AI isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, whether you love it or hate it. Google, Samsung and Apple have all fully embraced the AI future. Apple Intelligence was released in October, but it was not available until September when the iPhone 16 launched. Apple’s staggered release schedule of Apple Intelligence left many consumers confused as to why Apple Intelligence was not included with their iPhone 16 purchase. It felt like a huge misstep on Apple’s part.
Now that we have all had access for the last few month of 2024 to Apple Intelligence, I must say that it hasn’t made as much of an impact on my iPhone use as I originally thought.
Apple’s AI: What it got right
The Clean Up tool is very useful when I need it. I’ve always found it annoying that iOS users had to download a third-party app to remove objects before iOS 18. These apps are usually hidden behind a paywall. Google has been offering the Magic Eraser since the Pixel 6 line, while Samsung offers its own Object Eraser. Apple users were left behind until iOS 18.
Although I don’t need to use Clean up every time I share a picture, it is very useful when an image requires a little touch-up. Clean Up is great at removing trash from the ground, powerlines from a beautiful sky backdrop, small scuffs, and other imperfections. It can also remove strangers who pass by.
Previously, if I needed to edit a photo to remove something, I’d have to do it in Google Photos on my iPhone 16 Pro or even use my Pixel 9 Pro. But now that Clean Up is available, I no longer have to juggle various apps or phones to get the job done.
Another Apple Intelligence tool that I like is Visual Intelligence. This feature is exclusive to the iPhone 16 line as it requires the Camera Control button, and for me, it has made the button worth using.
This isn’t a feature I use dozens of times every day, but I have encountered some situations where it is convenient. For example, identifying plants or animals and translating text. I’m surprised it took Apple this long to integrate such a feature, as it’s just like Google Lens.
What Apple got wrong
I was excited to check out more Apple Intelligence features when I got the iOS 18.2 update on my iPhone 16 Pro. But aside from what I’ve already mentioned, the rest isn’t as exciting.
I already hate AI art in general, so I wasn’t too thrilled about Image Playground. However, since it’s a new feature, I had to try it at least once. I tried to get Apple Intelligence to generate an AI image of me, in various scenarios, to perhaps share on social media. But every result I got did not look good to me, and I felt it had no actual resemblance to my image.
It kept giving me odd-looking teeth in my smiles, hair that looked nothing like what I had, and other imperfections. I wasn’t expecting a perfect picture, but I was hoping I would get something that would be decent enough to share online — dozens of tries, and I wasn’t happy with any of them. I suppose my appearance doesn’t work with Apple’s AI art style? Whatever the reason is, my experience with it hasn’t been positive.
Genmoji, on the other hand, is pretty fun to use. I often send emojis in my chats, so creating some unique ones that I can’t get with the regular emojis is fun to mess with. And the fact that they show up in your “recently used” emoji can mean fast access in the future.
I also feel similarly to the AI tools for text, though summarization is nifty even if I don’t use it much. As a writer myself and someone who enjoys writing in general, I’m not a big fan of any AI writing tool. Plus, if you have your own writing style, the AI-generated text will look out of place anyway, as it usually tries too hard, especially the professional tone.
And while Siri got a little smarter with iOS 18, it still is not good. It still doesn’t seem to be able to handle multi-modal requests, so hopefully, that comes sooner rather than later. But even with some basic things, Siri gets confused easily. Compared to the competition, there is still a way to go. Adding ChatGPT support was a good idea, though.
Much ado about nothing
In the end, I think Apple’s staggered rollout of Apple Intelligence did more harm than good. A lot of people bought the new iPhone 16 devices because they wanted these AI features, which Apple marketed heavily in the stores, but it didn’t even launch with the devices. So everyone, myself included, continued to use the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro like their predecessors.
A month after the launch of the iPhone 16, Apple finally started to roll out Apple Intelligence, but not all of the features, just a few of them. We only got Clean Up, Writing Tools, Summarization, priority messages in Mail, and slightly improved Siri in iOS 18.1 in October. With iOS 18.2 in December, we finally got Image Playground, Genmoji, Visual Intelligence, and ChatGPT integration.
This is a slow rollout of AI features that Apple’s biggest competitors have already offered for months. And at this point, aside from a few cool tools, it just feels like Apple Intelligence is already losing its luster. Apple Intelligence hasn’t affected my overall use of the iPhone 16 Pro, as I’m still primarily using it like my iPhone 15 Pro from a year ago. That’s not a bad thing for me, but it’s also not a great look for Apple Intelligence’s future.