Apple Intelligence gets a Xiaomi tribute act with ‘thoughtful’ Super Xiao AI assistant
- Xiaomi unveils Super Xiao AI
- The AI assistant is incredibly similar to Apple Intelligence
- This would not be the first time that Xiaomi was inspired by Apple
Xiaomi has unveiled its next-generation AI assistant, Super Xiao AI, and it looks… very familiar.
The upgraded AI voice assistant is “thoughtful and capable” to perform more complex tasks than the previous version of Xiao AI, Xiaomi say. The new voice assistant is also incredibly similar to Apple Intelligence; it could almost be a direct clone of the Cupertino giant’s own AI feature suite.
When you type text in Super Xiao AI, you’ll immediately notice the similarities to Apple Intelligence’s Type to Siri feature – even the shape of the text box and logo placement are the same. One user enabled X also showed the similarities between Super Xiao AI and Apple Intelligence’s writing tools.
so Xiaomi’s new “xiaoai” intelligence has just been released… does this look familiar? lol pic.twitter.com/A1moE3NvnqNovember 13, 2024
Judging from the above, Xiaomi’s AI Writing feature is a borderline copy/paste of Apple’s UI; it even includes the new ability to enter prompts to control the AI writing tool, just like the new Writing Tools update in iOS 18.2.
Super Xiao AI is part of a broader software update for the top Xiaomi phones running HyperOS 2, including the Xiaomi 15 and Xiaomi 14.
Not the first time
This isn’t the first time the Chinese company has drawn inspiration from North American competition. Xiaomi’s MIUI operating system was incredibly similar to Apple’s Control Center design in iOS 17, and the company even adopted similar UI elements into the MIUI Camera app and Settings.
It’s no surprise that brands copy Apple’s beautiful UI design, but Xiaomi’s approach is so obvious that it often detracts from the company’s excellent products. While I’ve heard many tech journalists rave about Xiaomi smartphones (we’ve personally described the Xiaomi 14 Ultra as the “king of camera phones,” for example), as an iPhone user I’m more familiar with the company’s attempts to clone iOS than I am with Xiaomi devices.
To quote Oscar Wilde, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that can transform mediocrity into greatness.” But why does a company that is so far above average continue to imitate? Super Xiao AI could eventually trump Apple Intelligence as the best AI voice assistant, but it will be difficult for the AI model to ever shed its label as an Apple clone.