Apple has announced a significant enhancement to its Siri voice assistant by integrating OpenAI’s ChatGPT. This development, revealed at the annual WWDC event, will roll out with iOS 18, which is expected to launch in the fall of this year.
“We’re excited to partner with Apple to bring ChatGPT to their users in a new way. Apple shares our commitment to safety and innovation, and this partnership aligns with OpenAI’s mission to make advanced AI accessible to everyone. Together with Apple, we’re making it easier for people to benefit from what AI can offer.”
Sam Altman
The integration will also extend to iPadOS and MacOS, offering users advanced AI functionalities across multiple devices. This will position Apple to better compete with tech giants like Google and Samsung, offering a robust AI experience to its users.
Siri gains advanced AI functionalities
The integration of ChatGPT in Siri increases user interactions and the capability of Siri in different applications. Users can leverage on Siri to get recipe ideas from a list of ingredients, getting backyard landscaping tips with GPT-4o’s image recognition, and creating bedtime stories using the Compose feature. This integration brings ChatGPT’s advanced natural language and image recognition capabilities to Apple users, thus enhancing the usability of AI tools in real-life situations.
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This partnership marks a significant milestone for both Apple and OpenAI. In the case of Apple, integrating ChatGPT into Siri supports the company’s objective of improving its AI functions and providing a superior product. This is expected to consolidate Apple’s market dominance as other competitors have also been enhancing their AI capabilities.
For OpenAI, this partnership will help its AI models to be available to hundreds of millions of iPhone users globally. This large following offers OpenAI a great platform to present its product and gain a huge number of users.
Privacy and accessibility prioritized
Another key component of this integration is the issue of privacy and Apple’s adherence to it. The company has reassured users that ChatGPT will be available for free, and the conversation or request history will not be recorded. This approach is in line with the company’s policy of prioritizing the privacy of the users and providing clear information on how their data is processed.
According to Apple, the company does not transfer any data without the user’s permission, which is a strategy to empower the users.
Elon Musk has criticized the partnership, stating, “If Apple integrates OpenAI at the OS level, then Apple devices will be banned at my companies. That is an unacceptable security violation. And visitors will have to check their Apple devices at the door, where they will be stored in a Faraday cage.”
Tech giants unveil AI advancements
Microsoft overtook Apple in January to become the world’s biggest company by market capitalization, and this year, Apple has underperformed in other technology stocks. Last week, Nvidia temporarily surpassed Apple and became the second most valuable company in the world.
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This announcement by Apple follows similar statements by Samsung, Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI. In January, Samsung unveiled new AI features for its Galaxy phones under the Galaxy AI, which was first rolled out on the Galaxy S24 series and provided tools such as real-time call translation, erasing or resizing objects in photos, and slow-motion video preview.
Cryptopolitan Reporting by Brenda Kanana