Every year, tech companies strive to bring about 'the next big thing' in technology that changes how we use our gadgets.
This time though might mean using our voices more and our fingers less.
By that I mean, Siri is set to get a big AI upgrade in iOS 18. Meaning users open apps with a single word or can even ask the voice assistant to book an Uber.
We'll learn the full extent of Apple’s AI upgrades in iOS 18 at WWDC 2024 on June 10, but it looks like the tech giant is going all out with its digital assistant and AI functions.
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According to Bloomberg, Apple’s planned upgrades for Siri will deeply integrate with built-in functions and installed apps at the OS core.
'The new system will allow Siri to take command of all the features within apps for the first time,' the report said.
Siri will only need voice prompts to interact with apps, thanks to a significant change in its AI programming - one that is also found in other chatbots such as Google's Gemini or OpenAI's ChatGPT.
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Apple’s main focus is letting Siri control iPhone and iPad apps - a feature that has seriously lagged behind Google Assistant on Android.
With the next-gen Siri, users will be able to open documents, move notes between folders, email web links, or access specific parts of the Apple News app.
Initially, Siri will handle single natural language commands.
But later down the line, Apple will enhance it to process a series of multistep voice prompts.
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This is good news in a way that all the features won't be rolled out at once, giving us something to look forward to in each iOS update.
This type of user experience would be one of Apple's biggest tech upgrades in recent years and would be praised among its millions of users.
Siri would reportedly have the capability to edit pictures, send them to a contact or condense notes into an email - all with a single voice prompt.
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'The new system will go further, using AI to analyse what people are doing on their devices and automatically enable Siri-controlled features,' the Bloomberg report added.
Furthermore, Apple has AI improvements planned for iOS 18 beyond Siri.
For instance, they will shift most of the AI processing to the iPhone’s hardware, with only a small part relying on the cloud.