Apple's first AI phone announced! iPhone 16's new AI features previewed!

Apple made several references to artificial intelligence at Monday's iPhone 16 launch event. However, the generative Apple Intelligence feature isn't ready for the Sept. 16 public release of iOS 18 or the Sept. 20 release of the new iPhone.

Apple's first AI features are scheduled for public release in most territories (except the European Union) next month as part of Beta testing for the iPhone 15 Pro and all iPhone 16s, as well as Macs and iPads with the M1 or later Apple Silicon chip. At launch, they will be available only in U.S. English.

What's Coming to Apple Intelligence in October

writing instrument

• Text Rewrite:Text rewriting will make your email drafts more professional, and you can also change the tone to friendly or concise.
• Proofreading:As in real life, this proofreading feature should correct your grammar and sentence structure and suggest better wording throughout your work.
• Summarize the text:It's like letting AI do the TL;DR for you. summarizing text will shorten your article into important sections, or create bulleted lists or tables.
• Smart Reply:We've seen this AI feature demonstrated several times. Smart Reply will provide you with some contextual suggestions to help you get started with a reply in an email or elsewhere.

New Siri

• New look:On iPhone, iPad, or CarPlay, Siri appears as a rainbow ring at the edge of the screen; on a Mac, Siri floats and sits anywhere on the desktop.
• Apple's new language model:Siri should also get smarter and better at parsing natural language, thanks to Apple's built-in language model for devices. Meanwhile, more complex questions will be sent to Apple's "private cloud computing" servers, which Apple claims act as a computational extension to your device and don't retain any data.
• Input to Siri:You can enter questions to the assistant at any time without having to speak.

image

• Clearance:Similar to Google's Magic Eraser, Cleanup will remove unwanted objects from your photos.
• Search:You will be able to search for photos using natural language to find specific topics you are looking for but can't find in the gallery.
• Memories:You can make a movie using media from the photo library by writing out prompts, which will create a narrative story with chapters.

make a copy of a recording

• Call Recording and Transcription: You will be able to record calls and get a transcription of the entire call. Activating this feature will inform all parties that the call is being recorded.
• Voice recording in Notes: You can record audio in the actual Notes app and transcribe your voice into text. You can also use Apple's other writing tools to help summarize your entire session.

These Apple Intelligence features will be available at a later date

Apple says that other AI features will be available "later this year and in the following months." That means these features could launch as early as October, and possibly next summer or fall. Unfortunately, these are also among the most high-profile features of Apple Intelligence.

Using a combination of Apple's Visual Intelligence and OpenAI's ChatGPT to analyze photos of the Mediterranean coastline and how to set up photo shoots there. Image: Apple

• Visual Intelligence: Apple's new Visual Intelligence feature introduced at the iPhone 16 launch searches for content by simply taking a photo. For example, you can take a photo of a café storefront and get information about it, such as hours and menu, or take a poster of a concert and add it to your calendar. Visual Intelligence can be activated using the Camera Controls side button on iPhone 16 and 16 Pro when it's released.
• Genmoji:You can create your own emoji by typing in a text prompt, and Apple's Image Builder will make a new emoji you can send to a friend.

Make your own emoji. Image: Apple

• Image Playground:In addition to making custom emoticons, Apple Intelligence will eventually create custom images. Enter a text prompt for any image you want (assuming there will be some practical limitations) and Apple's model will make a picture for you.
• Siri Personal Context: Siri's utility will evolve later, by contextualizing and helping you understand the information on the screen on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac.
• OpenAI Connect:As long as the Apple Intelligence writing tool is available, you can also choose to use ChatGPT for additional generative AI options.ChatGPT should also be able to handle your Siri requests for more advanced answers to your questions.
• Third-party apps connect with Siri:Apple also promises that Siri will someday fulfill in-app requests, such as photo editing in image editing apps using images from the Photos app.