Apple Launches iOS 18 with New AI Capabilities

Apple has released iOS 18 and iPadOS 18, marking what could be the company’s most significant operating system update in recent years, primarily due to the introduction of “Apple Intelligence” – building upon earlier AI initiatives and advancing beyond traditional Siri capabilities.

Apple Intelligence requires specific hardware, running only on iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models in US English, with Siri’s language set to English. This hardware requirement follows Apple’s established approach of tightly integrating AI features with device capabilities. The system combines on-device processing with secure cloud computing when needed for more intensive tasks.

The AI features are organized into language and image capabilities. The former include:

– New writing tools with tone adjustment and proofreading
– Priority notifications with AI-generated summaries
– Smart email features including message prioritization and automatic summaries
– Transcription and summary generation for recordings in Notes, Voice Memos, and Phone apps
– A new “Reduce Interruptions” Focus mode that intelligently filters notifications based on context

Image capabilities center around “Image Playground,” which builds upon existing image recognition technologies to allow users to:
– Generate images based on text descriptions
– Work with suggested concepts
– Generate images including people from the Photos library

That last function is sure to raise some eyebrows, given that it would appear to leverage facial recognition capabilities in identifying its subjects. This could lead to significant scrutiny in jurisdictions with strict regulations around biometrics, such as Illinois, whose Biometric Information Privacy Act requires businesses to get the consent of subjects when collecting their biometric data.

In any case, Apple’s commitment to privacy remains clear in other aspects of the updated OS. When tasks require additional processing power, data is sent to Apple’s secure data centers using the company’s Private Cloud Compute platform, which extends Apple’s privacy-focused infrastructure by only transmitting relevant query data and never storing it. This approach aligns with Apple’s longstanding commitment to user privacy while enabling advanced AI capabilities.

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October 29, 2024 – by the ID Tech Editorial Team