iPhone fans unlock free AI upgrade early with big changes to Siri – but ChatGPT and four other features are missing
APPLE has rolled its first-ever AI features to a handful of iPhone owners.
But the lucky few are so select, you’ll most likely have to wait months to try them out yourself.
The tech giant unveiled a string of significant artificial intelligence (AI) upgrades in June.
The set of new features, branded Apple Intelligence, have been released to beta testers.
These are a small group of tech-wizz’s who get to test new features, and uncover any bugs, before they are released to the public.
As part of Apple Intelligence, there is set to be a blockbuster Siri upgrade that will make the voice assistant more conversational like ChatGPT.
With an injection of AI, Siri can prioritise your notifications for you based on your habits.
It can also proof-read and summarise things you’ve written – including emails you’ve written or received in the Mail app.
It’ll also understand the context of things inside your apps and phones – like understanding when a meeting is being rescheduled in your emails, and how that relates to other things you have planned.
However, a ChatGPT-integrated Siri will not be available in this current beta.
Nor will AI image creation or Genmoji features.
Apple Intelligence can also be used to create totally original images that can be personalised for your iMessage conversations.
It works in a similar way to Bitmoji – but with a significant AI-boost.
Another AI-powered iMessage boost is Genmoiji, which lets iPhone owners generate custom emoji with text prompts.
The AI features are expected to land on iPhones after the launch of iOS 18, possibly sometime in 2025.
There’s no word on exactly iOS 18 will come out, but The Sun’s official prediction is Monday, September 16.
Apple says these four features will be rolled out over the next year:
- Image generation
- Emoji generation
- Automated photos clean up
- OpenAI ChatGPT integration
THE OFFICIAL WORD FROM TIM COOK
Here's what Apple CEO Tim Cook had to say about Apple Intelligence...
“We’re thrilled to introduce a new chapter in Apple innovation,” Tim explained.
“Apple Intelligence will transform what users can do with our products — and what our products can do for our users.
“Our unique approach combines generative AI with a user’s personal context to deliver truly helpful intelligence.
“And it can access that information in a completely private and secure way to help users do the things that matter most to them.
“This is AI as only Apple can deliver it, and we can’t wait for users to experience what it can do.”
Is my iPhone eligible?
Even after Apple Intelligence has been rolled out to the rest of iPhones – it won’t be available on all of them.
These features will require a lot of processing inside your device to actually work properly – putting a major strain on the computer chips.
So not all Apple devices will get the Apple Intelligence update.
“The core models require a huge amount of compute,” said Apple’s John Giannandrea at a discussion attended by The Sun at WWDC 2024.
“It’s the amount of compute that they require that provides that limitation.”
Here are the devices that will support Apple Intelligence:
- iPhone 15 Pro
- iPhone 15 Pro Max
- iPad (with M1 chip or later)
- Mac (with M1 chip or later)