Apple is to boost its Siri voice assistant and operating systems with OpenAI’s ChatGPT as it seeks to catch up in the AI race.
The iPhone maker announced the Siri makeover along with several other new features at its annual developers’ show on Monday.
It is part of a new personalized AI system – called “Apple Intelligence” – that aims to offer users a way to navigate Apple devices more easily.
Updates to its iPhone and Mac operating systems will allow access to ChatGPT through a partnership with developer OpenAI.
What would Apple’s Siri be able to do with ChatGPT
This could enable Siri to perform specific tasks such as recalling a picture taken years ago on the device or answering detailed questions about the weather, the news or trivia.
It can also perform more advanced tasks, such as answering when a user’s mom’s plane is landing, by analyzing information previously sent in an email. Over time, it could learn the user’s preferences and respond accordingly.
This is not unlike what some competitors have already introduced in generative tools. Siri will also likely adapt automatically and seamlessly to users, based on voice, audio and natural language, along with images and contextual cues.
The company said it’s been impressed with the generative AI tools already on the market, but wanted to make it more personal with privacy in mind.
Tim Cook, Apple chief executive, said the move would bring his company’s products “to new heights” as he opened the Worldwide Developers Conference at the tech giant’s headquarters in Cupertino, California.
“As we look to build in these incredible new capabilities, we want to ensure that the outcome reflects the principles at the core of our products, it has to be powerful enough to help with the things that matter most to you,” Cook said. “It has to be intuitive and easy to use. It has to be deeply integrated into your product experiences.”
He added: “Most importantly, it has to understand you and be grounded in your personal context, like your routine, your relationships, your communications, and more. And, of course, it has to be built with privacy, from the ground up.”
Other new features announced by Apple on Monday include:
- sending texts via satellite
- scheduling messages to send at a later point
- using head gestures (nodding for yes or shaking head for no) to control AirPods Pro
- a dedicated app for passwords that is accessible across devices
- the ability to hide certain apps or lock them away behind Face ID or passcodes.
Elon Musk threatens to ban iPhones
All did not welcome the announcement. Elon Musk, the owner of Tesla and Twitter/X, threatened to ban iPhones from his companies due to “data security”.
“Apple has no clue what’s actually going on once they hand your data over to OpenAI,” Mr Musk said on X. “They’re selling you down the river.” He then posted this image on X trying to show how Apple Intelligence works.
