New Advances in Technical Innovations - "Apple Intelligence": A Group Promises Assisting Artificial Intelligence
Apple takes a bold step towards using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve user experience. Beginning this fall, iPhones and other devices will have enhanced features that simplify life. These features include consolidating missed emails and text messages, creating personalized emoji symbols, and retrieving information at command.
Apple has a significant advantage in the AI race, as it has a strong presence in its customers' lives through the iPhone, Apple Watch, and Mac computers. This allows for personalized responses through access to user data. Apple terms this "Apple Intelligence" to highlight the uniqueness of the feature.
Craig Federighi, Software Chief, demonstrated this during the developer conference WWDC. He gave an example of rescheduling a work meeting and checking whether he would make it to his daughter's theater performance on time. The software needs information about the rescheduled meeting location and theater performance location, along with calculating travel time based on traffic.
Sound difficult? Apple's AI model should be able to access and sort information across different iPhone applications, such as Calendar, text messages, emails, and maps.
Siri set to become smarter
Siri, Apple's voice assistant that currently seems outdated compared to chatbots like ChatGPT, might become more useful. With new features, users can edit photos or add a friend's new address to their contacts list using voice commands.
A new feature will allow users to create custom emojis while typing a text. Apple calls this function "Genmoji" - because they're generated via AI.
The Mail app will display a brief summary instead of the first lines in the quick overview. Since "Apple Intelligence" understands the content of emails and messages, the software can determine the importance of the message, and thus prioritize its display.
Not all devices capable
However, many iPhones in use don't have enough computing power for these new AI features. The upcoming iPhone models this fall, or at least the iPhone 15 Pro from last year, will be needed to take advantage of these features. Apple's more affordable iPhone buyers are left out. For Macs, an M-series chip is sufficient.
The key to activating the new AI capabilities is users' trust in Apple. With a focus on privacy and encryption, Apple has set the foundation for this. But, with numerous hacker attacks and data scandals of late, users have become more skeptical. Microsoft faced heavy criticism for its recent announcement of a search function that would create and analyze screen images every few seconds.
Apple has integrated AI into various functions in the past without drawing much attention. For instance, in photo editing or word suggestions while writing text messages. Apple has always emphasized data protection during this process, claiming that the AI runs on devices, not in the cloud. But this time, as "Apple Intelligence" involves a larger computing load, servers will be required. Apple has assured that no data remains on the servers after processing and that a case-by-case decision is made on whether a task is performed on the device or in the cloud.
Controlled ChatGPT access
In the wake of media speculation about Apple's collaboration with the ChatGPT developer OpenAI, Apple announced that customers could enjoy direct access to ChatGPT but that ChatGPT would have a secondary role. Siri will always request permission when directing a request to ChatGPT.
It's unclear how often this will occur. However, Apple's in-house AI software might initially have limited range. Apple envisions a future where users can access various specialized AI models.
Satellite SMS and password app
In addition to AI, Apple revealed other announcements at the WWDC, including sending messages via a satellite connection. This will work for iMessage chats between Apple devices and classic SMS.
There's also a password manager app for iPhone users. This password manager will work seamlessly with Safari and automatically generate strong passwords. Passwords are stored locally, ensuring security.
In the future, iPhone users will be able to chat with Android users through Apple's messaging app using the encrypted RCS protocol rather than SMS. In Germany, WhatsApp has been the preferred choice for communication between the two platforms so far.
Apple's password manager, which allows users to store and auto-fill login information across devices, is getting its own dedicated app. Until now, this feature has been built into the settings. Apple is thus going head-to-head with dedicated providers.
The cost of Apple's computer glasses, Vision Pro, is set at around 4,000 euros.
Cook announced that the Vision Pro, Apple's computer glasses, will be available for purchase in Germany starting July 12th. The initial price for these glasses is 3,999 euros. The Vision Pro allows users to enter virtual reality (VR) worlds and overlay digital content onto the real environment. In comparison, Meta's VR headset, Quest 3, sells for only 550 euros.
