Get ready for "Apple Intelligence."
Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL, ETR:APC) has unveiled a comprehensive suite of AI features integrated into iOS 18, promising to revolutionize user interaction across its devices at its Worldwide Developer Conference in Cupertino Monday.
This move brings advanced AI capabilities to over a billion users, placing a powerful AI agent directly in their pockets.
"Apple Intelligence" significantly enhances Siri, enabling it to understand icons, widgets, and text on the screen and execute actions within apps. Users can now ask Siri to summarize notifications, texts, emails, meeting notes, and voice memos.
The AI can rewrite, suggest, and summarize text, and even edit photos based on context or specific requests.
Ahead of the conference, analysts were eagerly awaiting a glimpse into Apple’s long-rumored plans to develop its AI strategy.
“It’s been the one area where Apple investors have been waiting for their next major development,” Jay Woods, chief global strategist at Freedom Capital Markets (NASDAQ:FRHC) commented Monday morning.
“While Siri was supposed to be revolutionary, it never had the impact where users of the platform felt like they could live without it…Was Siri ever that product you couldn’t live without? Clearly the answer is no. In fact, it was more of an annoyance when it accidentally popped up because you said the word seriously oddly.”
Siri’s new capabilities extend to seamless cross-app functionalities. For instance, users can request Siri to play a podcast shared by a partner or retrieve and auto-fill information from one app to another.
Privacy-first AI processing
All AI processing occurs on-device, ensuring that user data remains private and secure. The AI leverages on-device large language and diffusion models, coupled with a semantic index that organizes and retrieves information across apps.
When cloud processing is necessary, Apple employs a "Private Cloud" infrastructure using servers built with Apple silicon. Its approach ensures that user data is never stored or accessible by Apple, with independent experts verifying these privacy claims.
Beyond enhancing Siri, Apple Intelligence introduces several innovative features, starting with Genmoji, which generates AI-created emojis, providing users with unique, on-the-fly reactions.
As well, Siri can now interact with on-screen content, allowing users to perform tasks like editing photos or extracting information from images for auto-filling forms.
Other new features include system-wide writing assistance integrated throughout the Apple ecosystem, offering email-writing suggestions, text summaries, and the ability to alter the tone of written messages.
Catching up in the AI race
Apple's venture into advanced AI capabilities marks a significant step in catching up with tech giants like Google and Microsoft, who have been pioneers in integrating generative AI technologies. Apple Intelligence is not a standalone app or an upgraded Siri; it is deeply embedded within the software ecosystem, enhancing user experience across all Apple devices.
Shares of Apple slipped around 1.7% following the announcement.