Finally! Apple's WWDC released a blockbuster new product: AI tricks to make the Android brand stupid

Ray Technology

2024-06-11 04:35Posted in Guangdong science and technology creators

In the early morning of June 11, Beijing time, the WWDC24 keynote speech officially opened. As a rule, every year at WWDC, Apple brings a number of new software and hardware products.

The special feature of WWDC24 is that no new hardware products have been released this year (the Chinese version of Vision Pro will go on sale at the end of the month), and at the same time, in addition to the routine updates of major systems, it has shown its AI big move - Apple Intelligence (Apple Intelligence).

(Source: Apple)

Apple's AI big move: security and privacy

Apple Intelligence can be regarded as Apple's AI product, which provides a variety of AI functions for a series of hardware products such as iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and is closely integrated with iOS, macOS and other systems. Therefore, Apple Intelligence is not a stand-alone app or feature, but a package solution.

According to Apple's official statement, Apple Intelligence is based on a built-in large model and adopts the popular device-cloud combination model.

Specifically, when dealing with general tasks involving AI, if the local computing power can meet the demand, then the generation is directly run through the device-side model to solve the user's needs.

However, if the local computing power is not enough, then Apple Intelligence will complete the AI task through a cloud server. Apple has repeatedly emphasized the importance of user privacy and security at WWDC24, and if Apple's cloud AI also adopts the current common approach, the security advantages of Apple Intelligence will be erased.

To do this, Apple has adopted a very special form. The cloud server built by Apple Intelligence uses Apple's own chips and is programmed in the Swift language, and the code of the server is reviewed by third-party experts. At the same time, Apple promises that the data uploaded by users will not be stored on the server, and the user's privacy will not be recorded and known by Apple.

(Source: Apple)

Of course, if you want to use local computing power to bear most of the AI needs, then you need chips with excellent AI performance. WWDC24, Apple announced the chip requirements for supporting Apple Intelligence end-side computing, and the iPhone side currently only supports the A17 Pro chip, which means that only the latest Apple mobile phones iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max meet the requirements; The oldest chip supported by PC and iPad is M1, which basically covers all Apple PC ARM chips, and Apple Mac products and iPad Pro/Air in recent years can basically support it.

(Source: Apple)

Now, Apple Intelligence is more tied to hardware than system version, and the old iPhone is limited by the drag of chip performance, and even if it is upgraded to the latest system, the AI experience will definitely be greatly reduced.

But one thing to say, Apple Intelligence's device-side-based, cloud-supplemented model, as well as a special cloud server deployment method, are indeed very in line with Apple's consistent persona that attaches importance to privacy and security. To a large extent, this can greatly reduce some users' concerns about privacy leakage of AI products, thus becoming another competitive advantage of Apple's products in the future.

The core strength of Apple Intelligence: the experience

In fact, through just one WWDC presentation, we still can't get into the technical details behind Apple Intelligence. For example, the outside world does not know whether the large model built into Apple Intelligence is a technological achievement developed by Apple itself, or an external purchase product that was previously revealed by the outside world.

But in any case, through Apple's detailed demonstration at WWDC, we have a preliminary understanding of what role Apple Intelligence can play on Apple devices, and what kind of experience improvements users will get when using them on a daily basis.

According to Apple, Apple Intelligence is able to fully understand all the data and information in the device, including photos, emails, messages, etc. Based on this, Apple Intelligence can sense the needs of the user in the current situation and provide the right help.

First of all, Apple's language assistant Siri has become more powerful, with the help of Apple Intelligence, its capabilities in all aspects have been greatly enhanced, and it can open up different apps. Apple demonstrated a feature at WWDC: when a user fills in a driver's license number, it calls out Siri directly, and it will find a photo with a driver's license number taken before in the Photos app, automatically identify and extract the driver's license number, and automatically complete the filling for the user.

(Source: Apple)

To achieve this, Apple Intelligence needs to do a few things: it senses the user's need to fill in the driver's license number at the moment, recognizes the driver's license photo in the Photos app, and combines these information to determine and meet the user's needs.

In addition, the functions such as text summarization and text generation that we are already familiar with can also be realized by Apple Intelligence. However, it is special in that users do not need to open a special app or URL, and can call up this function directly from the text editing interface. For example, when writing an email, selecting Chinese characters in the edit box can invoke system-level AI-related functions, and the generated text will be directly filled in the edit box.

(Source: Apple)

This saves users the hassle of copying and pasting back and forth in separate AI tools, and the AI capabilities that Apple Intelligence brings are ubiquitous and integrated into every corner of Apple's system.

At WWDC24, Apple also demonstrated a number of interesting AI features, which are listed here:

Genmoji Pack: Customize personalized stickers freely through the user's text description, such as generating a photo with a friend's profile picture style.

Image Playground: There are three types of images: animated pictures, illustrations, and sketches.

Image Wand: You can convert sketches into high-quality finished images, and support image erasing and erase photo backgrounds.

Call Recording: iPhone finally supports this feature and can convert calls to text.

(Source: Apple)

Overall, the AI functions brought by Apple Intelligence are basically not particularly novel, and their presentation forms and usage scenarios are naturally not new to those of us who have seen all kinds of AI tools. But for Apple users, the deployment of Apple Intelligence means that they can also eat a rich and comprehensive AI feast when using all kinds of Apple devices.

How many points should be given for Apple's AI answers?

Frankly speaking, the keynote speech at WWDC24 did not bring many surprises to Xiaolei. The first half of this conference is still a step-by-step update of the major systems,The so-called new features are basically lackluster,When Xiaolei saw iOS 18Custom arrangement of icons、App lock and other antique functions in the domestic custom system were blown up,I was extremely disappointed。

The absolute protagonist of WWDC24 is, of course, Apple Intelligence, after all, this is Apple's first official AI answer sheet. In the previous wave of AI, Apple looked like an outsider, and when Android brands have made efforts on AI phones, Apple has been thrown behind. Towards the end of the WWDC24 keynote speech, Apple revealed its cooperation with ChatGPT in the field of AI, which can be seen to a certain extent the inherent deficiencies of Apple's basic AI skills.

So, when Apple, as a catch-up, unveiled Apple Intelligence, it was hard for us to feel a sense of surprise from the bottom of our hearts. After all, a series of functions such as text summarization, image generation, photo search, and AI intelligent assistant have all been seen in Android machines or specialized large-scale model apps before. In the final analysis, Apple's various AI functions based on Apple Intelligence are not innovative.

However, through the content demonstrated at WWDC24, Xiaolei still deeply felt the experience advantages of Apple Intelligence.

Apple started with a closed system, and in the past decade or so, it has integrated the systems of iOS, macOS, iPadOS and other different devices, maintaining the advantages of combining software and hardware, and has absolute control over every corner of its own system ecology.

(Source: Apple)

As a result, Apple Intelligence can appear in every detail of Apple's system and be integrated with existing apps or features, allowing users to use the capabilities of AI to improve their experience in a more imperceptible and natural way.

In this regard, Android brands are more likely to feel a sense of powerlessness, to promote end-side AI, they need the support of chip manufacturers, to stuff AI into the system, they need to deeply customize the Android system, and they cannot integrate the PC with it after completing the AI of mobile phones. Providing users with a unified and comprehensive AI experience across different form factors may only be possible with Apple at the moment.

However, in Xiaolei's view, any AI-related concept, no matter how beautiful the vision is told, is the most important thing for users to be able to implement practical functions and practical improvements in experience. And the AI answer sheet of Apple Intelligence handed over by Apple, how many points can be obtained in the end, it still depends on its full implementation and the actual experience of users before a conclusion can be drawn.

In addition, Lei Technology will bring the measured content of Apple Intelligence in the future, so stay tuned if you are interested.

From May 20th to June 30th, 2024, the 618 mid-year promotion is coming, and the six major e-commerce platforms of Taobao Tmall, JD.com, Pinduoduo, Douyin, Kuaishou, and Xiaohongshu will collectively "listen to persuasion", cancel pre-sales, and bargain wildly!

Popular AI hard technology categories such as mobile phone digital, AI PC, smart home appliances, TVs, small household appliances, and air ice washing are gearing up and the battle is fierce.

Lei Technology 618 report team will pay attention to the latest situation of the e-commerce platform, the latest developments of AI hard technology brands, and the new trend of the e-commerce industry.

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