Technology
Danish Kapoor
Danish Kapoor

Siri will have more power over apps with iOS 18

Apple is planning a major artificial intelligence update for Siri. According to Bloomberg's news; This update will enable voice control of certain iPhone app features. The renewed Siri will be available as part of an update to be released for iOS 18 next year.

The update will allow Siri to analyze activity on the phone while automatically turning on Siri-controlled features. Initially, it will only be possible to use Siri to control features in applications made by Apple. However, the company plans to support “hundreds” of commands within its applications.

Siri can reportedly only process one command at a time. But Apple will eventually allow Siri to perform multiple tasks in a single request. For example, Siri could be asked to summarize a recorded meeting and then send it to a friend.

This is similar to what Samsung promised when it introduced Bixby in 2017, saying that “anything you can do with touch, you can also do with voice” in its apps. It's unclear exactly how the technology will work, but a recent demo from Microsoft showed how its GPT-4o-powered Copilot assistant could monitor the screen to do things like give tips on how to play Minecraft.

According to a report in Bloomberg last month, Apple will focus on meeting many artificial intelligence requests on the device. It can handle simpler commands on the iPhone while fetching more complex requests from the cloud. Rumors are also floating around that OpenAI has struck a deal with Apple and that Apple will increase the security of cloud processing using M2 Ultra chips with Secure Enclave, telling users that data processed remotely is just as secure as it is on their devices.

Siri will gain other abilities with iOS 18

This dovetails with multiple news stories we've seen over the past few weeks. While research articles indicate that Apple is preparing to overhaul Siri, AppleInsider's findings suggest that Apple may add the ability to analyze and summarize texts in Messages. The company is also reportedly planning to bring AI transcription to Voice Memos and Notes.

Although the new Siri is expected next year, it is not necessary to wait long to get the first information about iOS 18. Apple will reveal the new iOS version on June 10 as part of WWDC 2024.

Danish Kapoor