Monday marked the exciting launch of WWDC 2024, Apple's annual showcase for revealing groundbreaking features set to enhance its devices, applications, and software. This year's event is particularly noteworthy, fueled by Apple's significant investment in generative AI technology. Attendees were treated to an impressive array of innovations, including an upgraded Siri and AI-generated emoji.
Among the highlights, Apple announced a partnership with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT—the cutting-edge AI chatbot—across various devices. Additionally, new photo-editing tools were introduced to effortlessly remove unwanted objects and people from images. Apple also unveiled an AI feature designed to proofread, rewrite, and summarize text for various content types, including notes and emails.
Here’s a summary of some of the standout AI announcements from WWDC 2024.
New Siri Experience
Siri has undergone a transformation, thanks to Apple’s latest initiative known as Apple Intelligence. This revamped Siri now features a sleek new icon and a glowing indicator light around your device's screen, enhancing its visual appeal.
With Apple Intelligence, Siri can better manage speech inconsistencies and comprehend context more effectively. Users now have the option to type inquiries to Siri, who can respond to questions regarding iPhone, iPad, or Mac usage.
Soon, Siri will gain even more advanced capabilities, allowing it to interact fluidly across multiple apps. For instance, you can instruct Siri to “make this photo pop” and then follow up with a request to “add this photo” to another application. Demonstrating this feature during the WWDC keynote, Apple showcased how Siri could find a photo of your ID, extract your ID number, and input it into an online form.
To utilize the upgraded Siri, ensure you have a compatible device, specifically the iPhone 15 Pro or any device powered by M1 chips or later.
ChatGPT Integration
Apple is also integrating ChatGPT into Siri and various first-party applications across its operating systems. Soon, Siri users will be able to direct specific inquiries to ChatGPT for deeper insights. Users can enhance their questions posed to ChatGPT through Siri by attaching relevant photos or querying about documents and PDFs.
ChatGPT will be embedded into OS-wide tools like Writing Tools (backed by Apple Intelligence), enabling users to generate content—including images—through ChatGPT and request revisions or variations based on initial ideas.
These ChatGPT integrations are set to launch on iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia later this year. The features will be available free of charge, with no need to create an OpenAI account. Initially, they will operate on OpenAI’s latest generative AI model, GPT-4o.
Genmoji and Image Playground
Genmoji, arriving with iOS 18 for supported devices, empowers users to craft AI emoji-like images based on snapshots from their photo library or create entirely custom emoji. This feature can be used as stickers for message reactions or seamlessly integrated into conversations.
Additionally, a new image-generation tool allows iPhone users to create AI images of individuals they are messaging. Apple Intelligence recognizes your chat partners, enabling you to personalize interactions with custom AI-generated images on the fly.
Another exciting feature is Image Playground, which works across applications like Notes, Freeform, Keynote, and Pages. This standalone app and API for developers lets users create images based on selected themes, costumes, and settings. Users simply choose their desired themes, and within minutes, Image Playground will generate a preview of the custom image.
Advanced AI Photo Editing
Apple's new Clean Up tool, integrated into the upgraded Photos app, makes it easy to eliminate unwanted people and objects from your pictures. Users can erase elements simply by circling or highlighting them, and the AI technology automatically replaces the selection with contextually relevant pixels, ensuring it looks like the item was never there.
Additionally, Photos will benefit from improved organization thanks to AI in iOS 18, automatically sorting images into collections based on topics such as time, people, cherished memories, and travels. Users will also have the ability to conduct more targeted searches across their photo libraries.
Call Transcription Feature
Coming soon to iPhone 15 Pro and newer models, iOS will provide an optional feature to record and transcribe phone calls. This functionality must be manually enabled and will notify the other party that their conversation is being recorded to comply with privacy regulations. The transcriptions will then be summarized and stored in the Notes app.
Additionally, Apple confirmed that users will also be able to record and transcribe audio directly within the Notes app.
These innovative advancements at WWDC 2024 reinforce Apple’s commitment to enhancing user experience through AI technology and seamless integration across its ecosystem.
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