It was only earlier this week that we got our first report on Apple’s AI features coming to iOS 18, and now, a new report details exactly how we can expect these features to work and which apps are benefitting most from AI enhancements.
AppleInsider reports that Apple refers to the new suite of AI-powered features as Project Greymatter and is integrating these features with system apps like Siri, Notes, and Messages. An unnamed source revealed that the company has been internally testing a variety of AI tools ahead of WWDC next month and the iPhone 16 launch a little further down the line.
According to the leak, Apple has internally named the previously leaked notification summarization feature Greymatter Catch Up. It’s integrated with Siri, so essentially, you’ll be able to ask the virtual assistant to catch you up on missed notifications and see a concise summarization of recent activity.
That won’t be the only improvement to Siri, though. The virtual assistant will also be getting a new “smart response framework” that works in tandem with Apple’s on-device LLM. This means that Siri is going to be much more contextually aware, and can factor in people, locations, companies, and dates when generating a reply. Apple has also been working on implementing more natural-sounding voices and better cross-device media controls.
Apple’s image editing tools are in for some big upgrades, too. A new feature called Clean Up allows users to remove objects and people from photos, and use generative AI to fill in the gaps, a lot like Google’s Magic Eraser. Apple has also been testing a feature that it calls Generative Playground, which allows you to create images from text prompts like OpenAI’s Dall-E.
Apple’s Notes app is getting a summarization feature, as well as live transcription for Voice Notes. There’s also something called Math Notes, which adds support for mathematical equations and can even help you solve them. In addition, the company is working on a kind of predictive-text feature that can autocomplete mathematical equations. It’s not something I’ve ever needed, but I’m sure people smarter than me are psyched to try it out.
It sounds like iOS 18 is going to be the biggest upgrade in a while, and we’re looking forward to learning more at WWDC in a few weeks. In the meantime, check out our guide to the best iPhone 15 Pro Max cases to keep your device safe until the big OS upgrade arrives.