By Dan Moren
July 31, 2024 2:13 PM PT
The Back Page: The Apple Intelligence features still to come
The launch of iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1 betas this week brought with it our first look at Apple Intelligence, the suite of AI-powered features that promises to redefine the way we interact with our devices.
But those features aren’t all coming in one big drop: rather, Apple has elected to issue them in dribs and drabs, like a stream of ice cream rolling down a toddler’s chin. Which means that though we may now get to try out exciting things like Siri’s ability to understand you even when you trip over your own words or summaries of mail messages that are themselves longer than the original, we’re going to have to wait longer for some of the more compelling features to come later this year—or perhaps even next. The good news is I’ve got a preview of some of the most anticipated Apple Intelligence features still waiting in the wings.
Image clean-up: Sure, anybody can take an unwanted person or stray power line out of a photo—we’re looking at you, Google—but what about when you want to add in that one family member who couldn’t make it? Or when you need to convince your friends that you really do have a partner who goes to school in Canada? That’s where the new image generation tools really shine, eh?
AI-generated crossword puzzles: Apple News+ has only recently added puzzles, but frankly, sometimes you just go through them too quickly. Which is why you’ll now have the option to play infinite crosswords generated by AI.1 Although you’ll only really need one after you spend several hours just trying to figure out a six-letter word for a flightless bird.2
Apple Pay credit card roulette: Yes, Apple Pay can already generate different numbers every single time you use it for security, but this new machine learning features takes it even further by randomly generating a card number belonging to someone else in your contacts. Just don’t ask which credit card number they’re using.
Non-tifications: Yes, Apple’s trying to apply machine learning to notifications by alerting you to priority messages and reducing interruptions from those that might not be as important. But a new feature takes that even further by simply burying notifications, sometimes because you simply should never see them in the first place—like that late-night text from your ex—and other times because, in a page borrowed from iCloud’s invisible spam filters, it just doesn’t feel like delivering them. Like that notification that your account has been compromised or that you’ve finally been selected to go on Jeopardy! Consider it a stress reduction feature: why worry about something that you’ll never know about?
Wicked good Siri: While Apple’s tried to represent a diverse group of accents and pronunciations for Siri, its latest version will finally capture that elusive but iconic accent: Bostonian. Not only will it be able to inform you, thanks to integration with Apple Maps, that parking your car in Harvard Yard is likely to result in a ticket, but also exactly how much it does, in fact, like these apples. Just don’t go the wrong way in the rotary or cut in line at the bubbler, ya jamoke.
[Dan Moren is the East Coast Bureau Chief of Six Colors, as well as an author, podcaster, and two-time Jeopardy! champion. You can find him on Mastodon at @dmoren@zeppelin.flights or reach him by email at dan@sixcolors.com. His next novel, the sci-fi adventure Eternity's Tomb, will be released in November 2026.]