Apple wants you to scan your friend’s dog with the iPhone 16’s visual intelligence
The iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max have been officially unveiled, promising to be the biggest leap forward for Appleās smartphone software experience in years.
Apple unveiled the iPhone 16 lineup during its āItās Glowtimeā event on September 9, and also showed off upcoming Apple Intelligence AI features, rolling out in October.
Apple CEO Tim Cook called the iPhone 16 lineup the āfirst iPhones designed from the ground up for Apple Intelligence,ā and the company showed off several short videos to demonstrate how to use its new AI tools in everyday life.
One of the features showcased was Visual Intelligence, enabled by the new capacitive Camera Control button, which analyzes images in the camera app’s field of view to provide contextual information about the user’s surroundings.
Apple’s livestream showed a user walking through the city and using visual intelligence to look up a restaurant menu and find more information about a concert flyer.
The example that has generated the most reactions, however, involves our protagonist using his iPhone 16 to scan a passerbyās dog, in order to find the breed of the four-legged friend via an AI-assisted web search. Online commenters have gone absolutely nuts (sorry) trying to figure out why the user wouldnāt just ask the dog walker himself.
As technology reviewer and YouTuber Rjey Tech writes on X (formerly Twitter): ā’What kind of dog is that?’ Instead of asking the owner, grab your iPhone and ask Apple Intelligence.ā
āWhat kind of dog is that?ā Instead of just asking the owner, grab your iPhone and ask Apple Intelligence.September 9, 2024
Others were not so quietly sarcastic. App developer Kitze referred to āAI idiotsā silently pointing iPhones at strangersā puppies.
regular person: asks owner “what kind of dog is that” Apple AI idiot: says nothing and points his phone at a stranger’s puppy and asks Siri “what kind of dog is that”September 9, 2024
Most of the reactions weren’t that intense, but there is definitely some confusion about Apple’s choice of a particular demonstration.
Will Apple Intelligence be useful?
While most commentators ā ourselves included ā acknowledge that Appleās iPhone 16 demos arenāt entirely accurate, the dog scan story highlights concerns over whether Apple Intelligence will deliver meaningful upgrades to the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max.
After all, Apple’s annual September events are the most important product launches on the Apple calendar, so fans expect the company to deliver top-notch performances all the time.
A somewhat unrealistic demonstration might lead commentators like FlightRadar24’s Jacob Rabinowitz to think that Apple can’t imagine any tangible use cases.
Even Apple canāt demonstrate a useful AI feature in its iPhone keynote. This ridiculous interaction goes like this: āHello, can I take a picture of your dog so I can use AI to identify the breed?ā instead of just being a normal person and asking, āHello, what breed is your dog?ā pic.twitter.com/JZI30yIMFbSeptember 9, 2024
It’s too early to draw conclusions about Apple’s intelligence, but we think Apple was probably just trying to have a little fun. And let’s face it, cute dogs are good for business.
On the other hand, Apple is keen to emphasise that its products play an ongoing role in peopleās lives, so thereās something to be learned from the way the company envisions the normalisation of AI in everyday interactions.
Visual Intelligence will be available later this year as part of a phased rollout of Apple Intelligence features.
Weāll keep you posted on the latest Apple Intelligence news as we hear it. For our first impressions of a major new iPhone, read our hands-on review of the iPhone 16 Pro.