In a landmark announcement at its Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) 2024, Apple has unveiled ‘Apple Intelligence’ – a deeply integrated artificial intelligence system that brings powerful generative AI models to the core experiences of iPhone, iPad and Mac devices. This ambitious move marks a significant collaboration between Apple and OpenAI to make advanced AI capabilities seamlessly accessible across Apple’s platform.
Apple Intelligence promises to be a game-changer, combining the prowess of large language models and generative AI with a deep understanding of users’ personal context and data. At the heart of this new AI system lies Apple’s strategy to process data on-device as much as possible to protect user privacy.
For more computationally intensive tasks that require greater processing power, Apple has introduced ‘Private Cloud Compute’ – a novel architecture that can dynamically scale up to leverage larger server-based models running on Apple silicon servers, while cryptographically ensuring that users’ data is never retained or exposed.
“We’re thrilled to introduce a new chapter in Apple innovation. Apple Intelligence will transform what users can do with our products — and what our products can do for our users,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Our unique approach combines generative AI with a user’s personal context to deliver beneficial intelligence.”
Some of the key capabilities unveiled with Apple Intelligence include:
Writing Tools: Brand-new systemwide tools to rewrite, proofread, summarize and enhance writing across apps like Mail, Notes, Pages and more. From suggesting tonal adjustments to grammar checks, these AI-powered tools aim to boost productivity and communication.
Image Playground: An intuitive interface to create custom images, animations, illustrations and sketches with simple text descriptions or rough sketches, fully integrated within apps like Messages and Notes.
Genmoji Creation: Users can now generate personalized emoji-like ‘Genmojis’ based on text descriptions or even photos of friends and family.
Enhanced Photos & Memories: Natural language search for photos, automated cleanup of background distractions, and AI-generated ‘Memories’ with narratives customized to the user’s descriptions.
Smarter Siri: With deeper language understanding, Siri becomes more context-aware, with the ability to handle follow-up queries, switch between voice and text inputs, and take actions across apps using on-screen awareness.
In a significant move, Apple has integrated OpenAI’s ChatGPT into various Apple Intelligence experiences. Siri can leverage ChatGPT’s knowledge when relevant, while Writing Tools will offer ChatGPT’s content generation and image creation capabilities – all with robust privacy safeguards in place.
“We’re excited to partner with Apple to bring ChatGPT to their users in a new way. Apple shares our commitment to safety and innovation, and this partnership aligns with OpenAI’s mission to make advanced AI accessible to everyone,” said Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI.
Apple emphasizes that privacy remains the core tenet, with most AI processing happening locally on-device using Apple’s Neural Engine. When Private Cloud Compute is used, servers run on secure Apple silicon with open inspection by independent experts.
While Apple Intelligence will be free for users, it will initially roll out as a beta with iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and macOS Sequoia this fall in U.S. English, with more languages and capabilities following over the next year. Supported devices include iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and iPad and Mac models with M1 or later chips.
As generative AI rapidly evolves, Apple’s holistic integration of these capabilities directly into its core software and services is poised to reshape how users interact with their devices and get work done more efficiently. The era of personal, intelligent assistants deeply intertwined with our digital lives has truly arrived.
