Apple has officially joined the AI race. It was skeptical of the tech initially but is now banking on artificial intelligence, marking a change in focus for the tech giant. The company announced its plans to integrate generative AI into its iPhones, iPads and iMacs during its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 2024) yesterday when it unveiled Apple Intelligence.
The new AI features will give a significant upgrade to virtual assistant Siri, which will integrate with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, automatically directing appropriate queries to the chatbot after user permission.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was present at the conference in a nod to the partnership. The keynote delivered by CEO Tim Cook and other division heads included updates on AI integrations into Mail, Messages, Photos, and other apps.
The new AI features would summarize emails, create custom emojis, generate AI images, and provide AI-powered transcriptions and summaries, among a host of other stuff.
Addressing privacy concerns, Apple said its AI will keep personal security and privacy in mind. It will process most of the AI requests on-device and in the cloud.
The move has drawn scrutiny from tech billionaire Elon Musk. He has voiced his concerns about Apple and OpenAI protecting users’ information. “It’s patently absurd that Apple isn’t smart enough to make their own AI, yet is somehow capable of ensuring that OpenAI will protect your security & privacy!” he wrote on X.
Musk also threatened to ban Apple devices in his companies if the iPhone maker integrates OpenAI at the iOS level.