Apple announced Apple Intelligence (AI) this week, an AI tool that will combine generative models with users’ individual contexts. Apple Intelligence is integrated into the English version of iOS 18 and macOS Sequoia. The tool can understand and generate language and images. Apple Intelligence can also perform actions within apps.

Fast and easy for daily use

Apple Intelligence includes a Writing Tool with a Rewrite Feature, a Proofread feature, and a Summarize feature. The features are integrated into apps. This means it can generate email summaries, and automatically draft responses for you. The AI can also generate images and emojis.

Moreover, the Siri voice assistant gets a makeover and can will be able to perform hundreds of new actions, such as saving an address or forwarding a photo. Furthermore, it will be possible to easily transcribe or summarize spoken text, such as a phone call. This would make daily use of the iPhone and Mac faster and easier.

According to Apple CEO Tim Cook, the new features go beyond AI. He calls it: “personal intelligence and the next big step for Apple.”

Privacy-Friendly AI?

Apple claims to set a new standard for privacy within AI. The company only uses information about the user’s context in a fully shielded and secure way. For complex AI tasks, the company uses Private Cloud Compute, an encrypted cloud environment. Moreover, the program code is open source.

Apple’s Siri will directly collaborate with ChatGPT. ChatGPT will also be integrated into Apple’s writing assistant. Elon Musk is critical of the privacy-friendliness precisely because of this collaboration with OpenAI. He is afraid that Apple is transferring data to OpenAI. He even called Apple products spyware.

Musk threatens to ban all Apple products from his companies. ‘If Apple integrates OpenAI at the OS level, then Apple devices will be banned at my companies. That is an unacceptable security violation,’ is what the former co-founder of OpenAI said on X.

Although there are indeed privacy risks associated with ChatGPT, Apple has taken measures to protect user’s privacy. User IP addresses remains hidden, and their questions are not stored by OpenAI. If you use ChatGPT with your own OpenAI-account, the company does save your input.

Apple is catching up

Apple enters the AI race late. Competitors such as Google, Meta, and Microsoft have all introduced AI assistants in the previous years. After the announcement about Apple Intelligence, Apple’s market value immediately rose to $3.29 trillion. This means that Apple has overtaken Microsoft again as the world’s most valuable company.

Apple has released a test version of Apple Intelligence. The public test version will be released in July. The English version for the general public is expected in the fall of 2024. Other languages will follow later. Apple Intelligence works on the iPhone 15 Pro and on iPads and Macs with M1 or newer.