Background information
Apple is walking the personal intelligence tightrope
by Samuel Buchmann
I tested Apple Intelligence – here’s how it fared
31/10/2024
Translation: Katherine Martin
Apple’s rolled out the new version of iOS, iPadOS and macOS. Its biggest innovation is Apple Intelligence – at least in the English version. Here’s my verdict on the new AI feature.
Back in June, Apple announced its new artificial intelligence (AI) feature to great fanfare. Following the new OS update, it’s now available (in English only). I gave it a whirl.
Which devices support Apple Intelligence?
Not every Apple device is equipped with the AI feature. Only more recent devices support it:
Heads-up for anyone who uses their devices in another language: Apple Intelligence currently only works in English. A rollout for other languages, including German, Italian and French, is planned for April 2025. Only then will Apple Intelligence also be available in the EU. In Switzerland, it already works.
How do I set up Apple Intelligence?
If you want to use Apple Intelligence, you’ll have to update your operating system. If you currently use your device in a language other than English, you’ll then need to change your system language to English (US), then restart your device. After that, you’ll find the Apple Intelligence & Siri option under Settings. The first time you access it, you’ll also see the Set up Apple Intelligence option.
In Settings, tap Apple Intelligence & Siri, then Join Waitlist. After waiting a few minutes, you’ll be taken through a straightforward setup.
Siri can chat away to you in a variety of different accents, and in some versions, there are several voices to choose from. English (UK) Voice 4 has a trusty Cockney accent. That’s the one I decide to go for.
What can Apple Intelligence do right now?
Apple’s launching Apple Intelligence’s features in phases. Not everything it presented in June is actually available yet. Here are the functions you can already use:
Writing Tools
Finally, you can use Apple Intelligence to summarise what you’ve written. Whether you’re simply cutting down the length of a document, creating tables or summing up key facts as bullet points, it can do it all.
You can switch between the original and the pimped-up versions of your draft at the touch of button. That way, you can compare and decide which one you like better. All these features are easy to use and produce solid results when I test them.
Photos app
There’s also the Movie Memories function. If you go to the Photos app and scroll down to Memories, you’ll see the Create button. Bear in mind that depending on the size of your photo archive, it might take a few days for this to work if you’ve just set up Apple Intelligence. The images have to be processed first. To do this, connect your iPhone to Wi-Fi.
Once you’ve done that, you’ll be able to use prompts to instruct Apple Intelligence to create a video – or rather, a slideshow of several images. An example prompt could be something like «create a memory movie out of my holiday in London and use punk music in the background».
The search function in Photos has also been improved. The iPhone now understands relatively complex search commands. Instead of simply searching «dog» or «beer» (which, in my case, produces a jumble of search results), you can be more specific, going for something like «dog next to a lake» or «dark-haired person with a beer». You can also search for a specific moment within a video. Apple calls this function Natural Language search.
Record, transcribe and summarise phone calls
When I try it out, the call recording feature works well. My iPhone creates an audio file at the end of the conversation. However, despite our best, Swiss-accented attempts at speaking English, the automatic transcript’s nowhere to be found. As a result, there’s no option to summarise the conversation. I’ve no idea why.
Mail and Messages app features
The Summarise function in Apple’s Mail and Messages apps is really handy. If you receive an e-mail, for example, the preview window doesn’t show you the beginning of the message. Instead, the AI searches for relevant details within the message and displays it in the preview. That way, you know whether you need to open the e-mail at all.
The AI does the same thing in Messages. It’s just a shame that hardly anyone I know uses the app. Besides 2FA codes and order confirmations from my pizza delivery service, I hardly get any messages on there.
The function covers notifications in all your apps. This means that if you receive notifications from various apps, the AI summarises what they’re about.
Smart replies
If you get, say, an e-mail, and want to reply to it, the AI will suggest possible pre-written responses. Outlook and other services have been able to do this for a long time. However, Apple’s AI automatically references things mentioned in the original e-mail, such as arrival times or important tasks.
Sorting e-mails and messages
The AI can also sort your e-mails by priority. If you get dozens of messages every day, Apple Intelligence bumps the most important ones to the top. Ones that contain a deadline, for example. Personally, this feature’s not for me. I’d be too worried that an e-mail that’s important to me would slip through the cracks. With this in mind, I’ll be keeping my inbox in chronological order.
Siri’s got a little smarter
Siri’s the most long-standing voice assistant, but unfortunately, it’s also the dumbest. Alexa and Google Assistant surpassed Siri a long time ago. But that’s about to change. Siri can now hold longer conversations with connecting parts. If you have a question or a task in mind, you can mention it in a later voice command and Siri will recognise the context.
What’s keeping us waiting a little longer
Many AI features are still to come. One example is Visual Intelligence, the Apple equivalent of Google Lens. This allows you to do things like translate text you’ve seen on a poster or start a web search based on an object you’ve photographed.
Image Playground, Apple’s AI-based image generator, will launch at the end of the year. It’s similar to the Genmoji feature, which generates its own emojis using prompts. Image Wand has been created in a similar vein. For example, if you draw a sketch in the Notes app, Image Wand can convert it into a real image. This feature’s set to be released with iOS 18.2 in December. At the same time, the AI’s scheduled to be integrated with ChatGPT.
In April 2025, Siri’s also set to get another upgrade. Based on the so-called on-screen awareness principle, the assistant will be able to draw on users’ personal context. This means it’ll recognise what you’re currently doing on your phone and offer support related to it. At the same time, Apple Intelligence will also be made available in other languages, including German, Italian and French.
Header image: Shutterstock
I've been tinkering with digital networks ever since I found out how to activate both telephone channels on the ISDN card for greater bandwidth. As for the analogue variety, I've been doing that since I learned to talk. Though Winterthur is my adoptive home city, my heart still bleeds red and blue.
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