What’s Apple Intelligence? It’s a personal intelligence system which will be available across various apps on your iPhone, Mac or iPad and will automate tasks for you, like writing, proofreading, summarising, and creating content. 

The AI or Apple Intelligence will be able to play a podcast from a partner's message or add addresses from texts to contacts. It’s basically what you would expect AI to do for you - comb through the data on your device, find what you’re looking for and do the tasks you have assigned it. 

“As we look to build in these incredible new capabilities, we want to be sure that the outcome reflects the principles at the core of our products,” said CEO Tim Cook. "All of this goes beyond artificial intelligence -- it's personal intelligence, and it's the next big step for Apple.”

The Big Takeaway

The big news is that Apple is integrating Siri and its writing tools with OpenAI's ChatGPT. What would that look like? Say, for example, if you want to plan a weekend trip, you can ask Siri for suggestions. After you grant permission, Siri will consult ChatGPT to provide a detailed itinerary and activity recommendations.

Apple, however, said ChatGPT will be free and users won't have to create an account, but subscribers will get extra features. Users will be asked for permission before sharing any information with OpenAI.

Other than that, Siri will soon also turn into a chatbot, performing actions like summarising notes, writing emails, and editing photos. Does that sound familiar? A lot of these features have already been announced and implemented by Microsoft, OpenAI, Google, Amazon and Meta in their products. But Apple, especially after its deal with OpenAI, is walking a tightrope when it comes to privacy.

The Privacy Question

Throughout the WWDC event, Apple repeatedly emphasised the importance of privacy. Despite their assurances, concerns about data security persist. 

Apple is selling it by underlining that AI is aware of your personal data but doesn’t collect your personal data. How it’s taking care of maintaining privacy is by introducing Private Cloud Compute. A private cloud is a type of cloud computing environment that is exclusively used by a single organisation.

Typically, in Apple's flagship products - iPhone, iPad and the Mac - all machine learning and OCR text recognition in Photos are performed directly on your device. But, for heavier tasks (AI tasks), the devices might not have the necessary compute to carry them out. This is where Private Cloud Compute comes into play. It doesn’t store your data but is used specifically to fulfil the user's request and get more compute power in order to carry out that task.

However, when you send your tasks to cloud servers, even if private, it means sending out your private data from the phone over the internet. This exposes you to risks such as spying, hacking, and the data-driven business models of Silicon Valley.

“A brand new standard for Privacy in AI,” as Apple called it. Private Cloud Compute securely connects the cloud to your phone and only works if the software is inspected. However, adding more layers and using servers can create more issues. While Apple seems serious about privacy, it's hard to fully ensure it.

SpaceX CEO and xAI founder Elon Musk raised privacy concerns and stated that he would forbid the use of Apple devices in his companies if Apple integrates OpenAI directly into its operating system.

Other Interesting Things At The WWDC

Apple also unveiled the features of its latest operating system - iOS18. Cool features include tap-to-cash, which allows users to send money from one iPhone to another by just tapping together their devices. Two new cool features for iMessages are that you can schedule messages for later and that you will be able to send messages via a satellite connection.

Call recording! Apple will allow users to record calls on iPhones - a feature which was not available before. And with the help of AI, users can record and transcribe calls in Notes. The person at the end of the call will be notified that they are being recorded. Another feature, similar to Google's Magic Eraser, that removes unnecessary items in your photos. Yep, that’s coming to Apple products as well. 

Apple also introduced Genmojis. It would allow you to create customised emojis based on what you’re talking about in Messages. The real question is - what’s the difference between emojis, memojis and genmojis?

For its AR/VR headset Vision Pro, Apple is bringing some improvements to the visionOS interface. With VisionOS 2, users will be able to rearrange apps on their homescreen. Additionally, new hand/finger gestures will be introduced for accessing the homescreen, Control Center, and even checking battery life or the time, including a clever wrist roll gesture reminiscent of checking a watch.

Also, to make expressing yourself more fun, Apple's introduced Image Playground to create AI-generated images. This app, built into apps like Messages, lets you mix and match different subjects and objects and choose playful styles like Animation, Illustration, or Sketch. Since everything is made right on your device, you can create and experiment.

Since Apple Intelligence relies heavily on processing power to manage on-device Generative AI, it will be compatible with iPhones equipped with the A17 Pro chip - iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. For iPad and Mac users, AI will be available on devices powered by Apple's M1, M2, M3, and M4 chips.

The beta version of Apple Intelligence is set to launch in the fall, likely in September, and will be freely accessible, albeit restricted to the US English.