A new artificial intelligence (AI) platform called Apple Intelligence will be rolled out later in 2024.

Betting on a personalised approach to the technology, Apple announced its partnership with ChatGPT maker OpenAI at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference presentation on Jun. 10.

Apple also announced updates to the iPhone maker’s operating systems, Bloomberg reported.

Apple Intelligence

Apple Intelligence was the highlight of the conference.

Bloomberg reported that Apple customers will be able to access ChatGPT via Siri for free.

Apple provided some examples of how Siri can tailor responses to users based on info in their device, including the following:

• A user can say, “Play that podcast that Jamie recommended,” and Siri will locate and play the episode, without the user having to remember whether it was mentioned in a text or an email.
• A user could ask, “When is Mom’s flight landing?” and Siri will find the flight details and cross-reference them with real-time flight tracking to give an arrival time.

Paid subscribers to OpenAI will get additional features over time.

In the near future, the Apple Intelligence technology is touted to be able to help summarise text, create original images and retrieve the most relevant data when users need it.

Those tools will also include the ability to transcribe phone calls and voice memos, solve advanced math equations, sort through e-mail, and prioritise notifications.

Senior vice-president Craig Federighi, who oversees software engineering, described Apple Intelligence as “AI for the rest of us”, alluding to an old slogan about the Mac computer.

Apple, which has also held talks with Google on using Google's Gemini feature, said it plans to support other services later.

Some features of Apple Intelligence will not come until next year.

They include the ability for Siri to precisely control features within apps.

Support for languages beyond English also will not arrive until later.

Playing catch-up

The push also includes a revamped version of Siri, the company’s digital assistant.

Apple took the early lead in AI after it launched Siri in 2011.

But its technology was quickly overtaken by the Google Assistant and Amazon's Alexa.

ChatGPT arrived at the end of 2022 and took the lead with OpenAI.

Google, Microsoft and Meta Platforms started rolling out AI features after that.

Samsung Electronics, which is Apple’s biggest smartphone rival, also integrated Google AI features into its devices earlier in 2024.

Make Apple lead again

Apple CEO Tim Cook is now under pressure to show that the iPhone maker can lead again, Bloomberg reported.

Sale of Apple devices have not been great.

Smartphone sales in China has slumped with revenue down in five of the past six quarters.

On Monday, Cook said AI would be “the next big step for Apple”, even though the company will not make money directly on the new features.

The hope, he said, is to make users more loyal and prod them to upgrade more frequently.

“We think Apple Intelligence is going to be indispensable to the products that already play such an integral role in our lives,” he said.

Top photo via Don Chia & Apple