iOS 18 to use artificial intelligence to summarize notifications, add to calendar and more

Apple is set to introduce an automatic summation feature for notifications as part of a series of new AI features in iOS 18, reports BloombergMark Gurman.

In today’s edition of his “Power On” newsletter, Gurman provided more details on what to expect from Apple’s first big step into generative artificial intelligence at the upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference:

As part of the changes, the company will improve Siri’s voice capabilities, giving it a more conversational feel, and add features to help users in their daily lives – an approach it calls “proactive intelligence.”

This includes services such as automatically summarizing notifications from your iPhone, providing a short synopsis of news articles and transcribing voice memos, as well as enhancing existing features that automatically populate your calendar and suggest apps. There will also be some improvements to photos in the form of AI-based editing, but none of these features will impress people who have used AI in Adobe Inc.’s programs. over the past few months.

Gurman added that while Apple will mostly rely on on-device processing to support its AI features, it will also deliver them via the cloud to data centers that house Apple’s high-end silicon chips designed for Macs. He also noted that a chatbot like ChatGPT will be conspicuously absent from Apple’s future AI features. Apple executives are said to have admitted that they are “playing catch-up” internally.

Apple’s first push into artificial intelligence is widely expected to be revealed as part of a preview of next-generation software updates at WWDC, which begins on June 10.