‘Apple Intelligence’, ChatGPT on iPhone & more: Tim Cook heralds AI era

Cupertino (California), June 11
Joining the AI bandwagon in a big way, Apple on Monday announced a new suite of AI features (including ChatGPT integration) that will customise personal experiences for millions of its users with the arrival of iOS 18 and other software updates later this year.

Called ‘Apple Intelligence,’ the AI features will manage notifications, automatically write things or summarise text in mail and other apps.

The tech major said the AI features will be stored in “Private Cloud Compute” in a safe and secure way.

The company said it is integrating ChatGPT access into experiences within iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia, allowing users to access its expertise, without needing to jump between tools.

“We’re thrilled to introduce a new chapter in Apple innovation. ‘Apple Intelligence’ will transform what users can do with our products — and what our products can do for our users,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO.

“This is AI as only Apple can deliver it, and we can’t wait for users to experience what it can do,” he told developers at the flagship 'WWDC 2024' conference here.

Siri can tap into ChatGPT’s expertise when helpful. Users are asked before any questions are sent to ChatGPT, along with any documents or photos, and Siri then presents the answer directly.

“Additionally, ChatGPT will be available in Apple’s systemwide Writing Tools, which help users generate content for anything they are writing about,” said the company.

With Compose, users can also access ChatGPT image tools to generate images in a wide variety of styles to complement what they are writing.

ChatGPT will come to iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia later this year, powered by GPT-4o.

The company is also rolling out “Genmoji,” a new feature that will generate emoji-like reactions.

Users can even create Genmoji of friends and family based on their photos.

Just like emoji, Genmoji can be added inline to messages, or shared as a sticker or reaction in a Tapback.

Also, a new image-generation feature is coming to iOS 18, called ‘Image Playground’.

With ‘Image Playground’, users can create fun images in seconds, choosing from three styles: animation, illustration, or sketch.

Another AI tool is a new email-writing suggestions and text summaries. In Mail, while typing out a message, you can ask Siri to write it, and then ask it to change its tone.

“In the Notes and Phone apps, users can now record, transcribe, and summarise audio. When a recording is initiated while on a call, participants are automatically notified, and once the call ends, Apple Intelligence generates a summary to help recall key points,” said the company.