CUPERTINO: Apple has finally jumped on the artificial intelligence (AI) wave, announcing plans to bring generative AI capabilities to a range of apps and devices, leveraging technology developed in-house and through a partnership with ChatGPT maker OpenAI.
The iPhone maker has developed a new AI platform called Apple Intelligence, which it unveiled for the first time at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) here. The AI features will be rolled out later this year as part of a free software update for its latest devices. Along with the AI platform, the company also announced updates to the operating systems that power iPhones, iPads and Mac computers.
The AI platform developed by Apple will help summarize texts, compose emails, search for relevant information in large amounts of data, create images, etc. The company will also improve its digital assistant Siri, which will be able to interact with messages, emails and third-party apps.
Apple's AI announcements come as the company tries to catch up with other tech companies such as Google and Microsoft in the AI race, but the company stressed that its commitment to privacy remains intact as it embraces AI.
While Apple unveiled its own AI platform, the partnership with OpenAI will allow users to access ChatGPT via Siri at no extra cost. Apple CEO Tim Cook said the announcement at WWDC goes beyond AI. “This is personal intelligence, the next big step for Apple,” Cook said in front of hundreds of developers and media representatives from about 65 countries gathered at the company's headquarters, Apple Park.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was also in attendance at the conference. “We're excited to partner with Apple to integrate ChatGPT into their devices later this year,” Altman said later on X.
Existing ChatGPT subscribers are expected to sync their existing accounts when using the iPhone and may enjoy advanced features compared to other free users.
However, the partnership with OpenAI has not gone down well with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who said at X that he would ban his company from using Apple devices if the iPhone maker integrated startup ChatGPT's technology at the OS level. The maverick tech chief also questioned Apple's stance on data security in its partnership with OpenAI.
However, Apple clarifies that customers will be asked whether they want to share their data with ChatGPT, and that data will only be transferred if the customer agrees. Apple also plans to add AI technologies from other companies, such as Google's Gemini, in the future.
Stressing that privacy and data security remain its top priorities, Apple has created a system it calls private cloud computing that keeps customer information safe as it is sent to its data centers.
The company processes the majority of data on-device, and when data is transferred to the cloud, only the relevant and necessary information is processed there.
“Private cloud computing uses your data only to fulfill your requests, never stores it, so no one, including Apple, can access it. And we've designed our system so that independent experts can verify these protections,” said Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering.
Among other privacy features, the operating system update will allow users to hide apps and lock specific apps on their iPhones. Apple also released macOS Sequoia, which comes with the same Apple Intelligence features as its iPad and iPhone. Separately, the company announced software updates for its Vision Pro headset, Watch, and AirPods.
Apple said the upgrade to its messaging app will allow users to schedule messages to be sent later, and in emergencies, users will also be able to send messages over a satellite connection.
The company is the first to release a calculator app for the iPad, which can solve complex mathematical problems.
(The reporter is in Cupertino, USA, at the invitation of Apple.)
