Apple Intelligence brings several AI-powered features to compatible devices such as the iPhone 15 Pro, M-series iPads, and Macs. Some of these features include:
Writing Tools: This feature allows AI to rewrite and proofread documents, similar to the functionality offered by Grammarly.
Genmoji: Genmoji uses generative AI (GenAI) to create new emotes based on text descriptions provided by the user, allowing for more personalized emoji-like images.
Enhanced Siri: Apple's virtual assistant, Siri, gets an overhaul with Apple Intelligence, making it more natural, relevant, and personal. Siri will be able to understand context better, allowing for more natural language interactions and follow-up questions.
Image Playground: This image generator allows users to choose from themes, accessories, places, and more, to create unique images. It is available as an app but will also be integrated into apps like Messages.
Image Wand: A tool in the Notes app that lets users circle a rough sketch within a note and open the Image Playground to create a more realistic picture.
Clean Up tool: A new feature in the Photos app that allows users to remove objects and people from photos easily.
Priority Messages: A feature that shows the most urgent emails, like a boarding pass, and allows users to see email summaries without having to open a message.
Priority Notifications: Important notifications will appear at the top of the stack, and there will be notifications to help users quickly get a synopsis of important notifications at a glance.
Apple Intelligence-powered summaries and transcriptions: Users can record, transcribe, and summarize audio in the Notes app.
These features aim to make the user experience more efficient and personalized while maintaining a strong focus on privacy and on-device processing.
Apple's Marketing Chief Greg Joswiak responded to the suggestion that limiting Apple Intelligence to newer models is a strategy to boost sales by stating, "No, not at all. Otherwise, we've been smart enough just to do recent iPads and Macs, too." He emphasized that the reason for this limitation is due to the computational requirements of running large language models, which need powerful and fast devices to be useful. It's not solely about selling new iPhone 15 Pros, but rather ensuring that the devices running the AI system can provide a high-quality user experience.
Apple limited the new AI system, Apple Intelligence, to its flagship devices such as the iPhone 15 Pro and Apple silicon iPads and Macs due to the high computational requirements of running large language models (LLMs). Apple's SVP of Machine Learning and AI Strategy, John Giannandrea, explained that the inference of LLMs is incredibly computationally expensive, requiring devices to be fast and powerful enough to handle it. Otherwise, running these models on older devices would be so slow that it would not be useful. While some might see this as a strategy to sell new devices, Apple's Marketing Chief Greg Joswiak pushed back on that idea, stating that they've been smart enough to include recent iPads and Macs as well.