The rumors were true and Apple is going all-in when it comes to AI. Its effort is called Apple Intelligence and I’ve got some thoughts.
Apple Intelligence Makes the iPhone, iPad and Mac Feel Fresh Again, but it Takes the Humanity Out of Certain Things
It’s easy to compare Apple Intelligence with Gemini, Meta AI and a few others. But, I’m going to focus on how it compares to Siri of today (at the time of writing) which has been an integral part of the Apple ecosystem since the iPhone 4s days. And how the new AI effort from Apple gives the entire ecosystem a massive boost like no other.
WWDC 2024
In one announcement, Apple made a leap so big for Siri, it’s almost unimaginable. I was sure we will be treated to the same old AI garbage which tells you what type of tree you’re looking at. Apple did none of that stuff and instead showed the world, in a meaningful way, how AI should be done.
Branding Matters and Apple Nailed it
First off, A+ to the name. Branding mattes, and Apple nailed it. But the tagline really gets you – “AI for the rest of us.” It’s pure marketing genius that invokes a sense of exclusivity although the underlying brain is ChatGPT – more on that in a bit.
Siri in its Current State
If given a choice to replace Siri with literally anything else, most of you out there would do it in a heartbeat. I’ve had moments when I asked Siri to set a scene in my bedroom and it did a web search instead. I’m sure it misunderstood me but that’s how things are to date.
At best, you’re limited to very basic stuff like setting timers, asking it very small facts – anything detailed and you can throw the assistant off the rails. It gets the job done in 90% of what people want it for, but there’s always room for more.
Enter Apple Intelligence.
Features
Rather than tossing in a chatbot only (though there is one) Apple is integrating Apple Intelligence deep into the ecosystem in a way that makes perfect sense. For example, if you’re writing an email and want to proofread it, you simply bring up Writing Tool, whether you’re on iPhone, iPad or Mac, AI will do the rest for you. It can even change things up a little, if you want the written text to be concise, professional or friendly.
Just select the text and you’ll see a tiny Writing Tools icon, click/tap on it to get started – it’s that easy.
There’s a new Focus mode that only lets priority notifications through. For example, if you have an incoming flight, the device will inform you about it if there’s a notification related to it, but will filter out everything else. Need to pick someone up and getting close to the deadline? That message will come through as well.
The Mail app has been pretty useful for a long time, but when compared to third-party ones, it severely lacks how it handles different types of communications. With Priority messages in Mail, you will get all the time sensitive emails right at the top and everything else will stay under. It helps with clutter, and every app should do this, and Mail does it too now.
Then there’s mail summary, allowing you to get a quick gist of what’s in the mail and reply accordingly, whether by yourself or choose the new Smart Reply feature that does the legwork for you.
Of course, it wouldn’t be generative AI if it couldn’t generate images. And you can do that in several ways. For example, you can transform a crude sketch in the Notes app into a work of art, or use the Image Playground app to create anything at all, or create custom emoji using text inputs and so much more. But the thing I find people using the most is Genmoji that turns you into a character using just text input – you can either do this to yourself or someone else by simply picking their photo from the Photos app.
There are a ton of other things which Apple Intelligence can do but I won’t mention it here since half of the internet has already written about it.
Now let’s move to the stuff that drives all this.
ChatGPT Integration
Whenever you talk to Siri, it will reply back to you. But there is a limit to how good the assistant can be. When the limit is reached, it can tap into ChatGPT for further assistance. It does this with your request. There is no system-level integration here. It happens when needed. If you have a paid ChatGPT account, you can link that to your device to access advanced features. In short, Apple Intelligence is a mix of Siri and ChatGPT working in harmony.
You even get Type to Siri and use the assistant like a regular chatbot, if you like. I’m sure this is the route that will be most popular. Talking to a phone, tablet or laptop in public always seemed absurd and it made sense for this feature to exist.
If you’ve ever used ChatGPT, you’ll feel right at home here.
My Thoughts
This is the first time I feel convinced about AI. Other experiences have been nothing short of underwhelming for me as apps like Gemini and ChatGPT are sandboxed experiences. Once you spread AI across an entire ecosystem, like how Microsoft has done with Copilot, it then starts to make sense.
I am 100% sure this is going to usher in a new era of mobile technology and AI will immediately start to matter more now that Apple has dipped its toes into it, more like how the Meta Quest suddenly became popular when the Vision Pro came out.
But there is something that bothers me in all this.
AI, while useful in day to day tasks, sucks the humanity out of interactions. You know for a fact the person you’re talking to is them because they’re them. With AI and its generative features, you can’t come to terms with someone who couldn’t write two extra sentences due to their sheer laziness are now writing marvelous emails, essays and poetry. Don’t get me wrong here, I love how this all works and everyone should use technology to the finest.
In the end, the touch of humanity in small areas like emails and text messages will fade away once it’s covered by the veil of AI.
Do you agree?
