Apple Leaps Into AI With An Array Of Upcoming IPhone Features And A ChatGPT Deal To Smarten Up

CUPERTINO, California – Apple has gotten into the fight to bring generative artificial intelligence to the masses, announcing a plethora of new features for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

And, in a move befitting a firm recognized for its marketing acumen, the AI technology that will be available as free software updates later this year is dubbed “Apple Intelligence.”

Even as it attempted to stamp its mark on technology’s hottest sector, Apple implicitly recognized during its World Wide Developers Conference that it requires assistance catching up with businesses such as Microsoft and Google, who have emerged as early leaders in AI. Apple is using ChatGPT, developed by San Francisco firm OpenAI, to make Siri, its often-bumbling virtual assistant, wiser and more helpful.

“All of this goes beyond artificial intelligence, it’s personal intelligence, and it is the next big step for Apple,” Tim Cook, the company’s CEO, stated.

Apple | AP news Image

Apple Leaps Into AI With An Array Of Upcoming IPhone Features And A ChatGPT Deal To Smarten Up

Siri’s optional gateway to ChatGPT will be free for all iPhone users and available on other Apple products once it is included in the next generation of Apple operating systems. ChatGPT members should be able to quickly link their existing accounts with the iPhone and receive more advanced capabilities than free users.

To announce the partnership with Apple, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sat in the front row of the packed conference, attended by developers from over 60 nations.

“Together with Apple, we’re making it easier for people to benefit from what AI can offer,” Altman said in a statement.

Beyond allowing Siri to access ChatGPT’s knowledge base, Apple is overhauling its 13-year-old virtual assistant to make it more friendly and versatile, even though it now handles approximately 1.5 billion daily requests.

When Apple distributes free software updates for the iPhone and other products this fall, Siri will alert users with flashing lights along the borders of the display screen. According to Monday’s presentations, it will be able to undertake hundreds more jobs than it can currently, including chores that may require the use of third-party devices.

Apple’s complete planned capabilities will only work on more recent iPhone, iPad, and Mac models due to the devices’ enhanced CPU requirements. For example, to fully benefit from Apple’s AI bundle, users will need to purchase last year’s iPhone 15 Pro or the next model, which will be released later this year. All of the features will operate on Macs dating back to 2020 after the latest operating system is loaded.

The AI-powered enhancements coming to future versions of Apple software are intended to help the billions of users who use the company’s gadgets get more done in less time while providing access to creative tools that may spice things up. For example, Apple will use AI to allow users to generate emojis, known as “Genmojis,” on the fly to match the mood they want to portray.

According to Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, Apple’s goal with AI “is not to replace users, but to empower them.” Users can also turn off any AI tools they do not want by going into their device’s settings.

Monday’s event appeared to be intended to assuage fears that Apple might lose its competitive advantage with the debut of AI, a technology believed to be as transformative as the iPhone’s introduction in 2007. Google and Samsung have already produced smartphone models with AI technologies as their key attractions, while Apple has been experiencing an unusually long sales downturn.

AI craze is the primary reason Nvidia, the dominant maker of the processors that power the technology, has seen its market value skyrocket from $300 billion at the end of 2022 to almost $3 trillion. Nvidia’s remarkable rise allowed it to overtake Apple as the second most valued corporation in the United States. Earlier this year, Microsoft overtook Apple due to its so-far successful drive into artificial intelligence.

Apple | AP news Image

Apple Leaps Into AI With An Array Of Upcoming IPhone Features And A ChatGPT Deal To Smarten Up

Investors were less impressed with Apple’s AI presentation than the audience gathered to watch at the company’s Cupertino, California, headquarters. Apple’s stock price fell roughly 2% Monday.

Despite the harsh reaction, Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives wrote in a research note that Apple is “taking the right path.” He described the presentation as a “historical” day for a corporation already transforming the digital industry and society.

Aside from showing off its AI capabilities, Apple used the conference to clarify that it will introduce a technology known as Rich Communications Service, or RCS, to its iMessage app. The technology should improve the quality and security of texting between iPhones and smartphones running Android software, such as the Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel.

The move, implemented with the next update of the iPhone’s operating software, will not abolish the blue bubbles that indicate texts sent from iPhones and the green bubbles that indicate texts sent from Android handsets, a distinction that has been a source of social stigma.

Another planned feature of the iPhone’s messaging app will be the ability to create a text (or have an AI tool compose it) ahead of time and schedule it to be sent automatically at a certain time.

Monday’s presentation marked the second consecutive year that Apple has caused a sensation at its developer’s conference by introducing a fashionable technology that other firms had already implemented.

Last year, Apple gave an early glimpse at its mixed-reality headset, the Vision Pro, which will be ready in early 2024. Nonetheless, Apple’s foray into mixed reality—with a twist dubbed “spatial computing”—has sparked renewed public interest in this specialized technology.

Part of that optimism originates from Apple’s history of launching technology later than competitors, then employing sleek looks and slick marketing campaigns to compensate for its delayed start.

Apple | AP news Image

Apple Leaps Into AI With An Array Of Upcoming IPhone Features And A ChatGPT Deal To Smarten Up

Adding more AI to the iPhone is likely to raise privacy worries, a topic on which Apple has gone to great pains to reassure its dedicated customers that it can be trusted not to pry too deeply into their personal lives. Apple spoke extensively on Monday about its attempts to strengthen privacy safeguards and controls around its AI technologies.

Apple is attempting to persuade customers that the iPhone will not be used to spy on them by leveraging its chip technology so that most of its AI-powered features are handled on the device rather than at remote data centers, commonly referred to as “the cloud.” Going this path would also benefit Apple’s profit margins because AI processing on the cloud is significantly more expensive than doing it simply on a device.

Apple customers will use what the company refers to as a “private cloud” to handle tasks that require more computing power than what is available on the device in order to protect their data.

Apple’s AI “will be aware of your personal data without collecting your personal data,” according to Federighi.

SOURCE – (AP)