Apple Intelligence is Apple’s take on artificial intelligence, designed to fundamentally change the way we interact with technology by integrating advanced machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities into everyday devices.
Promising more conversational prose from Siri, automatic proofreading and text summarization in apps, and lightning-fast image generation, Apple’s AI ecosystem is designed to improve the user experience and streamline operations across its product line. Here’s everything you need to know about Apple’s groundbreaking new AI.
Apple Intelligence release date and compatibility
The official release of Apple Intelligence is planned for this fall and will be included in the three major operating system updates: iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and macOS Sequoia.
The three are currently in developer beta, with public betas and official releases to follow later this year.
The company has stated that the AI features will only be available on the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max, as well as iPads and Macs with M1 or newer chips, at least initially. Additionally, the features will only be available at launch if the user language is set to English.
Why this shutdown? Well, Apple has insisted that the processes are too intensive for older hardware, as they take advantage of the more advanced neural engines, GPUs and CPUs in these newer chips.
New AI features
Regardless of which device you use Apple Intelligence with, the AI focuses primarily on three functions: writing assistance, image creation and editing, and enhancing Siri’s cognitive capabilities.
Writing tools
The new Writing Tools feature will be included in iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia at launch. It can proofread the user’s writing and rewrite sections as needed, as well as summarize text across Apple’s application ecosystem, including Mail, Notes, and Pages. Third-party developers can use the Writing Tools in their own apps via API calls.
For example, in the Mail app, Apple Intelligence provides users with brief summaries of the contents of their inbox rather than showing them the first few lines of the email itself. Smart Reply suggests replies based on the content of the message and ensures that the reply answers all the questions posed in the original email. The app even moves more recent and relevant correspondence to the top of the inbox via Priority Messages.
The Notes app is also getting significant improvements. Thanks to Apple Intelligence, Notes offers new features for transcribing and summarizing audio files, as well as a built-in calculator called Math Notes that solves equations entered into the text of the note.
Picture playground
The image creation and editing functions will be largely handled by the new Image Playground app, which allows users to create generated images within seconds and in one of three artistic styles: animation, illustration, and sketch. Image Playground will exist as a standalone app, with many of its features and functionality integrated into other Apple apps such as Messages.
Apple Intelligence is also coming to your camera roll. The Memories feature in the Photos app could already automatically identify the most important people, places, and pets in a user’s life and then compile those images into a coherent collection with music. With Apple Intelligence, Memories gets even better.
The AI selects the photos and videos that best fit the user’s prompt (e.g., “best friends road trip to LA 2024”), then generates a storyline – including chapters based on themes the AI finds in the selected images – and stitches it all together into a short film. Photos users will also get access to Clean Up, a tool similar to Google’s Magic Eraser, and improved search capabilities once Apple Intelligence releases public beta.
Siri
The biggest beneficiary of Apple Intelligence’s new features will likely be Siri. Apple’s long-suffering digital assistant will be more deeply integrated into the operating system, featuring more conversational speech and improved natural language processing.
Additionally, Siri’s memory will be more persistent, allowing the agent to remember details from previous conversations while allowing the user to switch more seamlessly between spoken and written prompts.
Apple Intelligence Privacy
To avoid the costly and embarrassing data leaks that have plagued some of its competitors in recent months, Apple has put privacy at the heart of the Apple Intelligence experience, even going so far as to build its own private and secure AI computing cloud called Private Cloud Compute (PCC) to handle complex user requests.
Most of Apple Intelligence’s routine operations are handled on-device, using the company’s latest generations of A17 and M processors, said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, during WWDC 2024. “It knows your personal data without collecting it,” he added.
“When you make a request, Apple Intelligence analyzes whether it can be processed on the device,” Federighi continued. “If more computing power is needed, it can fall back on Private Cloud Compute and send only the data relevant to your task to Apple Silicon servers for processing.” This should dramatically reduce the chances of private user data being hacked, intercepted, spied on, or otherwise sniffed out during transmission between the device and the PCC.
“Your data is never stored or made available to Apple,” he explained. “It is used solely to fulfill your request, and just like your iPhone, independent experts can review the code running on these servers to verify this privacy promise.”
Apple Intelligence ChatGPT Partnership
Apple Intelligence won’t be the only cutting-edge generative AI coming to your Apple devices this fall. During WWDC, Apple and OpenAI executives announced that the two companies are entering into a partnership that will integrate ChatGPT functionality (powered by GPT-4o)—including image and text generation—into Siri and Writing Tools. Like Apple Intelligence, ChatGPT will step in when Siri’s built-in capabilities aren’t sufficient for the user’s request, with the exception that ChatGPT will instead send the request to OpenAI’s public computing cloud rather than the PCC.
Users do not need to leave the Siri screen when using ChatGPT’s features. Siri will provide the answer regardless of where the query was processed. To ensure at least a semblance of privacy, the device will ask the user for permission before submitting the request along with any documents or images attached by the user.
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