Apple has officially launched its new AI stack, Apple Intelligence, for certain iPhone, iPad and Mac users — however, early reviewers say the new AI tools haven’t lived up to the hype.
The company revealed the “first set” of new AI-related functions on Oct. 28, with the release of iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1 and macOS Sequoia 15.1.
Apple’s new main AI feature, “Writing Tools,” allows users to refine their language by rewriting, proofreading and summarizing text in Mail, Messages, Notes, Pages and third-party apps, while users can now also have a “more natural conversation” with Apple’s virtual assistant Siri.
Users will have the option to access ChatGPT within Writing Tools and Siri, allowing them to benefit from its image and document-understanding capabilities without needing to switch between tools, Apple said.
It also introduced a “natural language search” in the Photos app — allowing users to describe a photo and have it located for them, rather than having to scroll through thousands of other photos to find it.
Example illustrating how Apple’s new AI feature can find a certain photo. Source: Apple
However, some Apple users weren’t overly thrilled with the new AI features.
Max Eddy, a writer for The New York Times who accessed Apple’s prerelease version, wasn’t too impressed, stating:
“We think the highly touted AI-transformed future still seems a long way off.”
Julian Chokkattu, a senior reviews editor at WIRED who also had access to the prerelease version, wasn’t amazed either.
“I've been living with a beta version of Apple Intelligence for over a month, and life hasn't changed much since its features arrived on my iPhone 16 Pro.”
“You might find yourself saying, ‘Is that it?’” Chokkattu added.
Accessing Apple Intelligence proved a problem of its own for many other Apple users.
United States-based Apple users must first have an Apple Intelligence-compatible device and install Apple’s latest software version before joining a waitlist.
Things are even more complicated for other users, who also have to change their region and language in settings to the “United States” and “English US” before joining the waitlist.
Source: Aaron Zollo
Apple Intelligence was described as the “sloppiest rollout Apple has ever done” by X user Mikey, while X user T said Apple should have waited until the AI tools were “fully functional” and accessible to all users.
Apple made no mention of a waitlist in its Oct. 28 announcement.
Apple was initially scheduled to release Apple Intelligence in September.
Related: Apple Intelligence rival secures $10M to develop open-source alternative
Apple said it would also roll out a new visual intelligence experience feature in December that would allow users to learn about objects and places instantly.
“Users will be able to pull up details about a restaurant in front of them and interact with information — for example, translating text from one language to another,” Apple said.
Apple just announced its Apple Intelligence features for iPhone 16.
— Rowan Cheung (@rowancheung) September 9, 2024
The 8 most impressive demos:
1. Apple Intelligence accessing the iPhone's camera for 'Visual Intelligence' on any surroundingspic.twitter.com/RtJK0FEvNk
The firm said it would roll out a new Priority Notifications feature in the coming months which has the “ability to draw on a user’s personal context to deliver intelligence that’s tailored to them.”
As part of Apple’s privacy measures, users can choose whether to integrate ChatGPT for the new Writing Tools and advanced Siri features.
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