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At the annual Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple introduced "Apple Intelligence," a set of new AI features for its popular devices, and announced a collaboration with OpenAI.
The company aims to keep pace with competitors who have been rapidly embracing AI technology. CEO Tim Cook expressed that this move will elevate the user experience of Apple products.
The partnership with OpenAI, known for its ChatGPT, is part of Apple's strategy to enhance its AI capabilities.
"We are thrilled to announce our partnership with Apple to incorporate ChatGPT into their devices later this year! We believe you will find it very appealing," stated Sam Altman, the company's chief, on social media.
Additionally, Apple Intelligence will be integrated into the upcoming iOS 18 operating system, which was also unveiled during the week-long conference on Monday.
Emphasizing privacy protection, Apple executives assured that Apple Intelligence has been designed to enhance the intelligence of Siri and other products without compromising user data security.
According to analysts Apple has faced the significant challenge of incorporating ChatGPT-style AI, which heavily relies on data, into its products without compromising user privacy and security.
Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, Craig Federighi, stated that the system places powerful generative models at the core of Apple devices, drawing on personal context to provide relevant intelligence while prioritizing privacy protection.
However, Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, criticized the partnership, expressing concerns about data security and announcing a potential ban on iPhones at his companies.
Musk is also developing his own AI rival to OpenAI called xAI and is involved in a lawsuit against the company he co-founded in 2015.
Apple Intelligence, which operates exclusively on Apple's technology, will allow users to create custom emojis based on everyday language descriptions and generate concise email summaries.
Apple announced that Siri, its voice assistant, will receive an AI-powered upgrade and will now be represented as a pulsating light on the edge of the home screen. Despite being introduced over 12 years ago, Siri has been viewed as outdated compared to newer assistants like GPT-4o from OpenAI.
GPT-4o made headlines when actress Scarlett Johansson accused OpenAI of using her voice for the assistant after she declined to work with the company. OpenAI denied the accusation and suspended the use of the new voice in its products.
As part of its agreement with OpenAI, Apple users can opt to enhance Siri with ChatGPT for specific requests, according to Federighi. This implementation is considered unique and noteworthy.
The partnership with OpenAI is non-exclusive, unlike Apple's significant collaboration with Google for search, which has attracted antitrust scrutiny. Apple plans to add support for other AI models in the future.
Apple, founded by Steve Jobs, had been relatively quiet about AI until the ChatGPT frenzy began. The company had previously avoided using the term altogether. However, due to pressure from Wall Street and Microsoft's surge past Apple in stock price due to its strong focus on AI, Apple has now made significant AI-related announcements.
Despite the AI announcements, Apple's share price dropped nearly two percent at the close of trading on Monday, disappointing Wall Street investors.
