Apple unleashes its own AI in system upgrade

Apple store. | Newsreel
Apple will include Apple Intelligence in future upgrades. | Photo: Win Horse (iStock)

Apple will introduce enhanced artificial intelligence in its operating system upgrades from next month,

In a statement, the tech giant said Apple Intelligence, the “personal intelligence system that combines the power of generative models with personal context” would start rolling out next month with iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1.

The announcement coincided with the introduction of the new iPhone 16 lineup, “built from the ground up for Apple Intelligence”.

It said Apple Intelligence would first launch in U.S. English and then expand to include localized English in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and the U.K. in December, with additional language support – such as Chinese, French, Japanese, and Spanish – coming next year.

“Apple Intelligence is deeply integrated into iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia, harnessing the power of Apple silicon to understand and create language and images, take action across apps, and draw from personal context to simplify and accelerate everyday tasks,” the statement said.

It said many of the models that powered Apple Intelligence ran entirely on device, with the first set of Apple Intelligence features available next month, including writing tools, where users could refine words by rewriting, proofreading, and summarizing text “nearly everywhere they write, including Mail, Notes, Pages, and third-party apps”.

“In Photos, the Memories feature now enables users to create the movies they want to see by simply typing a description.

“In addition, natural language can be used to search for specific photos, and search in videos gets more powerful with the ability to find specific moments in clips.”

The statement said in the Notes and Phone apps, users could record, transcribe, and summarize audio.

“When a recording is initiated while on a call in the Phone app, participants are automatically notified, and once the call ends, Apple Intelligence also generates a summary to help recall key points.”

It said Siri becomes more natural, flexible, and deeply integrated into the system experience.