Apple revealed a large collection of new product features during its Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday, ranging from Vision Pro and iPhone improvements to new artificial intelligence features that could bring the company up to speed with an increasingly competitive AI market.
The keynote took place at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. (Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
NurPhoto via Getty Images
Key Facts
Apple’s largest announcement focused on AI features being brought to its flagship products under the banner of “Apple Intelligence,” which includes notification and email summaries, image generation and the integration of OpenAI’s wildly popular chatbot, ChatGPT, into iPhone text messaging and Siri.
iPhone users will be able to have more natural-feeling conversations with Siri thanks to AI improvements that will enable the digital assistant to search user image libraries for specific photos users ask for, schedule text messages and edit photos.
The inclusion of ChatGPT will be accessible to users for free and assist Siri when the assistant cannot help with certain commands—though Siri will ask users for their permission to share their questions with the chatbot.
iOS 18, the upcoming software update for the iPhone, will give users the ability to customize their home screens even further, lock or hide apps, schedule text messages and send text messages via satellite—a feature currently limited to emergency SOS text messages.
Apple’s mixed-reality headset, the Vision Pro, will also receive a software upgrade, providing users with a high resolution display feature, conversion of standard images in the Photo app to immersive, spatial ones and the ability to use apps simultaneously with other Vision Pro users.
What We Don’t Know
Apple did not specify when the new features will become available on their products—though if the rollout follows release timelines of previous software upgrades from recent years, the release will likely occur in the next three or four months.
Key Background
The announcement of AI features from Apple was long-anticipated by consumers and analysts alike, as companies such as Microsoft, OpenAI and Google have aggressively staked their claim in the AI market. Google expects to spend around $12 billion each quarter this year on AI, while Microsoft anticipates increasingly higher AI investments after spending $14 billion on AI in its most recent quarter, The Washington Post reported.
Apple’s partnership with OpenAI was long-speculated and could now serve as the biggest bolster to Apple’s offerings given OpenAI’s consistent advancements in AI technology, which have provoked multi-billion dollar investments from companies like Microsoft—its leading investor.
This article was first published on forbes.com and all figures are in USD.
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