Apple has launched Apple Intelligence, a suite of tools and features partly powered by ChatGPT and partly by its own large language models using personal user information.
“Our unique approach combines generative AI with a user’s personal context to deliver truly helpful intelligence. And it can access that information in a completely private and secure way to help users do the things that matter most to them. This is AI as only Apple can deliver it, and we can’t wait for users to experience what it can do,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook.
Chief among the changes for marketers are changes to the Mail app.
Now, Apple’s Priority Messages feature surfaces the most urgent emails, such as same-day dinner invitations or boarding passes. Across a user’s inbox, instead of previewing the first few lines of each email, they can see summaries without needing to open a message. For long threads, users can view pertinent details with just a tap.
You may recognise the feature from Google’s Gmail. It’s had something similar for years.
“Deep understanding of language,” as Apple calls it will extend to the notifications tab, too.
Priority Notifications appear at the top of the stack to surface what’s most important, and summaries help users scan long or stacked notifications to show key details right on the Lock Screen, such as when a group chat is particularly active. Again, Android users might be familiar with this new update.
Siri also gets a range of tools that have big implications for marketers.
“With richer language-understanding capabilities, Siri is more natural, more contextually relevant, and more personal, with the ability to simplify and accelerate everyday tasks,” said Apple.
Apple’s personal assistant can complete actions across third-party apps, as well as Apple’s in-house efforts. For example, a user could say, “Bring up that article about cicadas from my Reading List,” or “Send the photos from the barbecue on Saturday to Malia,” and Siri will take care of it.
Or a user could say, “Play that podcast that Jamie recommended,” and Siri will locate and play the episode, without the user having to remember whether it was mentioned in a text or an email. Or they could ask, “When is Mum’s flight landing?” and Siri will find the flight details and cross-reference them with real-time flight tracking to give an arrival time.
Apple is also integrating ChatGPT across iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia. Siri will be able to use ChatGPT’s expertise when helpful. Users are asked before any questions are sent to ChatGPT, along with any documents or photos, and Siri then presents the answer directly.
Additionally, ChatGPT will be available in Apple’s systemwide Writing Tools, which help users generate content for anything they are writing about. With Compose, users can also access ChatGPT image tools to generate images in a wide variety of styles to complement what they are writing.
During every interaction with ChatGPT, Apple said that user IP addresses are obscured and that OpenAI won’t store their requests. When the integration arrives later this year, Apple users can access it for free without creating an account and ChatGPT subscribers can connect their accounts and access paid features right from these experiences.
The Notes and Phone apps can now record, transcribe, and summarise audio. When a recording is initiated while on a call, participants are automatically notified, and once the call ends, Apple Intelligence generates a summary to help recall key points.
There are also a range of changes that allow users to generate images using AI. Image Playground allows users to create fun images in seconds, choosing from three styles: Animation, Illustration, or Sketch. Image Playground is easy to use and built right into apps including Messages. It’s also available in a dedicated app, perfect for experimenting with different concepts and styles. All images are created on device, giving users the freedom to experiment with as many images as they want.
In Notes, users can access Image Playground through the new Image Wand in the Apple Pencil tool palette, making notes more visually engaging. Rough sketches can be turned into delightful images, and users can even select empty space to create an image using context from the surrounding area. Image Playground is also available in apps like Keynote, Freeform, and Pages, as well as in third-party apps that adopt the new Image Playground API.
Natural language can be used to search for specific images in the Photos app, such as “Maya skateboarding in a tie-dye shirt,” or “Katie with stickers on her face.” Search in videos also becomes more powerful with the ability to find specific moments in clips so users can go right to the relevant segment. Additionally, the new Clean Up tool can identify and remove distracting objects in the background of a photo — without accidentally altering the subject.
