artificial intelligence of Apple’s mak that must be tailored to the user’s needs. The user cannot avoid this AI, as Apple has poured it deep into the iPhone, Mac and iPad operating systems.
According to Apple, the user should also have no worries because it is done with high-security standards in mind. Because of the integration between hardware and software, Apple says it can run the AI on the operating system itself, and there would be no need to run the AI workload through an external system. In other words, everything happens on the iPhone, Mac, or iPad.
This story can no longer continue with heavier AI tasks. These workloads are then forwarded to the Apple Private Cloud, anyway. However, Apple puts these workloads in a “black box” by running them on Apple’s own systems and closing them off to cloud providers. According to the company, the data also remains closed for Apple.
OpenAI
To cap off the AI novelties, Apple announced another partnership with OpenAI. This is how ChatGPT comes to the operating system. Users can use ChatGPT for free and without creating an account. That way, the user gets assurance that the data processed by ChatGPT is not tracked anywhere by OpenAI. Users with a paid account can link the paid subscription and access the additional features they pay for. At that point, the user retains control over whether the data may be used for training purposes.
ChatGPT is coming later this year to iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia.
Apple is choosing to partner with OpenAI and integrate ChatGPT. The chatbot will be available in all writing tools from macOS, among other things. Source: Apple
What will iPhone users notice?
For the average iPhone user, any partnership becomes meaningful only when concrete new features emerge from it. For now, Apple’s AI investments are most focused on Siri. Of the remaining features, “Smart notifications” stands out, but the other features are really mostly spied on other operating systems and topped with an Apple sauce. The innovations in Siri, Apple’s version of the voice assistant, show that AI can also be a tool to innovate old technologies and make them hip (again).
The voice assistant’s field of operation has expanded considerably with the updates. To that end, Siri integrates into a list of basic apps installed on every iPhone. These include integration into the camera, calendar, notes and files. What the assistant can mean in camera, for example, is setting a timer or switching from front to back camera based on a voice command. An advantage of Siri’s functionality is that the assistant has access to many apps. That makes it possible, for example, to ask the assistant to add an invitation that lands in your mailbox to your calendar. Or you might ask the assistant to add the image named “earnings chart quarter 2” to your presentation about quarterly earnings.
Moreover, Apple is also tailoring to the needs of users who like to use this new Siri but don’t want to talk to a digital device. The company is also making these capabilities accessible via a double tap on the keyboard. From then on, the user controls with Siri. To give a command to the AI assistant, there is no need first to open the app that will be needed. From the home screen, the user can ask for a specific photo, for example, by describing the photo. It is also possible to have the assistant search through settings or ask for explanations to explain, for example, the functions of a new app.
By the way, Siri will also feature new AI functionality on macOS Sequoia, the updated operating system for the Mac that also launched today.
Quickly catch up on missed notifications
We list some other upcoming AI features:
- Smart notifications: Apple’s most innovative feature is Smart notifications, which provide users with short summaries of the most important missed notifications, websites, news articles, and documents. The other features are also new to iPhone users but are, in fact, cheats from other operating systems.
- Writing suggestions: when replying to a message or e-mail, the AI should take over and type the reply for the user with “Smart reply. For this reply, it will read the original message and ask the user for an answer to each question in the message. For example, if you are invited to a garden party and the invitation asks if your partner is also coming along, the AI will ask you if you are going and if your partner is coming along. It is also possible to ask the AI to rewrite a text or check for spelling errors.
- AI images: Replying to messages includes images, as AI also gets permission to search for appropriate images to go with the message based on the written text. This image can be easily personalised because Apple Intelligence knows which contact the user is sending. For example, the cartoon character will be based on your friend’s appearance in a sketch for your friend. To do this, the AI bases itself on the photo you added to the contact. AI images are further available in notes via the new “magic wand. There, the AI can create a corresponding image based on important words from the notes written down.
- Summarizing conversations: the Voice Memo app will soon not only store audio recordings but also develop them into a summary. The same technology is coming to phone conversations. Here, however, all participants in the phone call will have to give permission before the phone call.
AI rewrites the text in the desired style or reads for spelling errors. Source: Apple
Apple’s AI
Based on the novelties Apple is presenting at WWDC24, we expect a new version of iOS that supports the user and takes work off their hands whenever possible, all while keeping privacy at the forefront. We see that as a competitive advantage over competitors’ offerings, which often collect user data to train models.
In addition, Apple will again try to make a voice-activated assistant catch on with the public. Such assistants did not really break through on smartphones before, in any case. Would the AI Siri manage to turn the voice assistant into a hype?
Also read: MacOS Sequoia brings iPhone to life on a Mac
