I Thought Apple’s AI Was Pointless, But I Was Dead Wrong!

Apple Intelligence faced significant criticism when it was launched, and rightfully so. After nearly a year of use, it’s time to revisit some of its features that have turned out to be quite useful after all.

I was among the first to harshly critique Apple Intelligence upon its debut. The product failed to live up to its promises. Some features that were heavily advertised on TV are still not available, forcing Apple to pull those commercials. With delays, reliability issues, and various controversies, Apple’s AI had a disappointing launch.

However, Apple Intelligence did introduce some interesting and useful features for everyday use.

First off, it’s important to note that Apple Intelligence is only available on recent hardware. For Macs, a minimum of 16 GB of RAM is required. For iPhones, only the latest models are compatible, again due to insufficient RAM, a stinginess for which Tim Cook can be thanked.

Moreover, if your device is compatible, don’t forget to activate Apple Intelligence. Go to Settings > Apple Intelligence and Siri.

ChatGPT to the Rescue

A major innovation with Apple Intelligence is that Apple has finally acknowledged Siri’s subpar quality by allowing you to use ChatGPT. Since Apple Intelligence was introduced, I have completely stopped using Siri in favor of ChatGPT.

To activate ChatGPT, go to the same settings menu: Settings > Apple Intelligence and Siri. In the Extensions section, click on ChatGPT to check Use ChatGPT. Also consider unchecking Confirm ChatGPT Requests for smoother and faster integration. Indeed, Siri won’t ask for confirmation every time it uses ChatGPT.

Now, when a request is too complex for Siri, which is often, the assistant can switch to ChatGPT. Or, you can do what I do and directly request ChatGPT’s help by starting your question with Siri, ask ChatGPT to… This way, I no longer use Siri directly. In fact, Apple’s assistant fails more often than it succeeds in answering my questions, unlike ChatGPT.

Writing to Siri

I don’t like talking to Siri. I prefer interacting with AIs through writing. On the Mac, you can directly summon Siri in a text field. Know that on the iPhone, you can also do this by double tapping on the bar at the bottom of the iPhone. This will open a text field for you to write to Siri.

Siri Assisting with Your Device

You can ask Siri to help you perform tasks on your devices. For instance, you can inquire how to change the wallpaper on your iPhone.

I found myself embarrassed when I went to the post office with a package that required the postal worker to scan a QR code on my phone. However, my phone was in dark mode, which apparently makes it very difficult to scan QR codes. I was then asked to switch to light mode, but I had no idea where that setting was.

It would have been simpler to just ask Siri, who could have immediately shown me the feature.

Currently, this functionality isn’t very extensive, and Siri often responds that it can’t perform the task or directs you to a Google search. Nonetheless, it is quite useful and convenient as it stands.

Summarizing Web Pages and Emails

Apple Intelligence has implemented many text-related tools. One such tool is the ability to summarize content from, for example, a webpage or an email. In the Mail app, there is a button, not very prominent, that allows you to summarize a long email.

If you click it, a brief summary of a few lines appears at the top of the email.

To summarize web pages, use Safari. Click the button to the left of the address bar and select Reader View. The article will then appear without distractions, and you will have the option to ask Apple Intelligence to summarize it.

Writing Tools

Beyond summarization, Apple Intelligence has introduced features to help you write. These tools are available almost everywhere. Simply find the Apple Intelligence icon in your software interface or right-click on text and find Writing Tools.

You can ask ChatGPT to write for you. Be wary of issues related to the accuracy of what is generated. Generally, these LLM-type AIs should not be used in this manner.

Rewriting

However, rewriting tools are more useful. I often use them myself. Sometimes, due to fatigue, I struggle to find synonyms and end up using the same term multiple times in a sentence, which I want to avoid. I then ask an AI to rewrite my text to eliminate repetitions. You can also ask to adjust the tone of your text, making it more casual or more professional. You can also ask Apple Intelligence to make your text more concise.

Lastly, you can let Apple Intelligence proofread a text, create a summary, extract key points, make a list of important things, or create a corresponding table.

It’s important to note that all these writing aids are performed locally; nothing leaves your iPhone/Mac to go to external services (except when asking ChatGPT to draft a text for us). However, the quality suffers as a result. The outcomes are less satisfying than similar requests made to ChatGPT or another AI.

Photo Editing

In the Photos app, it is possible to remove elements from an image. Unfortunately, this is one of the features that does not work well, especially when compared to competitors.

I am actually surprised that Apple advertises it.

Advertising, incidentally, that I find rather poor. And note that the example used is the simplest, with a uniform background and an object to remove, the cat, with well-defined edges.

You can see in my example that the results are less convincing.

However, it’s worth trying because, in some cases, it can help you get a better photo. Still, I encourage you to try other, more effective tools.

Smart Search in Photos

Search in photos has become much more powerful with Apple Intelligence. For example, did you know that you can search for laughter or applause? Not only will it show you corresponding photos, but also videos. You can conduct searches on sports, like tennis or football for example. Finally, it’s possible to chain terms in a sentence like “Rémi playing tennis in a blue t-shirt.”

Generally, these searches don’t work very well but it’s worth mentioning and sometimes I am pleasantly surprised. Searching for red car or castle returns interesting results for example.

Visual Intelligence

Visual Intelligence is Apple’s answer to Google Lens and Circle to Search. The principle is simple: show something to the iPhone using the camera, and Visual Intelligence allows you to ask questions about what is shown or perform a related search.

This can be very handy for finding a product online or asking for a recipe based on ingredients. The fact that Visual Intelligence uses ChatGPT instead of Siri is quite telling of Cupertino’s lag in this area. Visual Intelligence also enables text translation, which is handy when abroad for quickly translating a menu in a restaurant…

And you, which features of Apple Intelligence do you use?