one year on
Apple unveils Apple Intelligence, a generative AI system for iPhone, iPad and Mac, with ChatGPT integration
At WWDC, the company stakes its claim in the AI race with on-device models, a privacy-focused cloud compute architecture, and a partnership with OpenAI.
Apple today introduced Apple Intelligence, a personal intelligence system for iPhone, iPad, and Mac that combines on-device generative models with a new privacy-focused cloud computing architecture called Private Cloud Compute. The system, announced at WWDC 2024, integrates deeply into iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia, offering systemwide Writing Tools, a redesigned Siri with text input, image generation via Image Playground, and custom emoji creation through Genmoji. Siri gains onscreen awareness and the ability to take hundreds of actions across first- and third-party apps.
In a move that positions Apple as a consumer AI gateway, the company is integrating ChatGPT access into Siri and Writing Tools, powered by GPT-4o. Users will be able to invoke OpenAI’s model without an account, with privacy protections that obscure IP addresses and prevent storage of requests. Apple Intelligence will be available in beta this fall in U.S. English, limited to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, and iPad and Mac with M1 or later chips — leaving the standard iPhone 15 out of the AI upgrade cycle.
The record
One year later — open only if you can handle spoilers
Apple Intelligence became a tentpole feature for Apple’s ecosystem over the following year, though its rollout was staggered and initially limited to English, with broader language support arriving through 2025. The Musk threat never materialized into a formal ban, but the episode highlighted the deepening rivalry between Musk and OpenAI, as xAI’s Grok struggled to gain enterprise traction. The ChatGPT partnership also paved the way for future third-party model integrations, with Google Gemini later added in 2025.