All the major tech players have gotten in on the AI game—except Apple. Finally, they’re unveiling their own spin on AI. In brief, what is Apple Intelligence and how does it fit in the larger AI ecosystem?

Bill: This is pretty different from the other companies. Apple, arguably the first on the market with a virtual assistant, Siri, didn’t really do much beyond something that could mostly understand you and google stuff for you. I feel like Apple has taken a good spin on it and partnered with someone who’s doing it well.

Apple is very on-brand by calling it Apple Intelligence, which does have the initials AI. They never called it that during the presentation or on the website but once. So Apple Intelligence is not AI but it does use AI.

Apple Intelligence is built on Siri but is ‘powered by’ ChatGPT and has access to more apps and abilities in your phone than before. There’s also a generative aspect baked into the entire ecosystem, the easiest example being customojis and smart picture edits.

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Apple has always touted its efforts in user privacy, and it claims that Apple Intelligence is designed to protect users’ personal data. How does Apple’s approach to AI differ from other tech companies in terms of privacy?

Bill: The same way they protect our fingerprints, our credit card info, and FaceID information; the personal stuff is local to the machine. The unique/important data is stored locally so it never leaves your device or goes to a server. That’s why you have to redo FaceID when you get a new phone.

Now, what aspects are deemed unique or important aren’t super clearly defined. But considering Apple is a pretty active disrupter in the anti-tracking fields, I’m pretty confident that we will be fine. I’m comfortable trusting them with my info.

How Apple Intelligence differs from other companies, I’m not certain. ChatGPT does use data from interactions to improve but I’m not certain how much it retains that it learns uniquely about us. But again, I’d trust Apple over OpenAI.

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Let’s talk about Siri. I remember being excited when Siri first came out. I mean, who doesn’t want a robot in their pocket they can pull out and talk to? But in practice, Siri has been pretty disappointing, especially in the age of ChatGPT. Do you think Apple Intelligence will restore Siri’s relevance? Can I have a voice assistant on my iPhone that’s actually useful?

Bill: Yea, Siri was cool and pretty neat, but her charm wore off pretty rapidly. As a matter of fact, I’ve not even had Siri turned on on my devices in the last few years.

Apple does the classic Apple thing and lets other companies try things out, like features and form factors, then they release their version that is their own take and made better. The strength of Apple has and always will be its ecosystem. If you get the computer, their phones make sense to get, if you get those they work with AirPods, and your watch “just works”’ too. Everything talks to everything, kinda like their old saying, “it just works.”

I’m not sure exactly how much Siri is part of this new thing. I did download the 18.1 Beta, and I’ve played with it a little bit, but there are some key features missing. The fact that Siri now has superpowers from ChatGPT and Apple is opening up the phone to have access to accounts and apps and permission to do things on behalf of the user, it is just that much more powerful. I am thankful/proud that Apple didn’t try to make their own versions like Bard/Gemini, GROK, Claude, MetaAI, or whatever. Instead, they partnered with one of the top dogs and gave them access the other guys could only dream of.

Adding this to all of our (Apple) devices is going to be life-changing and will spark many a debate, and I’m here for it… “Yes robot, please look at my schedule and book me a haircut and order dinner. Also, don’t forget to text my college roommate on their birthday. And don’t let me forget to get milk the next time I’m at Aldi’s.”

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Looking at everything Apple announced, there are some pretty cool features. What has you most intrigued about Apple Intelligence? What features do you see potentially becoming part of your workflow?

Playing with the beta for a few days at this point, I’ve not experienced anything life-changing. And I think it’s very much an introduction at this time. We will only see if it gets better. Look how fast ChatGPT grew. It came out LAST DECEMBER! It was impressive in the beginning and has only gotten exponentially better. Having access to our devices and our accounts will make us use our phones differently but I’m not exactly sure how just yet. Ask me again in three months and I’ll let you know!

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