We learned from Tim Cook’s comments and numerous reports that Apple is working on AI features for all its devices and platforms. And we’re pretty sure the tech giant will unveil it during the opening keynote of WWDC 2024.
Now, though, we have an idea of how Apple will brand its AI features – and no, it won’t be artificial intelligence or “Absolutely Incredible,” as Apple SVP of Marketing Greg Joswiak teased in a message on X (formerly Twitter).
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, it will be called “Apple Intelligence”, which certainly has a nice ring to it. It will apparently be the central location to sign up for the new features built into iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS 15. As predicted, it will likely be all about integrating AI functionality into current apps and services, that someone else could use. use every day and provide value.
As Gurman notes, “the company is less focused on high-speed technology – such as image and video generation – and is instead focusing on features with broad appeal.”
These will likely become summary powers for navigating a crowded inbox or quickly getting the gist of a web page. Similar to Samsung’s Galaxy AI or Google’s Gemini features, they will expand to summarizing notes, automatically transcribing voice recordings, and even providing a simple overview of notifications.
In Messages, suggested replies should get an upgrade, and Siri will seemingly get the equivalent of a new brain, hopefully making it much more useful. The upgrade could integrate a large language model to let the virtual assistant control features and functions within apps and multi-step queries. Bloomberg’s latest reporting also notes that Apple will be working with OpenAI and their tools will be used to power some features.
The report notes that the ‘Apple Intelligence’ features are completely opt-in and not enabled by default – plus they can be labeled as ‘a beta’. This hint suggests that Apple plans to improve them over time and possibly add additional features.
It looks like you need a Mac or iPad with an M-Series chip or newer. For the iPhone, it will reportedly be supported on upcoming models launching in 2024, as well as the iPhone 15 Pro or 15 Pro Max. The A15 Bionic or newer will likely be the requirement, but it will be interesting to see if it is needed for all features or just specific elements.
As with other services, processing will take place on a device or on cloud-based computers; the latter would be a change for Apple, which has always focused on user privacy and security. To that point, the report notes that WWDC will focus on the “safeguards” Apple is taking, such as “security features on the chips it uses in its data centers,” and that no user profiles will be built from customer data.
With both processing routes, it is clear that privacy will be paramount, and that Apple will use this to differentiate itself from the competition. It could also help get more people to actually sign up for Apple Intelligence, and that, combined with actually useful features that are considered useful, could help turn the tide here. After all, useful upgrades to applications and tools we use every day can help speed up workflows and make tasks easier.
We’ll have to wait and see what Apple reveals at the kickoff of WWDC 2024 and how it positions AI, er, Apple Intelligence. You can see the five things we expect Apple to reveal, including a round-up of all our news ahead of the 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm BST kick-off on June 10 (3am AEST, June 11).
If you’ve been waiting for a Calculator app for iPad, this seems to be the year. VisionOS 2.0 will also add more environments to Vision Pro, and we’ll apparently also get new Mac, iPhone and iPad wallpapers, a dedicated app for managing passwords and the ability to create emojis on the fly.