We’ve been hearing for a while that iOS 18 will be the biggest overhaul in the history of Apple’s mobile operating system. Over time, there’s been a steady stream of leaks revealing what we can expect. Recently, we received another intriguing update that gives us more insight into iOS 18.
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in his Power On newsletter, Apple will enhance iOS 18 with powerful artificial intelligence (AI) tools that use a combination of on-device processing and dedicated servers with Apple’s own chips. This time, Gurman has shared some insights about updates to some of Apple’s most popular iOS apps.
Specifically, Gurman stated that Apple “will improve Siri’s voice capabilities, giving it a more conversational feel, and add features that help users with their day-to-day lives – an approach it calls ‘proactive intelligence.’”
We’ll have to wait to see if that “conversational feel” will rival OpenAI’s recent demos of its GPT-4-powered voice assistant, which is set to roll out this year. However, that isn’t the only AI upgrade we can expect in iOS 18.
Apple’s “proactive intelligence” could also include features like “auto-summarizing notifications,” “transcribing voice memos,” and providing “quick synopses of news articles.” According to Gurman, we can also expect more subtle improvements to features like app suggestions and automatic calendar entries.
Not all of the improvements are expected to be groundbreaking. Gurman also claims that AI-based photo editing is on its way to the Photos app, but it may not compare to recent advances from Adobe. Don’t expect anything like the upcoming ‘Ask Photos’ tool in Google Photos either.
Can Apple catch up?
Some of these features may sound familiar to existing iOS users—apps like Calendar and widgets like the Smart Stack already use AI to suggest events and apps. However, any additional improvements will likely be welcomed by Apple fans.
The summarization tools could be more significant. Based on Gurman’s report, it sounds like they will resemble the generative AI tools we’ve seen from rivals like Microsoft, whose Copilot AI performs similar tasks. The arrival of these features could help Apple close the gap with its competitors. According to Gurman, Apple executives have apparently admitted internally that they are “playing catch-up.”
That said, Gurman warns, “I don’t expect Apple’s in-house AI announcements to be nearly as impressive as what OpenAI and Google have already showcased.” One challenge is that Apple hosts a major software event only once a year (at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June), while rivals like OpenAI can release updates much faster.
Still, iOS 18 is likely to be a significant upgrade for Apple, with the company reportedly working with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT alongside its own in-house and on-device AI tools. With the world increasingly focused on artificial intelligence, Apple needs its next steps to be successful.
