iOS 18: How Apple Intelligence will shape your iPhone, iPad
SAN FRANCISCO - Apple entered the generative artificial intelligence race on Monday, unveiling a slew of new features coming to iPhone, iPad and Mac during its annual Worldwide Developers Conference.
The company debuted the new technology coming to iOS 18, called "Apple Intelligence," which CEO Tim Cook said will "transform what users can do with our products — and what our products can do for our users."
iOS 18 will introduce Apple Intelligence, which the company describes as "the personal intelligence system for iPhone, iPad, and Mac that combines the power of generative models with personal context to deliver intelligence that’s incredibly useful a
Here’s what to know about Apple Intelligence coming to iOS 18:
iOS 18 and Apple Intelligence
Apple said its new AI features will "unlock" new ways for users to write and communicate with its new Writing Tools feature in iOS 18, including the ability to adjust the tone of an email, finesse a cover letter, or even summarize a lengthy piece of text.
"Whether tidying up class notes, ensuring a blog post reads just right, or making sure an email is perfectly crafted, Writing Tools helps users feel more confident in their writing," Apple explained.
Apple Intelligence is the new personal intelligence system for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. (Credit: Apple)
In the Notes and Phone apps, users can record, transcribe, and summarize audio, the company said – while a "deep understanding of language" will also transform the way notifications appear on the iPhone.
"Priority Notifications appear at the top of the stack to surface what’s most important, and summaries help users scan long or stacked notifications to show key details right on the Lock Screen, such as when a group chat is particularly active," the company said. "And to help users stay present in what they’re doing, Reduce Interruptions is a new Focus that surfaces only the notifications that might need immediate attention, like a text about an early pickup from daycare."
Apple said searching for photos and videos will also become more convenient with Apple Intelligence.
"Natural language can be used to search for specific photos, such as ‘Maya skateboarding in a tie-dye shirt,’ or ‘Katie with stickers on her face,’" Apple explained.
Users can also more easily search in videos with the ability to find specific moments in clips.
A new "Clean Up" tool can also identify and remove distracting objects in the background of a photo without accidentally altering the subject, Apple said.
Genmoji: Create your own emojis with Apple Intelligence
By simply typing a description, a Genmoji appears, along with additional options. (Credit: Apple)
Apple Intelligence will also allow users to create their own original emojis – or "Genmoji" to express themselves.
By typing a description, the Genmoji appears and can be added inline to messages, or shared as a sticker or reaction in a Tapback, Apple said.
Siri gets an AI upgrade
Now users can type to Siri, and switch between text and voice to communicate with Siri in whatever way feels right for the moment, the company said. (Credit: Apple)
Apple is leaning on ChatGPT, made by the San Francisco startup OpenAI, to make its often-bumbling virtual assistant Siri smarter and more helpful.
Siri's optional gateway to ChatGPT will be free to all iPhone users and made available on other Apple products once the option is baked into the next generation of Apple's operating systems.
Beyond allowing Siri to tap into ChatGPT's storehouse of knowledge, Apple is giving its 13-year-old virtual assistant an extensive makeover designed to make it more personable and versatile, even as it currently fields about 1.5 billion queries a day.
Siri will signal its presence with flashing lights along the edges of the display screen. It will be able to handle hundreds of more tasks — including chores that may require tapping into third-party devices — than it can now, based on Monday's presentations.
Overall, the company noted that Siri will become "more natural, more contextually relevant, and more personal, with the ability to simplify and accelerate everyday tasks" – thanks to better language-understanding capabilities.
"(Siri) can follow along if users stumble over words and maintain context from one request to the next. Additionally, users can type to Siri, and switch between text and voice to communicate with Siri in whatever way feels right for the moment," Apple said.
What phones are needed for Apple Intelligence features
Apple's full suite of upcoming features coming this fall will only work on more recent models of the iPhone, iPad and Mac because the devices require advanced processors.
For instance, consumers will need last year's iPhone 15 Pro or buy the next model coming out later this year to take full advantage of Apple's AI package, although all the tools will work on Macs dating back to 2020 after that computer's next operating system is installed, the company said.
This story was reported from Cincinnati. The Associated Press contributed.