Four months after announcing Apple Intelligence, the company's generative AI service is finally available to the public. The platform is scheduled to be released at an unspecified date next week as part of the public versions of iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1. Most rumors are that these operating system upgrades are expected to debut on Monday.
Portions of Apple Intelligence are available to users running developer beta versions of the aforementioned operating systems. These include integrated writing tools, image cleanup, article summaries, and typing input for a redesigned Siri experience.
Apple on Wednesday began rolling out developer versions of iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, and macOS Sequoia 15.2. These updates provide an additional list of Apple Intelligence updates, including Genmoji, Image Playground, Visual Intelligence, Image Wand, and ChatGPT integration.
There are only a limited number of devices that can perform generative AI functions, a fact that Apple considers hardware limitations. Apple Intelligence requires one of the following: iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, all iPhone 16 models, an iPad with the A17 Pro chip (including the new iPad Mini) or M1 or later, or an iPad with M1 or later. Mac.
After downloading a software update, users must opt in to use Apple Intelligence during setup or later in their settings. They are then placed on a “waiting list.” Most requests are completed within a few hours. The purpose of this list is essentially for Apple to get its servers in order, since certain queries require off-device processing.