Apple CEO Tim Cook is visiting London to talk business at the same time.
Apple has released iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, and macOS Sequoia 15.2, which means local language access to Apple Intelligence is now available to iPhone, Mac, and iPad users in the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand. (They’ve had to set their language to US English to use these features until now; users will need to update their software first, as it rolls out.)
It’s a critical release that puts direct, local language access to Apple Intelligence into the hands of tens of millions of new users. The release also introduces several additional tools to the Apple Intelligence arsenal, including new Writing Tools and integrated access to ChatGPT for some tasks. Though you aren’t obliged to use ChatGPT.
Back in the UK
The UK introduction is particularly interesting, coinciding as it does with a visit there by Apple CEO Tim Cook. During his visit, he discussed Apple’s ever-growing investments in the UK and confirmed company engineers are deeply involved in building components of those AI features, from silicon development to the company’s important work on Private Cloud Compute. It seems appropriate given his appearance in the UK to introduce Apple Intelligence at around the same time. Though I suspect if Steve Jobs had made the same journey, Apple might have run a “Meet Apple Intelligence” event to generate some media attention.
What’s coming in Apple Intelligence?
We discussed the new Apple Intelligence features you’ll find in the latest updates already. To summarize, these include:
- Improved Siri, with better natural language understanding and the capacity to handle more complex queries.
- Better contextual awareness for better results.
- Visual Intelligence — point your camera at your surroundings to learn more about them.
- Imaging tools, including custom AI-generated emoji and automated image creation.
Apple promises additional capabilities “soon.” These will include on-screen contextual awareness, AI support across third-party apps, Priority Notifications to help you stay on top of the most important tasks/messages, and more.
As it seeks to convince its customers to place their trust in its artificial intelligence, Apple remains firmly focused on privacy. It continues to repeat the message that because many of its tools work on the device, using them brings all the convenience of generative AI (genAI), but not at the cost of data leak or privacy erosion. The company also wants people to understand those tasks it cannot handle are outsourced to third-party tools that may be less private and secure, though their use is optional.
Why does privacy matter?
So, why does Apple’s privacy message matter? Surely the convenience of AI outweighs any impact on privacy.
In fact, it’s quite the reverse. Stop to consider the extent to which your iPhone already accumulates a plethora of deeply personal data reflecting your life, health, habits, and occupations; put that through a filter of non-private AI and you might get some sense of why privacy and trust will become even more important in the months and years ahead.
Take health, for example — if Apple really does plan to introduce AI-driven health data biometric systems in future satellite-connected Apple Watch devices, you really, really won’t want that information shared with anyone but your healthcare advisor and (possibly, but not always) your closest family members.
You certainly won’t want that data shared with even the fluffiest of Big Tech companies; and you won’t want every ad you see online to be dedicated to flogging you kit connected with your condition — or weird Facebook followers appearing to bombard you with fake facts and potentially life-threatening snake oil “treatments.”
That, and a warrant-free evolution of privatized surveillance and hacker-tempting data banks, is, of course, one of the potential futures for AI implementation in the world right now. With that in mind, Apple’s underlying message around privacy and security matters a great deal.
About you
All the same, for today at least, those concerns seem a little further down the line. After all, it is not yet the case that other people will be able to find out everything the online world knows about you by simply pointing their phone in your direction (though don’t be too surprised if that eventually becomes a law enforcement tool). But you can now do this for your local surroundings using Visual Intelligence on your iPhone.
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