Apple used its annual World Wide Developers Conference in Cupertino, California, to roll out “Apple Intelligence,” a new package of generative artificial intelligence features designed to expand what iPhone, iPad and Mac users can do. The company said the capabilities will arrive through free software updates later this year, positioning the update as “personal intelligence” rather than a replacement for users.
At the center of the pitch was Siri’s next step. Apple said the assistant will be able to use an optional gateway to ChatGPT, made through a partnership with OpenAI, and the company described the feature as available to iPhone users without an added subscription. Apple also said ChatGPT subscribers are expected to sync their existing accounts when using the iPhone and receive more advanced features than free users.
Apple CEO Tim Cook framed the rollout as a major shift for the company. Speaking at the conference, Cook said, “All of this goes beyond artificial intelligence, it’s personal intelligence, and it is the next big step for Apple.” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman attended the event and appeared at the front of the program; in a statement, Altman said, “Together with Apple, we’re making it easier for people to benefit from what AI can offer.”
Beyond tying Siri to ChatGPT, Apple described a broader redesign meant to make the assistant more “personable and versatile,” and the company said Siri currently handles about 1.5 billion queries a day. Apple said when the free updates ship in the fall, Siri will signal its presence with flashing lights along the edges of the display screen, and it will be able to handle hundreds of additional tasks, including tasks that may require tapping into third-party devices.
Apple’s AI package also depends on hardware. The company said the full suite of upcoming features will work only on more recent iPhone, iPad and Mac models because the devices need advanced processors. As an example, Apple said customers would need an iPhone 15 Pro from last year or a new iPhone model coming later this year, while it said Mac features will work on Macs dating back to 2020 after the next operating system is installed.
To demonstrate the creative side of the rollout, Apple previewed tools such as “Genmojis,” which the company said would let people create emojis on the fly to fit the “vibe” they are trying to convey. Apple also told reporters that its goal with AI “is not to replace users, but empower them,” with Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, saying so to reporters.
Apple also said it would give users control over which AI tools they use. Federighi and other Apple officials described privacy protections and controls, including an option to turn off any AI features users do not want through device settings. The company said many AI-powered features will be handled on the device rather than through remote data centers that are often called “the cloud,” and it described any extra processing needs as being handled by what Apple called a “private cloud” intended to shield personal data.
Apple said this approach supports both privacy and cost concerns. Federighi said, “Apple’s AI ‘will be aware of your personal data without collecting your personal data,”” and the company said that keeping processing on-device would help protect profit margins because AI processing through the cloud is far more expensive. The company also discussed how it aims to build strong privacy protections around its AI technology.
At the same time, investors and analysts weighed Apple’s AI pitch differently. The conference drew crowds at Apple’s Cupertino campus, but Apple’s stock dipped nearly 2% Monday, according to the report. In a research note, Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives wrote that Apple was “taking the right path,” and he called the event a “historical” day for a company that has reshaped technology and society before.
In addition to its AI announcements, Apple used the conference to preview iMessage upgrades. The company said it will roll out Rich Communications Service, or RCS, to its iMessage app, which it said should improve the quality and security of texting between iPhones and Android devices. Apple also previewed a messaging feature that lets users write texts in advance—either themselves or with an AI tool composing them—and schedule them to send automatically, and the company said the blue-vs-green bubble distinction tied to iPhone versus Android texting would remain.