iPhone could get generative AI features with iOS 18; Know what?s likely coming

Artificial intelligence (AI) has taken the world by storm and nearly every sector is witnessing the adoption of this technology. Although Apple is considered one of the modern pioneers of the smartphone world, AI is one such key area where it has lost ground. While companies like Google are heavily incorporating this technology into their smartphones, the latest of which is the Google Pixel 8 series, Apple's iPhones have not undergone the AI revolution yet. However, this could soon change as reports claim Apple could finally bring generative AI to iOS 18.

iOS 18 to get AI

In his latest edition of the ‘Power On' newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported that Apple plans to bring generative AI to its smartphones starting with iOS 18, its next big OS update for the iPhone. The AI efforts are reportedly being led by two of its Senior Vice Presidents inside the Cupertino-based tech giant - John Giannandrea and Craig Federighi. Both the VPs are being termed as “executive sponsors” of the AI push, while Eddie Cue, Apple's head of Services, has also gotten involved.

While Giannandrea's team is working on developing an AI system and using Siri to implement it, Federighi's team is the one actively trying to incorporate generative AI features into iOS 18. The report further claims that this addition could enhance several of iOS' features, namely Siri, and Messages, where the apps could autocomplete sentences and even field questions.

As part of the efforts to make groundbreaking innovations in AI, Apple is reportedly looking to spend a staggering $1 billion a year on it.

Apple's LLM

Mark Gurman in July claimed that Apple was working on its own AI model. The heart of this large language model (LLM) work is a fresh framework called Ajax. The ChatGPT-like app, nicknamed "Apple GPT," is just one of the many possibilities that the Ajax framework can offer. The LLM project involves collaboration across various departments, such as software engineering, machine learning, and cloud engineering.

Reports further claim that the company has already developed an internal service similar to ChatGPT, which helps employees test new features, summarize text, and answer questions based on the data it has learned.