Apple Intelligence Is Official And It Promises To Supercharge Siri

At WWDC today, Apple made big updates to everything from the iPad (hooray, the Calculator app is finally here) to the announcement of MacOS Sequoia. But one announcement will dwarf them all: Apple AI is finally here. No, not artificial intelligence. Apple would prefer you call it Apple Intelligence. The company has finally joined the rest of the tech industry in using generative AI to power a suite of new features on its platforms. So, from MacOS to Siri, Apple's ecosystem is getting an AI overhaul that may excite some AI enthusiasts.

Siri is getting the most massive changes, long overdue for Apple's integrated voice assistant. Apple is using AI to integrate it more deeply into the system and experiences. It will also use Apple Intelligence to understand context and personal information. Apple claims this will all be done securely. Craig Federighi noted, "It has to be done right. You should not have to hand over all the details of your life." Nevertheless, the details of your life will be at least borrowed temporarily to give users AI-powered features, with Apple claiming that personal data is used exclusively to fulfill prompts, with no access given to Apple. However, privacy aside, some of the new features do sound useful, especially those in Siri. Here's what's coming.

One of the biggest implementations of Apple's new AI features comes to Siri, which was long overdue for a makeover regardless. For years, Siri has felt ever so limited, but with this latest update, Apple promises that the voice assistant will get better at surfacing relevant information, taking actions based on what's displayed on your screen, and more. It also gets a big facelift with the redesign that aims to make it feel more like a natural part of the software experience rather than something grafted on top of it.

That visual overhaul will be the most obvious upgrade to some users. Instead of the floating Siri ball you've come to know, activating Siri will now cause a shimmering aura to emerge from the edges of the display. But new animations aren't worth much without new capabilities, and Apple employees showed off a range of new features, such as using information from your emails to answer questions about your schedule or using information from documents you've taken pictures of to autofill forms. Siri will take in-app actions on your behalf and leverage generative AI to help assist you. This update is one to look out for, as it could have an impact on your day-to-day life if you decide to use it.