If you’re an iPhone, iPad or Mac user, you’ll soon have the skills of ChatGPT integrated into Siri and your other favorite first party apps.
Within its launch of Apple Intelligence – which seeks to use generative intelligence to improve the functionality of those devices’ apps – the tech giant revealed that OpenAI’s ChatGPT would be directly incorporated with the release of the new iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and macOS Sequoia operating systems.
The announcement came during a WWDC 2024 that also previewed the revamped operating systems, a new Passwords app, fresh watchOS 11 features, and visionOS updates.
Siri and ChatGPT Join Forces
Craig Federighi, Apple’s SVP of Software Engineering, explained during the WWDC keynote how Siri will identify queries that it determines ChatGPT can resolve. It will then ask the user if they wish ChatGPT to provide an answer to the query.
“There are other artificial intelligence tools available that can be useful for tasks that draw on broad world knowledge or offer specialized domain expertise,” said Federighi. “We want you to be able to use these external models without having to jump between different tools. So we’re integrating them right into your experiences.
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“We built support into Siri, so Siri can tap into ChatGPT’s expertise when it might be helpful for you.” – Craig Federighi, SVP of Software Engineering at Apple
ChatGPT will also be incorporated into other 1st party Apple apps, such as Writing Tools, to assist in the composition of written text and generation of images.
As per the last 12 iterations of iOS, it is expected that iOS18 – together with iPadOS 18 and macOS Sequoia – will begin to be rolled out in September of this year.
Apple Intelligence And OpenAI
Apple’s ChatGPT integration appears to be a key part of the company’s Apple Intelligence roll-out – its much anticipated move towards a greater implementation of large language models and artificial intelligence to enhance the user experience of Apple device users.
“Our unique approach combines generative AI with a user’s personal context to deliver truly helpful intelligence.” – Tim Cook, CEO of Apple
However, the announcement stopped short of suggesting that the partnership with Open AI would be exclusive, stating that Apple intelligence would be “starting out” with ChatGPT.
Previously rumored to have been considering a partnership with Google’s Gemini AI model, this also leaves room for Apple to continue developing its own “Apple GPT” and language model framework, Ajax.
Elon Musk Threatens to Ban Apple Devices
Among social media’s response to the announcement, Elon Musk used his own platform X, formerly Twitter, to deride the news.
If Apple integrates OpenAI at the OS level, then Apple devices will be banned at my companies. That is an unacceptable security violation.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 10, 2024
In a series of posts, Musk called the integration an “unacceptable security violation” and said that “visitors will have to check their Apple devices at the door”.
During Apple’s keynote, Federighi had addressed potential security concerns by saying that requests and information will not be logged.
A follow-up press release on the Apple website expands on this, stating that: “Privacy protections are built in for users who access ChatGPT — their IP addresses are obscured, and OpenAI won’t store requests. ChatGPT’s data-use policies apply for users who choose to connect their account.”
ChatGPT Recently Criticized
Apple’s announcement comes in the midst of a spree of AI errors, including Open AI’s decision to prevent ChatGPT from answering questions about upcoming elections.
Following reports that the AI platform was giving factually incorrect answers to queries about elections that had not yet taken place, OpenAI said it would implement a fix to have ChatGPT refuse answering such requests and point the user to more authoritative sources such as the UK Electoral Commission website.
It’s not just OpenAI in the hot seat either, over inaccurate AI-generated responses. Google has also been openly mocked online for its AI summaries, which, among other things, have suggested users add glue to pizzas, and drink urine for medicinal reasons.
