We can’t deny that AI is a great tool – it makes our lives so much easier and DEFINITELY isn’t used to write uni essays.
Now, Apple has announced their latest slate of AI-integrated iPhones, iPads, and Macs, with a tonne of new tools right at our fingertips.
Here’s a rundown of what Apple Intelligence is all about.
Partnership with ChatGPT
Speaking to audiences at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2024 on 10 June 2024, Tim Cook said, “At Apple, it’s always been our goal to design powerful personal products that enrich people’s lives by enabling them to do the things that matter most, as simply and easily as possible.”
He went on to share the key pillars of these new artificial intelligence integrations into Apple products, namely that they have to be powerful, intuitive to use, integrated into what we need the most, personal, and with an emphasis on privacy.
One of the most eye-catching new integrations is the partnership between ChatGPT and Apple.
Apple states that users will be able to access the OpenAI software’s expertise, including its image and document-understanding capabilities, without needing to jump around.
Not only will ChatGPT be available in their systemwide Writing Tools to generate content, but another tool, Compose, will allow them to generate images as well.
ChatGPT will also be integrated with Siri, in which Siri will present answers directly asked to ChatGPT for ease of access.
Of course, with all the OpenAI issues like employees writing letters to warn the public about AI, Apple assured everyone that privacy protections and data-use policies are built in for users with this new incorporation.
New and Improved Writing Tools
Another aspect of Apple Intelligence that enhances user experience is the Writing Tools.
From Rewrite, where you can ask your phone to adjust the tone and give you different versions of what you have written, to proofreading for you and even summarising long chunks of text into bullet points – this is easy living at its finest.
These writing and language tools will also be merged into the Mail app, where you can see summarised previews of the email instead of seeing just the first line, which might not tell you what the email is about.
Notifications will also have something similar, where your device will smartly help you scan through long and stacked notifications to show key details only.
If you thought this was mindblowing enough, read on to see what else Apple has in store for us.
Image Playground Where You Can Create Images in Seconds
Image Playground is essentially an image generator that will be built into apps like Messages, and will also have its own app.
It allows users to choose from different styles like Animation or Sketch, different concepts, themes, accessories, places, etc. to create new images.
You can even turn little sketches you make in your Notes app to become full-on images for your reference.
Gone are the days of desperately trying to copy and paste pictures just so you can have a visual reference to what your professor/boss is blabbering on about.
Taking Emojis to the Next Level with Genmoji
Now, while a new version of emojis might not seem as useful as everything else that Apple shared with its AI capabilities, it’s still a fun one to explore.
Now you can create a Genmoji by simply typing a description, in terms of looks, outfits and actions.
You can even just use your photos to create these personalised emojis.
No more having your friends and family calling you out for your Memoji for looking nothing like you.
New Generative Powers in Your Photo Album
As someone with over 80,000 photos and videos in her iPhone gallery, this next feature caught my eye.
You can now search for specific photos with certain keyphrases to find your clips.
For example, you can search, “Justin eating chilli crab in a blue shirt” and your photo will pop right up.
It even goes as far as to find specific moments in your clips so that you can go right to the section of the video you’re looking for.
Of course, there will also be a tool to allow you to remove images in the background of the photo – photo editing softwares really do be quaking in their boots right about now.
Siri 2.0
In the event of an AI uprising in the future, I’m going to try to say this as politely as possible.
I think Siri has had its issues in the past in providing assistance.
However, Apple has unveiled that Siri will be entering a new era, “with richer language-understanding capabilities”.
With a new sleek UI and the lighting up of the edge of your screen when Siri is active, Siri will be able to follow along even if users stumble over words.
You can use Siri for a range of actions, from scheduling a text message to simply switching your phone from light to dark mode.
I’m sorry Siri for ever doubting you.
And of course, with all these changes, the big question and hot topic of our generation is always – is our data safe with all this smart, new tech?
Apple reassured everyone that Apple Intelligence will protect user privacy, with all these models running on servers powered by Apple silicon, where Apple can ensure data is never retained or exposed.
They even stated that independent experts are free to inspect the code that runs on these servers to verify this privacy.
Their Private Cloud Compute ensures that your device does not talk to a server unless “its software has been publicly logged for inspection”.
Needless to say, I’m sure many can’t wait to get their hands on a new and improved Apple device with this slew of announcements.
I simply can’t wait to see how much it’ll cost – and how many organs I’d need to sell.