When Apple’s Siri voice assistant launched in 2011, it was on the bleeding edge of artificial intelligence technology. Now Apple’s partnering with leading startup OpenAI to bring the next generation of AI to the iPhone, iPad and Mac.
Announced during Apple’s annual WWDC event Monday morning, the tech giant said it will be adding capabilities from OpenAI’s popular ChatGPT to the iPhone through its iOS 18 software, which is expected to launch in the fall of this year, as well as to iPadOS and MacOS.
Watch this: OpenAI’s ChatGPT is Coming to Apple Apps
One way Apple said it added ChatGPT was as part of its Siri voice assistant. When someone asks for meal ideas from a set of ingredients, Siri will suggest connecting with ChatGPT. It’ll then ask for permission to share the request, after which it’ll show a response with a warning at the bottom saying “Check important info for mistakes.” Apple said its system will work with photos, documents, presentations and PDFs as well, and will always ask for permission to share any information.
“You’ll be able to access ChatGPT for free, without creating an account. Your requests and information will not be logged,” Apple’s Senior Vice President Software Engineering, Craig Federighi, said while announcing the integration. He added that Apple intends to expand partnerships with other companies as well, but will begin with free access to OpenAI’s GPT-4o, which was announced last month. “Of course, you’re in control over when ChatGPT is used, and be asked before any information is shared.”
The move marks another way Apple is hoping to catch up in the AI race. Over the past two years, hundreds of millions of people have flocked to new technologies created by OpenAI and others. Generative AI, as it’s called, can create images, videos and all manner of texts in response to written prompts or spoken requests.
While the technology can perform impressive feats, one of its biggest drawbacks is the likelihood it will create hallucinations, sincerely sharing made-up facts and figures as part of its responses. AI companies including OpenAI, Microsoft and Google have attempted to respond to this unpredictability and untrustworthiness by warning users that generative AI tools are meant for more creative tasks.
An example of how ChatGPT is integrated into Apple’s new writing tools for MacOS.
Still, many people have begun using AI for everything from helping to write emails at work to coding and even imagining cooking recipes based on ingredients nearby.
Apple’s efforts to integrate ChatGPT include clear indications the company intends to answer concerns by ensuring users know when data is being shared, and also warning them about potential issues. Any time ChatGPT was shown in the presentation as part of the iPhone’s software, it included a prominent warning at the bottom, “Check important info for mistakes.”
Federighi said Apple designed its integration so that it will connect with ChatGPT when it detects a user needs “broad world knowledge” or “specialized domain expertise” beyond the AI technologies Apple developed to help sort through the messages, emails and other information on our phones. Apple said it intends to make future integrations with other AI technologies similar to how it’s handled ChatGPT, “without having to jump between different tools.”
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