Apple is stuffing OpenAI‘s ChatGPT into a wide range of its product and platforms, including the Siri smart assistant, as the tech company looks to stay competitive in Silicon Valley’s AI race.
The company said it is integrating ChatGPT, the artificial-intelligence chatbot, into experiences within iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and macOS Sequoia, which will be released in beta in the U.S. this fall. Users of Apple’s products will be able to access ChatGPT’s text-based answers as well as its image- and document-processing capabilities without needing to jump between tools. The ChatGPT features are part of Apple Intelligence, a series of AI initiatives and product developments unveiled Monday at the company’s 2024 Worldwide Developers Conference in Cupertino, Calif.
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Siri can tap into ChatGPT, too, although Apple said users will be prompted to confirm their requests before any questions, documents or photos are sent to ChatGPT. Beyond ChatCPT, Siri will employ new AI-based features including “richer language-understanding capabilities,” according to Apple, to be able to “simplify and accelerate everyday tasks.” Siri also will feature a brand-new design with a “glowing light that wraps around the edge of the screen when Siri is active.”
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Additionally, ChatGPT will be available in Apple’s systemwide Writing Tools and Compose, letting users access ChatGPT image tools to generate images in “a wide variety of styles” to complement what they are writing.
However, the new AI features will run only on Apple’s newest hardware. Among iPhones, right now only the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, which feature the high-performance A17 chip, are designated as able to run the Apple Intelligence feature set. Apple’s AI features will be compatible with iPad and Mac models with the M1 chip and later.
“Apple Intelligence will transform what users can do with our products — and what our products can do for our users,” Apple chief Tim Cook said in announcing the features.
Cook emphasized that the Apple Intelligence features access user information in a “completely private and secure way.” According to Apple, privacy protections are built in for users who access ChatGPT; for example, users’ IP addresses are obscured and OpenAI won’t store requests submitted through Apple products on its servers.
OpenAI Sam Altman, in a statement, said, “We’re excited to partner with Apple to bring ChatGPT to their users in a new way. Apple shares our commitment to safety and innovation, and this partnership aligns with OpenAI’s mission to make advanced AI accessible to everyone. Together with Apple, we’re making it easier for people to benefit from what AI can offer.”
ChatGPT will come to iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and macOS Sequoia in the fall of 2024, powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4o. Users can access it for free without creating an account, and ChatGPT subscribers can connect their accounts to access paid features.
Other elements of Apple Intelligence the company announced:
- AI-enabled Writing Tools built into iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and macOS Sequoia will let users rewrite, proofread and summarize text across multiple apps, including Mail, Notes, Pages and third-party apps. The Rewrite tool lets you choose from different versions of text you have written, “adjusting the tone to suit the audience and task at hand,” according to Apple. The Summarize tool can analyze a block of text and reproduce it as a “digestible paragraph,” bulleted key points, table or list.
- In Apple’s Notes and Phone apps, users will now be able to record, transcribe and summarize audio. When a recording is initiated while on a call, participants are automatically notified, and once the call ends, Apple Intelligence generates a summary of key points.
- The Apple Mail client will add Priority Messages, a new section at the top of the inbox showing “the most urgent emails,” such as a same-day dinner invitation or boarding pass. In the inbox view, users also can see summaries of their emails (instead of a preview of the first few lines) without needing to open a message. In addition, the Mail app will include Smart Reply, which provides suggestions for a quick response and will “identify questions in an email to ensure everything is answered,” Apple said.
- Image Playground, to be available in a dedicated app and also as a new feature built into apps including Messages, will let users create AI-generated images choosing from three styles: animation, illustration or sketch.
- Users will be able to create an original Genmoji to express themselves by typing a description (e.g., “smiley relaxing wearing cucumbers”).