iPhone to Get New AI Features as Part of iOS 18 at WWDC 2024: Report

Since the launch of ChatGPT, OpenAI's wildly successful AI chatbot in November 2022, technology companies have rushed to integrate artificial intelligence tools to their hardware and software offerings. Microsoft, which is also an OpenAI backer, moved early last year to launch its own generative AI chatbot, Bing Chat (now renamed as Copilot), in addition to bringing the new technology to its wide range of applications and services. Google, too, rushed out Bard through the gates and has since added a host of AI features to its products after a wobbly start. And Samsung is getting ready to launch its next lineup of flagship Galaxy S series smartphones packed with AI features later this month. Apple, on the hand, has lagged far behind its competitors in the AI race, even as it remains hard at work on its own generative AI offerings. The company is reportedly planning to announce the same at its Worldwide Developers Conference later this year.

In his Power On newsletter for Bloomberg on Monday, Mark Gurman said that Apple's generative AI push will come packaged as part of iOS 18. The iPhone maker is working on its own large language model (LLM), internally known as Ajax, and will likely announce its AI offerings at WWDC in June, the newsletter added. Gurman claimed that Apple had been testing its AI model since early 2023.

While Google has already released its AI-ready Pixel 8 series of phones and Samsung is set to bring Galaxy AI on its upcoming smartphones, offering a host of on-device AI-powered features, Apple is readying AI services for iPhone in its efforts to catch up to its rivals. Gurman's newsletter mentioned some of the likely offerings on the way. “Apple is eyeing adding features like auto-summarizing and auto-complete to its core apps and productivity software such as Pages and Keynote,” it said.

Additionally, the Cupertino, California-based company also plans to bring AI to Apple Music for better playlists and recommendations. According to the newsletter, Apple's on-device assistant Siri is also set for an AI overhaul as advanced chatbots like ChatGPT and Copilot pull ahead in the space. While the company will likely roll out its AI offerings later this year, Gurman said that the company would only be able to fully scale its generative AI vision by at least next year.

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, too, had said in December that upcoming iPhone 16 models would be equipped with an upgraded microphone designed to significantly boost the Siri experience and voice input. According to Kuo, the Siri team at Apple has been working on LLMs and other AI features since Q3 2023.

Last month, it was reported that Apple is negotiating deals with publishers to train its generative AI systems on news content. The company had reportedly pitched multiyear deals worth at least $50 million (roughly Rs. 420 crore) to license the news article archives from publishers like Condé Nast, the New Yorker, NBC News and more.