'Apple Intelligence' Brings Generative AI Into Apple, With OpenAI ChatGPT's Help

Apple has been using AI on its devices for a long time, but it doesn't follow the trend that much.

Just when others, including tech titans, are competing in the development of generative AI, thanks to OpenAI that started the trend following the announcement of ChatGPT, Apple has been lagging in the race.

When others have gone leaps ahead, in terms of Large Language Model AI products, Apple was still sticking to its voice assistant Siri.

This time, things change, as Apple finally unveiled a long-awaited AI strategy.

During its 2024 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Apple announces 'Apple Intelligence' technology across its suite of apps, which should significantly improve not only Siri, but pretty much everything else.

In the nearly two-hour long presentation at the Apple's annual developer conference, executives including CEO Tim Cook touted how Siri would be able to interact with messages, emails, calendar, as well as third party apps.

Siri will be able to write emails and change the tone of voice to suit the occasion.

Read: Apple's Foray Into Generative AI Is With 'MGIE' Where Users Can Edit Images Using Words

With Apple Intelligence, Siri can do things like:

Take actions inside apps on users' behalf.
Answer questions when users want to know how to do something on their Apple devices.
Maintain conversational context so users don't have to repeat certain things when scheduling events or sending messages.
Better understand demands, if even users stumble over words.
Take action when something new appears on the screen, such as updating a contact when a user receives text message containing a new address.

With iOS 18 and Apple Intelligence, according to Apple executive Craig Federighi, iPhone users will have access to a smarter, more customizable and more powerful mobile operating system.

"We are just getting started, I hope you are as excited as I am about the road ahead," Federighi said during Apple's keynote at WWDC.

In short, Apple said that users will be able to speak to Siri much more naturally in iOS 18, and that the assistant can do a lot more things that it previously could.

And most importantly, Apple Intelligence introduces Apple's first foray into generative AI, which is made possible with its partnership with OpenAI.

"With ChatGPT from OpenAI integrated into Siri and Writing Tools, you get even more expertise when it might be helpful for you — no need to jump between tools," said Apple.

"Siri can tap into ChatGPT for certain requests, including questions about photos or documents. And with Compose in Writing Tools, you can create and illustrate original content from scratch."

Apple, a company that once refused to use the term "artificial intelligence" when talking about its machine learning features, is now trying to catch up with just about all of the table-stakes features that Google, Microsoft, and others have rolled out.

But of course, Apple always has a privacy story to tell.

Read: Apple's 'OpenELM' Is An 'Open-Source Efficient Language Model' That Runs Locally

According to the company, its AI features will be processed on-device to keep information private, meaning that its AI will not send any data to the internet, in order to work.

But to make this possible, users have to use iPhones with at least an A17 Pro processor, or M-series chip.

In cases when it really needs connection, like for example, when users ask for information that is only available on the web, Apple said that the request will go through what it calls the 'Private Cloud Compute,' and that the data will never be stored on the servers, and Apple said that it will never be able to access it either.

Apple even released a paper detailing how its features, including those powered by OpenAI would ensure safety of customer data.

"You control when ChatGPT is used and will be asked before any of your information is shared. Anyone can access ChatGPT for free, without creating an account. ChatGPT subscribers can connect accounts to access paid features within these experiences," Apple said.

Executive Craig Federighi called Apple Intelligence "AI for the rest of us."