At WWDC ’24, Apple unveiled its long-awaited AI integration, Apple Intelligence, marking a pivotal milestone in the company’s technological evolution. Although Apple is quite late to the AI race, it seems that the corporation is aiming to take the biggest leap yet. With seamless integration across almost everything, Apple is ready to embark on a new phase starting this fall.
What Is Apple Intelligence?
Even though the AI integration seems new, Apple has always had some AI features that worked under the hood like Apple’s Neural Engine(ANE), enhancements to photos, and auto-complete on the keyboard. But Apple Intelligence is a whole different type of integration with a sharper focus on “Generative” AI. Essentially meaning, this new initiative focuses more on leveraging the use of large-scale generative and language models.
What’s New?
Apple’s execution of their Apple Intelligence is quite peculiar as they’ve decided to sprinkle in the AI functionalities throughout various aspects of the operating system rather than just creating a standalone application. Some of the keynotes presented at WWDC that looks to make full use of AI in the near future include features such as AI-powered writing tools, Clean up tools, Generative emojis, Image playground, and the long-awaited overhaul for the chat assistant Siri.
Writing Tools are essentially tools powered by Apple Intelligence and chatGPT that allows the consumers to generate texts, change styles of writing, proof read and summarize. Another important text-based AI integration has to do with the feature of recording and generating transcripts of audio calls.
After Samsung’s Magic Wand and Google’s Magic Eraser, Apple too has decided to give their own photo application a massive upgrade with the introduction of Clean Up tools that seamlessly remove unwanted objects from any image.
One of the more atypical features revealed is to do with Genmoji, an Apple Intelligence-powered emoji generator that enables user’s to create their own emojis on the fly. With mixed reactions among Apple Enthusiasts it seems like Genmoji is a feature exclusively catered to the newer generation.
Nothing embraces generative AI more than image generation. Which is now possible on Apple devices by virtue of “Image Playground”. With Image Playground users can instantly create images on three styles: Animation, Illustration, or Sketch. Users can use this feature straight through the messages application or its own standalone application.
Level Up: Siri
The chat assistant Siri is finally getting a long overdue overhaul with the integration of AI. With a brand new logo and expanded functionalities, Siri now works across the device. The upgraded Siri can perform tasks ranging from fetching information from emails to the status of your Uber delivery.
With the addition of chatGPT into the mix Siri is looking to expand even further. With the addition of text inputs and GPT responses, the virtual assistant is looking to fulfill every need.
Privacy Is Still The Priority
Since its inception, Apple has always been focused on the privacy of it’s users. The introduction of AI to its devices is sure to give rise to some skepticism. But to combat this Apple has decided to integrate the majority of the AI aspects into the core of the device. This means the majority of the AI features are “On device”.
Another measure taken by Apple to respect it’s user’s privacy is by asking permission before sending out requests to chatGPT. Communication to chatGPT is only suggested to the user when Apple Intelligence feels like chatGPT can provide a better response.
Overall, despite all the AI integrations Apple is still keeping Privacy as their top most priority. This level of commitment towards privacy while still delivering proper AI functionality is commendable. It is also why consumers believe Apple intelligence is the first and only proper real-world integration of AI.
