More details have emerged about Apple's plans for artificial intelligence features in iOS 18. According to a new AppleInsider report, the update will allow iPhone and iPad users to use AI to summarize long text messages, similar to Humane AI Pin's “Catch me up” command. Generate a simple text response.
This is one of a series of improvements and upgrades for iOS 18, including generative AI, super-powerful Siri, and accessibility improvements. AppleInsider reports, citing sources familiar with Apple's upcoming software updates, that Apple's generative AI could provide his TLDR version for long text messages. To do this, Apple's on-device AI (more on that later) reportedly scans the text and selects specific keywords or phrases within it to designate as text topics. “For example, if a name appears at the beginning of the text, the software may recognize the name as belonging to the author of the text,” the outlet explained.
The software then detects “all relevant information available,” such as companies, people, and locations, to create a basic text summary, which Apple's on-device response generation software uses to create more consistent responses. form an answer. This feature appears to be able to summarize information from both Safari and Messages, but could also work with any text field or digital document. With the release of Safari 18's new Intelligent Search feature, a user will also have the option to generate a quick overview of the web pages he is viewing.
Apple's on-device AI can also respond to text
We got a further glimpse of Apple's AI plans in January with the iOS 17.4 beta. This included a reference to a private framework called “SiriSummarization” that calls the ChatGPT API. Last summer, Bloomberg revealed that Apple had begun internally testing its own AI chatbot, which staffers were calling Apple GPT. The company also started building its own framework for creating large-scale language models (LLMs) called “Ajax.”
These AI features, including summarization tools, reportedly use on-device processing and large language models that run locally rather than in the cloud like competitors. No data is sent to third-party servers, which not only improves response times and privacy, but also has the added benefit of being able to work completely offline.
AppleInsider reports that “this could give Apple a competitive advantage in the privacy arena, as its text analysis software can function entirely on-device.”
Apple is also looking at using Ajax to generate sentence-length responses to text input within milliseconds. To do this, it communicates with the calendar app so that it can take the event into account when drafting a response. However, while Ajax can generate simple text-based responses on the device, more sophisticated responses and summaries still require server-side processing, according to AppleInsider.
Assuming Apple previews this year's iPhone software updates at WWDC 2024 on June 10th, you still have a few weeks until you can get your hands on iOS 18 and try out Apple's AI features for yourself. . However, if this rumor is true, the trend is starting to take shape. This will be one of the most important iPhone updates in a long time.
