Apple Intelligence: features, launch and what's new

Apple has announced one of the most groundbreaking pieces of news so far this year: is set to integrate its own artificial intelligence system into its new devices (iPhone, iPad and Mac) with the succinct name of Apple Intelligence.

However, given the dizzying spiral of AI-related innovations we have witnessed in recent times, this is not something that has taken us by surprise. Google, Microsoft, OpenAI and other tech giants have been boasting about their innovative potential based on artificial intelligence, so it is hardly surprising that it is now the turn of US Big Tech as well.

In this post, we’ll explain how Apple Intelligence works and when you’ll be able to try it out for yourself.

What can you do with Apple Intelligence?

As Apple announced at its most recent Worldwide Developers Conference, the most notable features to be incorporated into its devices thanks to Apple Intelligence will be: 

• Enhanced photo editing with on-demand object removal: We’ll be able to precisely remove unwanted objects or people from a photograph with a single swipe of the finger.

• Integration of ChatGPT into Siri: Integration of ChatGPT technology into Apple’s virtual assistant, Siri, to provide more natural, contextual and dynamic responses.

• Automatic generation of emojis tailored to the text: Genmoji, a system that creates personalised emojis based on the text the user is typing.

• Automatic text summaries: The ability to summarise long documents or articles into shorter, more manageable summaries to save time.

• Suggested replies for messages and emails: A feature that provides pre-written replies based on the content of the message received – something we can already see in a basic form on LinkedIn.

• Automatic audio transcription: Technology that automatically converts audio recordings into text. This is another feature that isn’t as innovative as it seems; Telegram already has transcription bots.

• Code autocompletion in the Xcode integrated development environment: A tool that automatically suggests and completes code snippets whilst developers are coding in Xcode.

In addition to these Apple Intelligence features, the company has also confirmed that it has created a private virtual space in the cloud called Private Cloud Compute (PCC) in order to safeguard its users’ data and prevent potential security breaches.

The most eagerly awaited new feature: a much more powerful Siri

Of all the features Apple has announced that will be included in Apple Intelligence, one in particular stands out: the major overhaul of Siri, its famous intelligent chatbot, powered by ChatGPT. This confirms the rumours of the partnership between OpenAI and Apple, under which the agreement would involve integrating its language model into Siri.

However, this integration is not as seamless as one might think. According to Apple, Siri would use ChatGPT when a user submits a query that could be better addressed via the AI chat. It would then seek the user’s express consent to share their information with GPT and display the chat’s response on the interface.

But that’s not the only new feature for Siri. Apple has decided to give it a complete overhaul, inside and out. So, they’ve equipped it with a new brand identity with a redesigned interface and a more colourful and visually appealing logo.

With this update, Siri will be able to respond to users in a similar way to ChatGPT; more naturally, in a more conversational manner, making us feel as though we’re interacting with a human. 

From a more practical point of view, Siri will also be able to perform a wide range of new functions which is designed to make our lives easier. Siri can therefore work out the meaning of text, photos, messages and videos, and suggest appropriate actions based on that. For example, we could search for a specific photo in our gallery using a voice command.

Image Playground: Apple’s generative AI for art

As part of Apple Intelligence’s technology offering, a new app, Image Playground, is set to be included in this suite of new features. Like other generative AI tools (Midjourney, Copilot and DALL-E), Image Playground could generate images using artificial intelligence based on three different styles: animation, illustration or sketch. 

As well as being available as a standalone app, it would also be integrated into the Messages app itself. It is likely that, by the time it is launched, we will see an improved version of Image Playground compared to what has been presented to us so far, enabling it to compete head-to-head with other, more powerful generative AI programmes.

When will Apple Intelligence be released?

According to the tech giant, Apple Intelligence will be launched in a limited version in the coming months, likely in the summer, alongside the iOS 18 beta, the operating system update for Apple devices. 

In any case, it seems that the early days of Apple Intelligence will remain geographically restricted and it will be launched first in a select number of countries, which are sure to include the United States.

Furthermore, only users who have the the latest iPhone models, namely: the iPhone 15 Pro, the iPhone 15 Pro Max and the new generation of iPhone 16 models.

June 2024 update

Apple has announced that Apple Intelligence will not be launched in the European Union in 2024 due to the restrictions imposed by the Digital Markets Act (DMA), so Its launch date in Europe has been postponed indefinitely. In fact, back in February the company announced that it had brought its technology products into line with the DMA guidelines, but it seems that this has not been enough.

The battle for the throne of artificial intelligence

In recent years, the major tech companies have embarked on a space race to secure a monopoly on AI. None of them wants to be left behind when it comes to innovation, because they know that their audiences are unforgiving and will not hesitate to switch to whichever company offers the most advances and conveniences.

That is why we are seeing many strategic moves coming to light and advance announcements of state-of-the-art projects such as Project Astra o Apple Vision Pro.

Whilst Apple Intelligence does not offer anything revolutionary – nor is it expected to – this latest announcement from Apple represents one of the countless moves on the AI chessboard, a field in which many companies are throwing themselves headlong, and a game in which many players are yet to be knocked out.