iOS 18 Reportedly Won't Feature Apple's Own ChatGPT-Like Chatbot

[MacRumors]

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today reported that Apple is not planning to debut its own generative AI chatbot with its next major software updates, including iOS 18 for the iPhone. Instead, he reiterated that Apple has held discussions with companies such as Google, OpenAI, and Baidu about potential generative AI partnerships.

Recent reports indicated that Apple has considered licensing existing chatbots, such as Google's Gemini and OpenAI's ChatGPT, but Apple offering its own chatbot of some kind on iOS 18 had not been explicitly ruled out until now.

Gurman still expects AI to be a major focus at Apple's just-announced WWDC 2024 developers conference. He reiterated that Apple plans to announce new AI features that "assist users in their daily lives," but he did not provide any specific details. He has previously reported that generative AI will improve Siri's ability to answer more complex questions, and allow the Messages app to auto-complete sentences. Other apps like Apple Music, Shortcuts, Pages, Numbers, and Keynote are also expected to gain generative AI functionality.

Apple already promised that the company would share generative AI announcements later this year, and the company hinted at it again today. WWDC 2024 runs from June 10 through June 14, with video sessions to be shared on YouTube for the first time.

The first iOS 18 beta should be made available to developers following the WWDC keynote, and the update is expected to be released to all users in September.

Article Link: iOS 18 Reportedly Won't Feature Apple's Own ChatGPT-Like Chatbot

 

[Think|Different]

Good? Who really expected this? Not their style, tbh.

 

[Joseph C]

Hopefully it will anonymise requests using some form of differential privacy, or it's going to be a significant break from Apple's privacy stance.

 

[antiprotest]

Aww, that's a shame. Are they working on AppleGPT though?

Baidu. That's iPhone.

 

[iBreatheApple]

Disappointing… I have been hoping for a better Siri for what feels like more than a decade.

Edit: Don’t need a chatbot, but do highly desire a Siri that’s light years ahead of the current one that’s been stagnant in feature growth since its inception.

 

[PeterKeller]

Sounds like they were caught flat footed on this one.

 

[ReliableSource]

I couldn’t care less about having a chatbot, but I would welcome Siri getting better at understanding what I’m asking for and being able to actually remember context. Asking for specific music is such a chore when artists spell their names or song/album titles weird, have live versions, etc.

 

[TJ82]

Quelle surprise! 😹

 

[JPack]

Apple is a couple years behind the leaders. They are literally starting to buy server hardware this year, so any kind of in-house chatbot or real integration is out of the question or would end up like iOS 6 Maps. The real question is if Apple can catch up by WWDC ‘26.

 

[WhackyNinja]

Mark “Harsh Reality Check” Gurman at it again

 

[ipedro]

To anyone who’s used chatGPT in voice mode, it becomes apparent the yet unrealized potential of Siri that was introduced a decade ago. You can have a casual, natural language conversation with a human-like assistant with access to all the information of the internet at your own pace. It’s extremely powerful but chatGPt doesn’t have access to your Apple apps like your calendar, to do list, contacts, etc. Having something like this embedded within iOS is going to be transformational.

I once had an hours long session planning a complex trip with several stops and many different possibilities. I left chatGPT open on my kitchen table and just spoke normally when ideas came to me without having to prompt it:
“how about Lisbon?”.
ChatGPT: “Lisbon is in your travel route but it’ll be colder that time of the year.”

It remembered our entire conversation, what preferences I had settled on (wanted it to be warm) and by the end of the session, I had my entire trip planned, without once going on a single website.

I’d like to see how Apple implements privacy as I wouldn’t want Google through Gemini to have access to my Apple ecosystem data.

 

[akac]

It's not shocking at all that Apple would not want to open up to just everyone a "Generative AI chatbot" because you can't really control what info it's going to provide and that's just not Apple. It's too risky. You don't want a chatbot that's not 100% in Apple's control to provide text that could get people in trouble - or Apple in trouble.

I 100% expect iOS 18 to provide a ton of generative capabilities - like suggestions to write/design/create things, but just not a chat.

 

[Apple Mac Daz]

Good Apple would throw millions at it then cancel it

 

[dgdosen]

I can imagine some exec gleefully burning bridges with Nvidia... "We'll be building our own graphics with Apple Silicon. We'll never have to work with Nvidia again!"

 

[xmarcuswildx]

Can we just have a Siri that works?

 

[Bustycat]

Apple will reinvent Siri the most beloved chatbot ever.

 

[mooger83]

Apple has become complacent. Licensing Gemini is pathetic.

 

[toobravetosave]

Apple will reinvent Siri the most beloved chatbot ever.

they seem to regret inventing it in the first place

 

[rb24]

Hopefully it will anonymise requests using some form of differential privacy, or it's going to be a significant break from Apple's privacy stance.

If apple just anonomyses the use of another service (no phone number communicated) already that would be a FEATURE and a WIN.

btw. I've still no idea what I'm gonna use AI for on my phone but if it could only do Siri tasks reliably enough to be useable that would be a WIN too.

 

[NOATAK]

Well, hopefully, the ability to freely move apps on the home screen won't be the only highlight of the new update. 🤣 Siri is in dire need of an overhaul...

 

[contacos]

Isn’t Siri basically a ChatBot that sucks? How can they push AI and continue to offer half assed Siri at the same time unless they discontinue it all together and integrate a 3rd party solution instead.

Otherwise Siri will just continue to be the running joke of their AI offerings even though new features may actually be good

 

[appleCakes]

Does anyone know anything positive about this bozo?

Apple Leadership - John Giannandrea

John Giannandrea is Apple’s senior vice president of Machine Learning and AI Strategy and a member of Apple’s executive team. Learn more about John.

www.apple.com

 

[Unregistered 4U]

I can imagine some exec gleefully burning bridges with Nvidia... "We'll be building our own graphics with Apple Silicon. We'll never have to work with Nvidia again!"

Not a bad call, there, though. Nvidia still hasn’t presented anything that performs as well as Apple’s solution at the same or lower power envelope. For that matter, neither has Intel. Even Qualcomm’s claims of performing better comes with a larger power draw.

 

[Surf Monkey]

They’re specifically saying they’re not making a GPT chat-bot. There are a number of ways to read that. The optimistic read is that they have a more useful and interesting implementation of AI on iPhone. A smarter, more capable Siri does not have to be a chat-bot to be vastly better.

 

[nfl46]

Shocking. Apple was behind the curve.