Apple may be late to the party with its artificial intelligence projects, but it certainly doing its best to catch up. On Monday the company said that its Apple Intelligence pack of AI features will roll out from next month with iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1. This new AI-driven feature set will assist with tasks such as writing, organizing photos, and managing notifications, and it will first launch in U.S. English, with more languages and features arriving in the coming months.
As expected, Apple Intelligence will come to Macs based on Apple Silicon processors (M1 and newer) running macOS Sequoia 15.1; iPads based on M1 and newer chips and running iPadOS 18.1; and iPhones with 8 GB of more memory (i.e., iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max and iPhone 16/16 Plus/16 Pro/16 Pro Max) featuring iOS 18.1.
Apple Intelligence blends generative AI with personal context, making it easier to perform everyday tasks. Notable features include tools for refining writing, summarizing content, and providing smarter notifications, all while prioritizing user privacy through on-device processing.
The system includes advanced writing tools that allow users to rewrite, summarize, and proofread their text in apps like Mail, Notes, and Pages. It extends this functionality to third-party apps as well, ensuring that users can polish their text anywhere they write.
In Photos, a new Clean Up tool enables users to remove unwanted objects from the background of pictures without affecting the main subject. In addition, Photos will come with improved natural language search for both images and videos, which should greatly simplify content organization. Users can now also search within videos and create personalized photo memories by simply typing a description.
Apple Intelligence introduces smarter notifications across various apps with the Reduce Interruptions capability that filters out unimportant alerts, and Priority Messages, which highlights time-sensitive emails in Mail. Notifications are summarized for quick review, showing key information instead of lengthy previews, and Smart Reply helps users quickly respond to emails with suggested replies.
Additional upcoming features include Image Playground and Image Wand, which will allow users to create playful visuals and enhance notes with quick, contextual images. Another upcoming feature Genmoji will let users create custom emojis from text descriptions or photos of people they know.
Apple Intelligence will also integrate with ChatGPT, giving users access to its knowledge and document understanding capabilities. Users will be able to leverage this integration within iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia without switching apps, providing a somewhat seamless experience for accessing both generative AI and traditional tools.
Siri has been significantly upgraded to become more intuitive and context-aware. It now retains context across multiple interactions, making it easier to use for extended conversations or complex tasks. Users can seamlessly switch between typing and speaking to Siri, and it has enhanced knowledge of Apple products, answering questions about device features or settings.
Most tasks will run on-device, but more complex functions will use Private Cloud Compute, ensuring that personal data is never shared with Apple or stored on its servers. Even when users choose to use ChatGPT through Siri, privacy safeguards will obscure their IP addresses, and no data will be stored by OpenAI, Apple stressed.
