2024 will be the “Year of AI” for Apple, with major updates planned for iOS 18 and more. The rumors – and Tim Cook himself – make it clear that new AI features for Apple’s platforms are in the works. Here’s everything we know about the ways Apple is exploring AI features…
iOS 18: New AI features in the works
There have been a number of rumors about the various AI features in the works at Apple. Bloomberg has reported that Apple thinks iOS 18 will be one of the “biggest iOS updates” ever, highlighted by a number of new AI features.
Mark Gurman reported last July that Apple has developed its own Large Language Model (LLM) system, called AppleGPT. The project uses a framework called ‘Ajax’ that Apple started building in 2022 to base several machine learning projects on a shared foundation. This Ajax framework will serve as the foundation for Apple’s upcoming AI features across the platform.
9to5Mac found evidence of Apple’s work on new AI and large language model technology in iOS 17.4. We reported that Apple is relying on OpenAI’s ChatGPT API for internal testing to help develop its own AI models.
Bloomberg has reported that Apple’s iOS 18 features will be powered by a “fully on-device” large language model, which offers a number of privacy and speed benefits.
Here are some rumors about new AI features coming to iOS 18:
- A new version of Siri that is more intelligent and based on large language model technology, similar to platforms like ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini.
- New AI features for Apple Music allow users to automatically generate playlists.
- AI integration in Pages, Keynote, and Numbers for summaries, content creation, and more.
- AI features for Xcode that can complete code blocks, test applications, and more.
- An upgraded version of Spotlight Search that is powered by generative AI and can handle more complex tasks.
- An AI-powered wellness coaching feature integrated into Apple Health and Apple Watch.
- New AI features for the Messages app that can autocomplete messages, answer questions, and summarize incoming text messages.
- For Safari, Apple is reportedly preparing new AI-powered summarization tools, as well as a new Web Eraser feature.
Apple’s AI frameworks
Did you know that Apple has actually already launched a number of powerful AI frameworks and models? Here’s a summary of that:
Apple AI announcements coming this year
During a recent Apple earnings call, Tim Cook offered a rare teaser for a future product announcement. According to Cook, Apple is spending “an enormous amount of time and effort” on artificial intelligence technologies, and the company is “excited to share details of our ongoing work in that area later this year.”
It’s extremely rare for Cook to even remotely hint at Apple’s plans for future product announcements. Why did he do it this time? Probably to allay the concerns of investors and analysts who worry that Apple is falling behind companies like OpenAI, Google and Microsoft. Whether the teaser is enough to calm those fears until an actual product announcement becomes a reality remains to be seen.
Also during a recent earnings call, Cook touted the advantages Apple has that will set its AI apart from the competition:
“We believe in the transformative power and promise of AI, and we believe we have advantages that will differentiate us in this new era, including Apple’s unique combination of seamless hardware, software and services integration, pioneering Apple Silicon with our leading neural technology. and our relentless focus on privacy, which underpins everything we create.”
A collaboration with Google? Or open AI?
In a surprising twist, Bloomberg has reported that Apple is actively negotiating with Google over potential licensing for Gemini, Google’s line of generative AI models. The report explains that Apple is specifically looking to collaborate on cloud-based generative AI models.
In this scenario, Apple would rely on a partner like Google for its cloud-based features. Other features would still be powered by Apple’s own technology on the device.
The generative AI features under discussion would theoretically be baked into Siri and other apps. New AI capabilities, based on Apple’s own models, would continue to be woven into the operating system, meanwhile. They will focus on proactively providing users with information and performing tasks on their behalf in the background, people familiar with the matter said.
While Apple is reportedly “actively negotiating” this partnership with Google, the company has also reportedly had discussions with OpenAI.
It was even recently reported that Apple had resumed partnership talks with OpenAI. According to reports, Apple would use OpenAI’s technology to power an AI-based chatbot in iOS 18.
Complete
At this point, the question is which of the many rumors will become reality this year.
I would be surprised if all these rumored AI features are ready this year. My assumption is that Apple is working on all of these things (and more), but will narrow down the final list of features in iOS 18. Features that don’t make it will likely appear in a later update to iOS 18 or iOS 18. with iOS 19 in 2025.
Apple has officially set WWDC for June 10 this year, and that’s where we expect the bulk of its AI announcements to be made.
Where do you want Apple to focus its attention this year for new AI features? Let us know in the comments.
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