We've all heard about Apple's focus on AI this year, but we've heard very little about how the technology would be implemented for end users.
A fresh report from AppleInsider may have given us our first look at how your iPhone could be able to put its new brain to use with iOS 18.
The outlet reports that Apple's LLM (Large Language Model), codenamed Ajax, will be utilized to summarise lengthy messages, detecting "all available relevant information" such as the sender, references to other people, companies, locations and more.
“For instance, if a name appears at the top of a text, the software will likely recognize the name as belonging to the text’s author,” AppleInsider reports, suggesting it can pull data from Safari and Messages, but also with the potential to read digital documents.
What's new?
If you've ever had to read an essay of text from a friend, this is likely to be helpful - but it's hardly unprecedented.
While it's likely Apple would look to try and process this summarization on device given their research in the field, other apps already offer AI summarization.
Spark Mail, an app I use regularly on iOS, has a very impressive AI summarization tool that was added last year which can swiftly summarize entire threads of emails.
Still, that relies on sending data off-device, something Apple is unlikely to want to do with something as locked down as Messages.
This report also follows Apple's financial results for Q2 where Tim Cook mentioned that the company has "advantages that will differentiate" its AI push.
Would you use an AI summary feature for your messages? I can definitely think of a few group chats that would be prime candidates.
