iOS 18: Apple will boost Siri and other native apps with AI

Thanks to the Ajax large language model (LLM), Apple is expected to make significant improvements to artificial intelligence (AI) in its applications, such as Siri, Safari and Spotlight Search, which will be the first to benefit.

O AppleInsider highlights that, in recent months, there have been several conversations to enhance iOS 18 with AI, and the portal went over some details about Ajax and the features that have been tested together.

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The report with such information focuses on that which can be independently verified by those familiar with the software. In addition to certain features, data about Apple’s internal AI testing environments was also shared.

The implementation of AI in the Apple company’s devices and services focuses on practical benefits for the end user and, in parallel, will try to maintain user privacy with LLM being run directly on the iPhone.

Apple’s idea is to use generative AI to improve its portfolio of system applications, which involve text features, document analysis and search options.

The AI ​​news could be implemented in several integrated apps as early as June, including Siri, Spotlight Search, Messages, Mail and Safari.

AI upgrade in Apple applications

AI summarizing text in Safari and Siri

• The company has been testing AI improvements in Safari, including text summarization;
• In Safari 18, article summary is expected to be introduced via a new feature called Smart Search. It will summarize any website currently on the screen;
• It can analyze keywords and phrases on websites or documents, then generating a summary with the most important information;
• Siri should also receive the feature;
• The functionality is capable of reading the content of messages in pre-release versions of the company’s next OSes;
• Ajax can also generate responses that relay the content of messages in a simplified way.

Ajax will generate basic responses directly from the iPhone

• An offline user response generation feature has been being tested by Apple for a year, but it is still unclear whether it has actually succeeded;
• It is expected to appear at WWDC 2024, the company’s developer event, to be held between the 10th and 14th of June;
• When the user provides text input, the AI ​​on the device generates multiple responses within milliseconds, and in testing environments, these responses are organized based on accuracy, speed, and other relevant factors;
• When creating responses, Ajax checks whether or not the text input has the name of a saved contact and, if necessary, will display that contact’s information;
• It will also be able to communicate with the Calendar app to talk about possible events on the user’s calendar;
• More advanced responses or text summaries will require processing on external Apple servers.

Text analysis and summarization in Safari and Messages

• Two features strongly highlighted by Apple are text analysis and summarization, both also managed by Ajax;
• The software can receive text input via a dedicated text box, digital documents or use information from Safari and Messages;
• When it receives text input, Apple’s AI selects keywords and phrases in the text and designates them as text topics;
• Sentences with explanations, descriptions, definitions or those denoting varieties of objects are isolated from the rest of the text;
• When analyzing, it takes into account all relevant information;
• It is capable of recognizing and classifying companies, people, locations, among others. For example, if a new one appears at the top of a text, she must understand that the name is that of the author of the text;
• The selected main phrases and topics provide a simpler text summary, usable by offline response generation software to obtain a more complete and coherent response;
• Since the text analysis feature can operate 100% on the device, Apple can take the lead when it comes to its user’s privacy.

Apple vs. Apple AI Improvements user privacy

The portal suggests that the AI ​​software that will run on the iPhone has a well-focused focus on preserving privacy, in line with the company’s thinking and existing features focused on security and privacy, such as iCloud Private Relay.

Even in testing environments, there are user privacy notices. People familiar with the software report that Apple’s testing utilities will display message before Ajax uses information from Safari or Messages.

By reducing the use of online resources to process AI commands, risks related to user privacy decrease, as personal data is not retransmitted via the internet.

This is yet another point from Apple in favor of privacy, ahead of its competitors in this aspect.

Ajax against the competition

Currently, almost any application is a competitor to Ajax, since from Slack to Google Chrome, we have some type of integration with AI, in addition to the various chatbot apps and other companies that offer AI on their devices.

A recent example is Samsung, which launched, in January, with the Galaxy S24 line, Galaxy AI, a set of AI tools that assist the user in various tasks, including texts, photography and more.

However, most of these resources run in the cloud and require a subscription (Galaxy AI remains free and has been expanded to more Galaxy models, but may require a fee in the future).

With the offline text system, Siri could offer more privacy, unlike other AI chatbots on the market, in addition to not asking for a signature (as far as we know),

This Thursday (2), during Apple’s earnings presentation, CEO Tim Cook answered questions about monetizing generative AI, but was a bit off topic and was inconclusive.

Cook preferred to make clear Apple’s “unwavering focus on privacy” and stated that the company has “advantages that differentiate it” from competition in the AI ​​sector.

Safari can compete even more with Arc (which recently arrived on Windows 11), as the Browser Company browser also has its own text summary feature.