So far, Apple has been reticent when it comes to artificial intelligence. Now the company is making a U-turn and wants to incorporate new AI functions into its smartphones, tablets and laptops.
The big opening presentation lasts 67 minutes until Apple CEO Tim Cook says “Artificial Intelligence” for the first time. It’s the same as always. First there are less important announcements. For example, iPhone and iPad users will soon be able to decide for themselves what colors the apps have on their screens.
But actually everyone is just waiting for the big announcements about “Artificial Intelligence”. Apple calls its artificial intelligence systems “Apple Intelligence”. “They are supposed to make the devices even more personal,” promises Apple CEO Tim Cook.
Siri is being revised
One of the most important changes: Apple wants to revise the voice assistant Siri. It has been around for 13 years, but the problem so far has been that Siri has not always really understood what users want. New AI systems can now handle language much better, recognize the context and often give meaningful answers.
The bigger idea behind it: users should no longer spend so much time on individual apps, but rather tell the AI what they want – and it should then take care of it. To make sure that this works well, Apple is working with OpenAI.
Apple manager Craig Federighi promises: “We’re starting with the best AI model. ChatGPT from OpenAI.” In other words: Apple’s own AIs will also be built into the iPhone, but are not yet ready in terms of quality, which is why ChatGPT will also be integrated into the Apple smartphone.
Summaries of emails planned
In the future, users will also be able to use AI to create images or personal emojis on their Apple devices. Transcripts of phone calls or email summaries will also be possible. In terms of functions, Apple is closing a gap with its competitors. Google, Meta and OpenAI itself offer similar things.
Apple wants to differentiate itself when it comes to data protection. The AIs should mostly run directly on the devices. “When a request is made, it is analyzed whether it can be processed directly on the device. If it is more complex, the data required for this is sent to Apple servers,” says Federighi.
Data protection should be guaranteed
Federighi promises that Apple does not have access to this, which can be checked by independent experts. “Independent experts can check this to verify the promise,” says Federighi.
Nilay Patel says of data security: “I’m very skeptical.” He is editor-in-chief of the tech magazine “The Verge”. “Especially when personal data is sent from a device to the Internet, data protection authorities around the world are suspicious about how private the data really remains. That’s why Apple has to be very transparent about how exactly this is supposed to work,” says Patel.
However, Apple’s new AI feature will not be released until autumn and initially only in English. Anyone who wants to use it will then need at least an iPhone 15 Pro or newer. Apple apparently wants to create an incentive to buy the new and expensive top devices.