Imagine asking Siri for ideas for a special dinner using fresh fish and ingredients from your garden, and it not only provides a link to a recipe, as she does currently, but instead delivers the complete recipe directly to you. Or, you ask why Michael Corleone had to kill Sollozzo in The Godfather, and Siri responds in detail, explaining the main reasons and even incorporating an opinionated tone in the response.
So you say: but that’s what ChatGPT already does!
Indeed, it’s ChatGPT itself that will be integrated into Siri in iOS 18, providing all the answers. What’s the difference? You won’t need to install any apps, connect to any accounts, or even pay for a subscription service.
Everything will be done directly in the system, either by the virtual assistant or within native apps.
It’s the much-talked-about agreement that Apple made with OpenAI and that, in the future, may also involve other companies.
It’s not personal, it’s just business
The old-timers in the iPhone world will remember when Apple integrated Twitter and Facebook into the distant iOS 5.
The logic is the same now with ChatGPT.
It’s just an external tool that will be integrated into iOS 18 and can be accessed from various parts of the system without needing to install the OpenAI app.
And Greg Federighi made it clear in the presentation that Apple plans to add support for other AI models in the future. So, the rumor about the agreement with Google to incorporate Gemini might still come true, depending on negotiations.
Apple needs this. Since it lost the lead in the artificial intelligence race, now it needs to catch up and rely on existing tools while it prepares its own, which should be ready by… 2035.
I even had a mental bug during the presentation when they emphasized how important it was to keep the user’s personal data safe and not send it to servers where it’s unclear what will be done with that data.
However, shortly after, they announced the integration with ChatGPT where the user is required to send their data to OpenAI’s servers.
Apple swears up and down that no logs or information are stored on OpenAI’s servers. In fact, in ChatGPT, there’s a “Temporary Chat” mode that claims not to store any data used in the conversation. But we’ll always need to trust that the company will actually do this.
It was also mentioned in the presentation that those with a premium subscription to ChatGPT will also be able to use all the features within the system. It probably refers to personalized chats.
It’s going to take a while
The entire second half of the WWDC presentation was dedicated to AI (Apple Intelligence), which isn’t ready for testing yet.
Apple teased us and then took it away, saying they’ll only deliver it in a future beta.
And, as already known, it will only work on devices with newer processors, like the A17 Pro and the entire M1, M2, M3, and M4 lineup. And this obviously disappointed most users worldwide.
Well, at least ChatGPT can be used right away through the proprietary app, even on the iPhone XR. So, this “new feature” of iOS 18 won’t be missed much.
iOS 18 is in the testing phase among developers and should be released to the general public only in September. Until then, stay tuned for all the updates that will come here on BDI.
