Greetings from Bangkok. This morning, I'm going to face off against Dr. Ayesha Khanna in "The Great AI Debate," moderated by AppsFlyer's Jen Barratt. I'm not sure which side of the various issues I'll get to argue… this is going to be fun! BTW, did I mention it rains here? Not all day long… just when I'm outside.
In the news: Siri is about to be reborn, courtesy of Apple Intelligence – a partnership with OpenAI and iOS18. You'll be able to speak (or text) directly with a multimodal version of ChatGPT. Users will also be able to include images or documents in their queries, allowing Siri to identify objects or answer questions related to files. You won't need a ChatGPT account, but you will need to grant Siri access to the service.
The part I truly love is that Siri’s context awareness will allow it to retrieve personalized information (such as specific emails or text messages) and take actions based on what's displayed on your device (like adding a new address to a contact card or opening a suggested TV show on Apple TV+). This cross-app functionality is the behavior-changing magic of Apple Intelligence. "Hey Siri, enhance this photo then text it to my mom" is going to be way faster than opening an image, editing it, saving it to photos, opening Messages, finding mom's number, then texting. Sure, you can create shortcuts for lots of this stuff, but now you won't have to.
In the demo I saw, you can stumble over your words (like I always do) and Siri is supposed to still be able to understand you. I haven't tried it yet, but the demo showed something like: “Siri, set an alarm for, oh wait no, set a timer for 10 minutes. Actually, make that five.” Siri/ChatGPT will get it right. If it works as advertised, this will save me all kinds of time.
We'll learn much more about this on Monday (Sept. 9) when Apple hosts the big reveal. I usually say something like, "This is early days" or "This is the worst the product will ever be," but in this case, Siri has sucked for years. No matter what Apple does next week, Siri is going to be better.
Having said that, the most important thing to understand is that iOS 18 is the first AI interface in history to automatically use your private data to assist you. For as long as it has been an issue, Apple's mantra has been "privacy first." The company claims that our data is ours, and that even they cannot access it without our password or biometric permission. If this is true (and I believe it is*), Apple is about to give hundreds of millions of iOS 18 users an up close and personal view of their AI-assisted future.
As always your thoughts and comments are both welcome and encouraged. Just reply to this email. -s
P.S. If you're wondering how AI can be used with private or proprietary data to increase productivity, consider taking our free online course, . It will help you jumpstart your AI journey.
*Let's debate whether Tim Cook actually protects personal data on our Apple devices. Apple knows how many times my heart beats and everything I've ever done on an iOS device since the inception of iOS. Is Apple Intelligence safe to use? While we're debating, please ask the same questions about all of the Magnificent 7.
ABOUT SHELLY PALMER
Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with technology, media and marketing. Named he covers tech and business for , is a regular commentator on CNN and writes a popular . He's a , and the creator of the popular, free online course, . Follow or visit .
