Apple unveils AI integration, ChatGPT partnership

"Is Apple just stuffing in AI to catch up to current front-runners Microsoft and Google?"

(Image credit: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

published June 11, 2024

What happened

Apple unveiled upcoming software changes at its Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday, including the ability to schedule text messages, send texts via satellite when necessary, and record and transcribe calls from the phone app. Most notably, Apple is adding AI capabilities to a bulked-up Siri and other apps, in partnership with OpenAI's ChatGPT. It is dubbing its version of generative AI "Apple Intelligence."

"We think Apple Intelligence is going to be indispensable to the products that already play such an integral role in our lives,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said. To meet Apple's "core" principles, "it has to be intuitive and easy to use," deeply integrated into apps you use and "built with privacy from the ground up."

"My big thought" sitting through Apple's presentation was: "Are these really cutting-edge, useful tools?" Joanna Stern said in The Wall Street Journal. "Or is Apple just stuffing in AI to catch up to current front-runners Microsoft and Google, and sell us more iPhones to boot? Spoiler: It's a bit of both."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.