First Impressions: Apple Intelligence. Is It Smart?
Artificial Intelligence is positioned as a way to help us be more productive and get more from our devices. But is it delivering on that promise yet?
I covered the newest Apple operating system for their mobile platform a few weeks ago, and now Apple has introduced the much-anticipated update that includes Apple Intelligence (their version of AI). This upgrade is part of the entire Apple ecosystem, for iPhones, iPads, and Macs, as long as you have a newer device. Apple Intelligence will work on any iPad or Mac that uses Apple Silicon chips (non-Intel for Macs and M1, M2, M3, or M4 chips for iPad). For the iPhone, you will need at least an iPhone 15 Pro or newer in order for Apple Intelligence to be fully available.
Apple has had Siri on its devices for nearly a decade now. It hasn’t really lived up to most people’s expectations and often is the cause of frustration. (Count me in on that one, also usually followed by a string of NSFW language.) I mention that because Siri has been a form of AI for some time. Apple has decided to brand their form of AI as Apple Intelligence, but does that make it better?
Perhaps the most important element that Apple has approached AI with is personal privacy. The nature of AI is that it learns from multiple sources and can provide new information based on that data consumption. Models like Chat-GPT or Google’s Gemini are the most common and are built by feeding the Large Language Models (LLMs) tons of data to use for outputs. (That is a grossly simplified explanation, but trying to keep it simple in this case.) Apple has some of this as well-built into their devices. Where it needs additional resources, it can do so via its own private servers or will give you the option to tap into Chat-GPT. This ensures that what you want to stay private will, and where there may be exposure, you remain aware. The overarching reminder here for any AI tool would be, do not share any highly sensitive data, period. In most cases, I believe most of the current AI tools to be no more risky than the Google searches we have been doing for years. However, there is a need to be cautious based on what you may be telling the AI tool of choice.
Writing Support
The feature that appears to be getting the most attention right now are the tools related to writing support. These help with proofreading, tone, and conciseness. These are similar to what you can do with Chat-GPT and almost any other AI that is available, especially built into applications. My early take on Apple Intelligence is that it works well, and it is nothing wildly different from what was previously available, except that it is right at your fingertips (in many cases). Depending on what application you are using and which device, Apple Intelligence can be a simple click away. For example, this paragraph can be highlighted and proofread by Siri with two clicks or taps from my Mac or my iPad, slightly different processes, but all completed within the space I am currently working within.
The available tools for Apple Intelligence right now allow for proofreading or rewriting, then add tone options of ‘friendly’, ‘professional’, and ‘concise’. These all work well. If you want a softer, relaxed tone to your message, the friendly option works well. If you want to sound like a computer wrote your information, then choose ‘professional’. The option for ‘concise’ does provide a useful way to cut out words and streamline the writing. As examples, I’ll take this paragraph and apply the treatment from each option.
Friendly
Apple Intelligence has some cool tools right now. You can proofread or rewrite your text, and then select from three tone options: friendly, professional, and concise. They all work great. If you want your message to sound more casual, the friendly option is perfect. If you want it to sound like a computer wrote it, go for professional. And if you want to cut out some words and make it snappier, the concise option has some good choices. I’ll show you how I’d apply each option to a paragraph.
Professional
Currently, the available tools for Apple Intelligence enable proofreading, rewriting, and the application of tone options: “friendly,” “professional,” and “concise.” These options are effective in their respective purposes. For a more relaxed and approachable tone, the “friendly” option is suitable. Conversely, the “professional” option conveys a formal and authoritative tone. The “concise” option offers valuable suggestions for eliminating unnecessary words and streamlining the writing process. As an illustration, I will apply the treatment from each option to the following paragraph:
Concise
Apple Intelligence offers proofreading, rewriting, and tone options: ‘friendly’, ‘professional’, and ‘concise’. The ‘friendly’ option creates a softer, relaxed tone, while ‘professional’ sounds like a computer-generated message. ‘Concise’ provides options to cut words and streamline writing. I’ll apply each option to this paragraph.
As you can see, each of these has their benefits. I think this is a good comparison to understand how all AI applications tend to work. If people are used to reading your style of writing, it can be immediately apparent when they choose to have AI write their words. I am pretty sure most people would catch on quickly if I used the professional tone for all my articles. It just doesn’t match the way I write.
Summarize
Another writing tool that has application across most of the device ecosphere is summarizing information. You can do this within what you are writing, what you are reading on the web, and emails and notifications. Apple Intelligence handles this in different ways for various use cases, but I have found it to be helpful in some, less so in others. It is a viable option as true writing support. Tying back to the previous section, here is an example of how Apple Intelligence can summarize the section on ‘Writing Support’.
Apple Intelligence offers writing support tools, including proofreading, rewriting, and tone options. The tone options include friendly, professional, and concise, each with its own benefits.
As you can see, it cuts the information way down. I will use this at the end of the article as well, for a full summary of the document.
Summarizing is a function that also works with emails, providing a summary view of the entire email at a glance. This could be especially helpful for long emails. I have not found this to be great yet, though. The information is fine, it just doesn’t always capture the critical elements. I expect that will improve in time.
Finally, Apple Intelligence will provide summaries for any notifications you receive. I also see potential benefit in this feature over time. However, I currently do not receive a lot of notifications, so the benefit is limited. When I get notifications from Ring cameras as an example, I am already aware that it detected movement, getting a summary that my Ring cameras detected movement does really save more time. I could see this as beneficial when the devices can work together and prioritize when I get a notification. For example, getting an urgent notification about the Ring camera detecting movement at the front door, and then also inside the house, could be useful. Even better, knowing that none of the known devices are home, and detecting movement inside the house (and knowing it is not my dog) would be extremely helpful. That is the type of stuff I expect will come in time, and we are merely seeing the early stages of this intelligence.
Photo Editing
The last piece of Apple Intelligence I cover here is the upgrade to the Photo application and how you can use Apple Intelligence for photo editing. This has been the most fun upgrade so far. Apple has finally introduced a ‘clean up’ feature that allows you to easily remove unwanted components of a picture. If you have electric wires, or a random stranger in your picture, you can now, easily, remove that from the picture. And…it does a really good job. Your mileage may vary based on what you are trying to edit or change. This is not new technology. Google has had this for some time with the Magic Eraser built into Google Photos and with the Pixel phones. It is nice to see Apple finally bringing these built in tools to their users.
There are other components to Apple's new Intelligence features, and more are coming soon. They have stated that this will be an extended roll-out of features over time. I think that is the correct approach for several reasons. There is still a lot to get right about how to implement and then show people how to use them. There is also still a lot that AI cannot do well. The writing tools, while getting much better, still miss the mark in any AI I use. Chat-GPT is a really useful tool in many ways, but in others, borderline useless. So, keep your expectations in check at this point, there is more to come. I do look forward to many of the other Apple Intelligence features that it has shown are on the way. When Siri can know what is happening within my email, my calendar, and where I am, that provides a lot of options on how she can help. Context and content awareness will be a turning point in the usefulness of these intelligence assistants.
Have you tried Apple Intelligence? How are you using it?
Article Summary (as created by Apple Intelligence)
Apple Intelligence, Apple’s version of AI, aims to enhance productivity through writing support, summarization, and photo editing. The writing tools, including proofreading and tone adjustments, are effective but may alter the original writing style. Apple Intelligence also offers summarization for emails, notifications, and web content, with potential for improvement in capturing critical elements.
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