🍎 Apple’s AI suite is here

ALSO: OpenAI’s Google competitor is out

Estimated Read Time: 4 to 5 minutes

Apple’s hoping to use AI to boost their iPhone sales (and it’s working so far) with the big relese of Apple Intelligence. We breakdown how to access it and its biggest current features. Plus ChatGPT is throwing a punch at Google and Perplexity with their own Search tool, now available to paying ChatGPT members.

• 🍎 Apple Intelligence is here.

• 📈 Perplexity launched an elections tracker.

• 🥊 OpenAI releases Google competitor ChatGPT Search.

• 🤖 Biden issues first AI security Memorandum.

🍎 Apple Intelligence is here

What happened: Apple Intelligence is finally out in a free update to Macs, iPads, and iPhones. Most of the early features are focused on summarization and image cleanup. Here’s the lowdown on all its features and how to access them.

The details: 

• Apple Intelligence is part of IOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, macOS Sequoia 15.1 update. It’s completely free, even for users older devices, but only supported devices will be capable of using the AI features.

• These initial AI features are just the tip of the iceberg. More AI features will be releasing over the next several months.

• New Features:

• New systemwide Writing Tools allow users to refine their text by rewriting (including rewrites in different tones), proofreading, and summarizing across apps like Mail, Messages, Notes, Pages, and third-party apps, adjusting tone and style as you go.

• Siri got a redesigned look and new feature set. You can now switch fluidly between voice and text mode whever you want. Siri can also understand natural conversation better, like “ums”, “ahs” and pauses in speech. It’ll also answer most technical questions about Apple products, like how to change an email password. But so far these are minor improvements.

• All that being said, Siri’s biggest features, like being able to see your screen and understand context across apps, are coming in a later update.

• An AI-integrated Photos app, with features like natural language search for photos and videos by description, a “Clean Up” tool to remove unwanted objects from images, and the ability to create personalized Memories movies simply by typing a description.

• AI categorized “Priority” emails and messages. Now AI will categorize your alerts and notifications according to importance.

• You can choose to enable ChatGPT integration within Writing Tools and Siri with built-in privacy protections. This is coming in the December update.

• Additional features like full ChatGPT integration, Genmoji, Image Playground, and enhanced Writing Tools are coming in December.

• Public Reception: Early users (on forums and discussions) are pretty lukewarm so far. While some people have found the AI features invaluable, many others have noted little to no difference in their daily use. Maybe the Siri update will change this.

• Apple’s profits: Regardless of reception and AI features, Apple’s eating well, with a September quarterly revenue of $94.9B. That’s up six percent from last year.

• Availability: Apple Intelligence is available on iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPad with A17 Pro or M1 and later, and Mac with M1 and later.

• Check if your device supports AI features: If you aren’t sure your iPad/Mac supports AI features, click the “System Settings” app and then click “About”. You’ll see your chip labeled there.

Why it matters: Okay that’s a lot, but nothing is too exciting yet. Apple’s AI features, alongside ChatGPT, are the faces of AI to the common consumer. Whatever they do will affect how AI develops and is received. But right now the features are… barebones. While there’s useful features here, nothing really matches the hype. We’ll have to wait and see how future updates pan out before making a solid judgement on Apple’s AI features.

📈 Perplexity launched an elections tracker, a dedicated hub for U.S. general election information. Utilizing data from The Associated Press and Democracy Works, the hub offers live updates on elections, answers to voting-related questions, and AI-summarized analyses on ballot measures, candidates, policy stances, and endorsements.

Everyone else, like ChatGPT and Google, have been too scared of misinformation to make such a bold move. Perplexity is hoping to change that sentiment by being as accurate as possible. It’ll be interesting to see if they cause any mishaps. If they are successful, we may see other competitors dive into politics and elections as well.

💰 Apple is buying photo editing app Pixelmator. Pixelmator announced on Friday that it is being acquired by Apple, stating there would be “no material changes” to its Pixelmator Pro, Pixelmator for iOS, and Photomator apps—for now. Apple’s clearly trying to incorporate more AI into its imaging apps. I would love to see features similar to Adobe’s Firefly.

🥊 OpenAI releases Google competitor “ChatGPT Search”

What happened: OpenAI launches ChatGPT Search, an evolution of its SearchGPT prototype, aiming to provide “timely answers” by drawing from a range of online sources and directly challenging Google’s search capabilities. It’s basically a more accurate way of asking ChatGPT to search the web to answer something.

The details:

• Search is integrated into ChatGPT. All you have to do is click the little globe icon to use Search’s features. This includes the web version as well as the desktop/mobile apps.

• Users can refine searches with follow-up questions, and ChatGPT will decide when to search the web based on queries or allow manual activation via a new web search icon.

• OpenAI plans to integrate Search with their Advanced Voice mode soon.

• Responses include in-line and sidebar attributions to news publishers and data sources with which OpenAI has licensing agreements; for example, election-related queries direct users to sources like AP and Reuters.

• Initial access for ChatGPT Plus and Team users, with enterprise and educational customers to follow in the coming weeks, and free users thereafter.

• OpenAI also released a browser extension to make ChatGPT Search the default search engine in Chrome.

• Publishers are losing money because of AI-generated overviews like ChatGPT Search and Google’s own overviews. This is because the overviews give you an immediate answer, so no need to click on the site itself, reducing traffic to their sites, with studies suggesting a possible negative impact on about 25% of publisher traffic due to de-emphasis on article links. (I think it’ll be more.)

Why it matters: This is invaluable to ChatGPT users. Search has been making my answers significantly more accurate and easy to fact-check. Hopefully Advanced Voice mode makes good use of Search’s features. But I’m curious to see how publications will pivot to make a profit. Perhaps they’ll rely on licensing deals as their main source of income while web traffic decreases?

A problem like this could also threaten to turn the internet into a walled garden, which is the exact opposite outcome any free-thinking person should want.

🤖 Biden issues first AI security Memorandum

What happened: President Biden issues the first-ever National Security Memorandum (NSM) on AI, focusing on the U.S. approach to artificial intelligence from a national security perspective.

The details: 

• The NSM outlines three primary objectives: establishing U.S. leadership in safe AI development, leveraging AI technologies for national security, and fostering international governance frameworks to manage AI’s global impact.

• The memorandum designates the AI Safety Institute as the primary governmental point of contact for the AI industry, staffed with technical experts and maintaining close partnerships with national security agencies like the intelligence community, Department of Defense, and Department of Energy.

• There’s been a rise in hacking and security breaches thanks to AI. Melissa Ruzzi, Director of AI at AppOmni, noted that attackers are using AI for more complex attacks in social engineering and misinformation. Especially during elections.

• The NSM introduces the Framework to Advance AI Governance and Risk Management in National Security. It’s basically guidelines for implementing AI in national security applications.

  • This includes rigorous risk assessments and safeguards against privacy invasions, bias, discrimination, and human rights violations. (But the real crux will be how well this is executed. Until then it’s all talk. Humans are dicrimsitory, so discrimination will always be baked into AI in some form.)

• The memorandum reinforces support for democratizing AI research. Their plan to back the National AI Research Resource pilot program to extend AI capabilities beyond major tech firms.

• At the very least, this memorandum shows that the U.S. government is trying to prepare itself for the AI wave.

Takeaway: We’ll see if this bears any fruit, but even the National AI Advisory Committee, created to help counsel the government about AI, is mostly filled with the CEOs and execs of big tech/AI companies. Would such counsel suggest regulating themselves? I doubt it. So while AI security measures are incredibly important, I remain skeptical of anything done by the US government until shown otherwise.

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