Apple (AAPL) is giving developers an early look at its upcoming Apple Intelligence AI platform with the release of its latest developer betas for iOS, iPadOS, and MacOS on Monday. The betas, called iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia, are the first to include Apple’s highly anticipated Apple Intelligence software, which the company debuted at its Worldwide Developer Conference in June.
Apple’s developer beta program gives app creators access to upcoming versions of the company’s software to test it and incorporate its features into their own apps. Apple also releases public betas for regular users to try its latest software offerings before making them generally available in the fall.
The company has already debuted developer and public betas for iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia. The developer betas released Monday, however, include a host of Apple Intelligence features including Writing Tools, an improved version of Siri that can understand both voice and text inputs, AI options in Mail like email summarizations and Smart Replies, and AI-powered summarization for transcriptions.
Apple’s ChatGPT integration and the ability to use Siri to take certain actions in third-party apps will be available in future developer betas.
Developers will be able to access Apple Intelligence via a new Apple Intelligence and Siri button in their device’s Settings menu. From there, they’ll be able to join a waitlist that should allow them to start using the feature within a few hours. The waitlist is necessary because Apple Intelligence uses both on-device and cloud processing and Apple wants to ensure it doesn’t overwhelm its cloud services by bringing on too many new users at once.
Apple’s announcement follows a report by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman on Sunday indicating that Apple will launch Apple Intelligence in October rather than in September when the company usually debuts its latest iPhone. That means if you buy Apple’s next-generation iPhone, which is expected to be called the iPhone 16, you might need to wait a few weeks before you can use the AI platform.
According to Gurman, Apple is taking more time to develop Apple Intelligence while giving developers additional time to acclimate themselves to the software and build out new features.
Apple Intelligence is a massive undertaking for the iPhone maker, bringing some of the biggest changes to its software platforms in years. It will also be the first time many of the company’s users take advantage of generative artificial intelligence technologies. Nailing the delivery and rollout will be essential to ensuring Apple’s millions of users can not only access Apple Intelligence but actually enjoy using it.
Some on Wall Street believe Apple Intelligence will be a boon for Apple. Analysts are anticipating that the technology will boost iPhone sales, leading to an elevated upgrade cycle.
Apple has made it so that only the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max can run the software, meaning if you have an iPhone 15 or even iPhone 14 Pro, you’ll need to upgrade to an iPhone 15 Pro or newer to use the AI platform.
Others, however, argued that consumers are simply ready to upgrade the phones they purchased around the onset of the pandemic, and that that pent-up demand, not Apple Intelligence, will drive a strong sales cycle in the year ahead.
Apple will also have to avoid the same kind of embarrassing incidents that have bedeviled rivals like Google, which launched its AI Overviews service for Search only for the software to end up telling users to put glue in their pizza and eat rocks.
Google (GOOG, GOOGL) and long-time collaborator Samsung have also launched generative AI features for their respective smartphones, with Samsung debuting its Galaxy AI alongside its Galaxy S24 line of phones earlier this year and Google showing off its Pixel 8 with AI capabilities in October 2023.
Google is also set to debut its next-generation Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro Fold phones during an event at its headquarters on Aug. 13. The company is widely expected to focus on how its generative AI software will improve the overall user experience for its devices.
Email Daniel Howley at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley.
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