Apple officially ushered in the AI era by unveiling its own artificial intelligence (AI) system, 'Apple Intelligence.' Partnering with OpenAI, it will also provide ChatGPT functionality to the voice assistant Siri. Apple, which had been considered behind in AI adoption compared to Microsoft (MS), Google Alphabet, and others, is now seen as making a full-fledged push to catch up.
On the 10th (local time), Apple held its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2024 at its headquarters, Apple Park, located in Cupertino, California, and introduced new AI features including Apple Intelligence.
Apple Intelligence is an in-house AI system integrated across Apple devices such as the iPhone and iPad. It features personalized organization of urgent notifications like evening concerts based on context and importance, as well as providing functions such as image and emoji generation, text summarization, and automatic formula calculation in an 'on-device' manner.
For example, if a user says to their iPhone, "Play the podcast my mom sent me via text," Apple Intelligence automatically accesses various applications on the user's iPhone to determine which podcast to play. During this process, Apple Intelligence does not collect the user's personal information separately. It also offers automatic call recording and transcript summarization through the phone app.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said, "Beyond AI, this is a personal intelligence system in your hand," adding, "Apple Intelligence will become an indispensable part of products that already play an essential role in our lives." He emphasized, "Our unique approach combines generative AI with the user's personal context to provide useful intelligence, allowing users to access that information in a completely private and secure way so they can focus on what matters most."
Additionally, Apple announced that it will integrate ChatGPT into the voice AI Siri through a partnership with OpenAI. This marks the first time in over a decade since Siri's debut in 2011 that generative AI is being incorporated, upgrading Siri into a smarter voice assistant. iPhone users will be able to use ChatGPT features for free starting at the end of the year, with some functions rolling out in 2025.
In a demonstration video released that day, Siri equipped with ChatGPT accurately found photos requested by the user from the photo album and performed complex tasks, transforming into a more personalized assistant. Siri also asks for permission to use ChatGPT when responding to user queries and provides results processed by ChatGPT. This allows ChatGPT to serve as a supplementary tool for questions Siri cannot answer.
Apple also unveiled the new iPhone operating system (OS), iOS 18. iOS 18 enhances app protection features, including individual app locking, and adds new email and messaging functions. Apple stated that it plans to integrate ChatGPT functionality into iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia, enabling users to leverage ChatGPT's expertise and capabilities in image and document understanding.
Other features introduced include the creation of customized emojis called Genmoji. Ahead of the event, Apple also revealed VisionOS 2, the latest software for its mixed reality (MR) headset, Vision Pro. Apple plans to expand the Vision Pro, currently sold only in the United States, to eight countries globally starting at the end of this month. However, South Korea is excluded from the launch countries.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also made an appearance at the WWDC event. Although he did not give a separate speech on stage during the live streaming event, Altman expressed on his X (formerly Twitter) account, "I’m very excited to partner with Apple," adding, "I think you’re going to love it."
However, some critics argue that Apple's AI announcement fell short of market expectations. Considering that the English version of Apple Intelligence will only be released in beta in the second half of this year and support for countries outside the U.S. will come after next year, some analysts believe Apple is still behind its competitors in AI adoption. Apple confirmed that the new AI features introduced will initially only support the latest models, such as the iPhone 15 Pro and above.
Despite the unveiling of Apple Intelligence and the partnership with OpenAI, Apple’s stock price on the New York Stock Exchange closed down 1.91% compared to the previous session.
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