Apple announces “Apple Intelligence”

Apple is about to make a significant technological advance with the release of iOS 18. At the centre of these innovations is the “Apple Intelligence” initiative, which is intended to integrate generative AI functions and significantly improve the functionality of Siri and other system applications.

Cooperation with OpenAI for Apple Intelligence

The integration of OpenAI aims to bring powerful chatbots to iOS, iPadOS and macOS to improve user interactions and provide advanced AI-driven features.

New features in iOS 18

iOS 18 will introduce a variety of AI features designed to improve the user experience in various applications. Key features include:

• Intelligent browsing in Safari: this feature provides web page summaries and advanced image search tools.
• Transcription and summarisation of voice memos: The Notes and Voice Memos apps will receive AI integration for transcribing and summarising voice recordings.
• Optimisation of mails and notes:
  • Rewrite feature: makes text suggestions.
  • Smart Reply: Provides options for quick email replies.
  • Priority Notifications and Reduce Interruptions: Ensures that only the most important push notifications appear on the lock screen.
• Image Playground: Enables the creation of customised images and animations for communication in messages. Available in apps such as Keynote, Freeform and Pages as well as in third-party apps via the new Image Playground API.
• Genmojis: Create customised emojis based on descriptions or your own images.
• Photo and video search: Makes it easier to search through photos and videos and find relevant images and moments. The background can be subsequently changed with Clean Up.
• Review: Creates stories independently by combining matching images and videos into a story based on a prompt. Also provides song suggestions based on Apple Music.

Presentation at the WWDC 2024

The new AI functions were presented by Apple at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2024. Further information and insights on Apple Intelligence can be found in the Apple Newsroom.

Improved Siri as part of Apple Intelligence

One of the most anticipated changes is the improvement of Siri. By utilising generative AI, Siri is expected to provide more accurate and contextually relevant responses, making it a more robust digital assistant. This overhaul aims to make Siri competitive with other leading AI assistants by improving its understanding and execution of user commands.

Source: Apple Inc.

Privacy and security

Apple places great emphasis on privacy and security by performing much of the AI processing on the device itself, minimising the data sent to external servers. This approach is designed to protect user privacy while delivering fast AI functions.