Apple marks a major move toward AI

Apple marks a major move toward AI

Company announces new AI system at its annual developer conference.

As part of a major move toward AI, Apple has announced a personal intelligence system for iPhone, iPad, and Mac – combining the power of generative models with personal context.

Apple Intelligence is deeply integrated into iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia, harnessing the power of Apple silicon to understand and create language and images, take action across apps, and draw from personal context to simplify and accelerate everyday tasks.

With Private Cloud Compute, Apple is said to set a new standard for privacy in AI, with the ability to flex and scale computational capacity between on-device processing and larger, server-based models that run on dedicated Apple silicon servers.

“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 Apple CEO Tim Cook.

“Our unique approach combines generative AI with a user’s personal context to deliver truly helpful intelligence. And it can access that information in a completely private and secure way to help users do the things that matter most to them. This is AI as only Apple can deliver it – and we can’t wait for users to experience what it can do.”

Apple Intelligence and associated AI solutions are said to mark a major toward AI for the company. They were introduced at Apple’s annual developer conference.

During his keynote address to the conference, Cook said: “AI has to understand you and be grounded in your personal context like your routine, your relationships, your communications and more. It’s beyond artificial intelligence. It’s personal intelligence.

The new system was outlined as involving a range of genAI tools aimed at creating an automated, personalized experience integrated with the operating systems of Mac laptops, iPad tablets and iPhones – with the ability to pull information from and take action within apps.

At the event, Apple also confirmed collaboration with OpenAI, announcing integrating of ChatGPT technology into responses from a new version of Siri – with the ability to function as an AI chatbot and receive written instructions.

That, too, would be able to take actions within apps based on voice prompts, but also have the ability to assess emails, texts and photos to find specific information.

Also announced at the event were:

  • An updated operating system for the Vision Pro headset.
  • The adoption of Rich Communication Services to improve messaging between iPhones and other smartphones as well as expanding customization options for iMessage.
  • A redesigned photos app
  • Hiking maps in Apple Maps
  • Tweaks to the Wallet app
  • Customization options for texting
  • Texting via satellite in locations without cell tower connections
  • A new hybrid cloud system called private cloud compute.

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