How Apple AI will change your everyday life – Whether you’re an iPhone user or not

Every June, Apple holds its annual Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC), a showcase not for the latest shiny gadgets and gizmos, but rather for the software that will run on those very same devices.

Central among Apple’s presentation were its new operating systems: iOS 18, iPadOS 18, MacOS Sequoia, and WatchOS 11. But the one thing that created all the buzz from this year’s event was the one thing that made each of these software announcements stand out – Apple Intelligence, Apple’s new suite of AI features designed to enhance user experience.

But this article isn’t just about Apple – it’s about how these advancements reflect broader trends in AI technology and what that could mean for us all.

Apple’s AI Innovations

In typical Apple style, the company took the familiar AI moniker and turned it into, well something similar but not quite the same. As far as Apple (and we’re sure they’ll hope their user base) is concerned, AI is now ‘Apple Intelligence’. Now, everybody’s talking about the calculator app on iPad (to be fair, Math Notes does look amazing!), but this newly christened Apple Intelligence adds a number of other features to Apple’s range of devices, including:

• Photo correction: Apple’s ‘Clean Up’ feature (which looks very similar to Google’s existing Magic Eraser function) uses machine learning to identify and remove unwanted elements like people or objects from photos, maintaining image quality so you’d never know the removed part was ever there.
• Email and notification summaries: Apple Intelligence will help streamline communication by summarising emails, messages and notifications. This feature can help you stay on top of important messages without getting overwhelmed by the volume of your inbox.
• Helpful text generation: Everywhere you’re able to type text in iOS, iPadOS, or MacOS, Apple Intelligence will add a helpful tool to not only make sure your spelling and punctuation are correct, but even to generate or change entire sentences of text if you like.
• Enhanced Siri: If you’re tired of Siri’s distinct lack of intelligence, Apple’s promising much deeper integration with the operating system so that Siri can carry out a wider range of tasks, and a vastly improved conversation mode where Siri should finally be able to understand what you’re talking about and even answer follow-up questions.
• A whole lot more: We’ve only pulled out a few highlights here, but for the full lowdown on all the Apple Intelligence features (maybe) coming to your iPhone, check out this page on Apple’s website.

But the biggest AI innovation from the Apple announcement? For many people, that would be Apple’s promise of total privacy. Many of these features are designed to run entirely on your device. When ‘off-device’ resources are required, these requests will be run through encrypted Apple servers. And if your device wants to interact with ChatGPT (Apple’s also announced a partnership with them), it will ask you first… every time. Privacy has been a major concern and even an obstacle in the widespread adoption of AI. If Apple follows through on its promises, a completely private AI experience could change the game.

AI for the mainstream

Apple’s move into AI signifies a major shift towards mainstream use. AI is no longer just for tech enthusiasts; it’s becoming an everyday part of the way we interact with our devices. These features are designed to be accessible and user-friendly, making it easier for everyone to benefit from AI technology.

And they push the AI conversation beyond where it currently is – using generative AI tools to create text, code and images – to a place where AI has an impact on everything we do.

One of the standout features of Apple Intelligence is its ability to enhance user experience seamlessly. Users will be able to benefit from AI tools without needing to know that AI is even involved. It will work across Apple’s range of devices from iPhone to Mac, iPad to Apple Watch, creating a cohesive and unified experience. Whatever device you’re currently using, the AI features that Apple is offering will help keep your digital life connected and streamlined, subtly enhancing performance and saving you time along the way.

Here are a few ways that Apple Intelligence is designed to make life more fun, interesting and productive:

• Saving time: With AI summarising emails and notifications, you can focus on what matters most. This means less time sifting through emails and more time being productive or enjoying your day.
• Enhancing creativity: Improved photo correction, image generation, and text creation are all about giving users the support they need to become truly creative. From photo editing to blog writing, whatever you’re doing, Apple’s AI tools are designed to make it that little bit easier.
• Streamlining digital life: Smart email replies, prewritten for you; an intelligent digital assistant that knows where you are, what you’re up to, and what’s next on your agenda; and voice memos that are automatically transcribed. These are just a few of the Apple Intelligence features designed to streamline our digital lives.

And that’s the thing. We’ve already said it, but Apple Intelligence signifies a change in the way we interact with AI. Very soon it’s no longer going to be a tool we approach to help us do certain tasks. It’s going to be baked into all our devices, supporting us across a vast array of activities, built to make life easier.

At least that’s the idea.

And before we’re accused of peddling an advertisement for Apple here, while we recognise that it often takes Apple’s involvement before niche technologies truly start hitting the mainstream, we also know that AI advancements are happening across the board.

Beyond Apple – how AI is changing our lives

While Apple is making the headlines right now, many of these AI features have already been explored by the likes of Google and Samsung. Smart photo editing, web browsing, translation, intelligent assistants and more have already become part and parcel of flagship Android devices.

Google Assistant already offers advanced voice recognition and smart home integration. Google photos uses AI for smart photo editing and organisation. And other AI-driven features in Gmail, like smart reply and smart compose, are helping to streamline communication by predicting and suggesting responses based on email content.

On Samsung devices, AI services are helping to enhance camera functionality, and novel features like Circle to Search are making web browsing simpler and more intuitive.

And for PC users, Microsoft has announced a host of built-in AI features to assist with writing, image creation, idea generation and app control.

It’s clear that AI features across the entire tech industry are making forward strides. It’s now easier than ever to generate text, write code, create images, summarise documents, keep on top of calendars and emails, and so much more.

AI is changing our lives little by little as it becomes more ingrained in our technology.

Apple’s plan now is to make our access to AI so seamless that, ultimately, we don’t even know it’s there. By highlighting how it can help us to carry out everyday tasks rather than telling us how powerful it is or how many ‘tokens’ it can use, Apple is already moving the AI conversation.

Let’s see where this leaves us in a year’s time…