Apple Intelligence: Heartless summaries and other problems
Apple's AI functions, which are available as of this week, are not perfect. You can see this, for example, in the automatic summaries that the AI creates.
Apple Intelligence logo and icon in wrong colors: The beta is not yet perfect.
(Image: Apple)
Apple Intelligence has been available to a wider public for the first time since Monday. With iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1 and macOS 15.1, Apple has released its AI system in a first expansion stage for iPhones (15 Pro, 15 Pro Max, all 16 models), iPads (from M1, A18 Pro) and Macs (from M1). The offer is strictly opt-in – so you do not have to activate it. Apple Intelligence is also explicitly described as a "beta" in the system. This is also evident in practice.
Switch on first
First of all, you have to get Apple Intelligence up and running on devices within the EU. This is not officially planned by Apple – until April 2025. However, there are tricks that you can use to get Apple Intelligence up and running now. The simplest method is to use a Mac. As the platform is not regulated by the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA), Apple has released its AI system here immediately. The only requirement is that the system is configured to US English. The region can remain in Germany, as can the Apple account (iCloud, App Store and media).
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It's slightly more difficult with iPhone and iPad. Here, the system must be set to US English and at least the Apple account for the App Store and media must be based in the USA – This must then be created(free of charge) if necessary. Once the requirements have been met, all you have to do is activate Apple Intelligence – with a single switch. As Apple only lets users in gradually, it can take a few minutes or, in the worst case, hours for the AI system to become active. Once you are "in", this is demonstrated by the start of a preparation process, which can also take a few minutes (usually) to hours (rarely). Apple's models are reloaded during this process.
Problems in practice
After activating Apple Intelligence, you quickly realize that it is a beta. The results of the writing tools, which are implemented system-wide, can be good, but sometimes misunderstand the most important points. Apple tries to circumvent the potential for hallucinations with suitable prompts, but – as every ChatGPT user should know – this is unfortunately sometimes wishful thinking. The image cleanup function Clean Up deletes unwanted areas most reliably if the background is not too complicated. Otherwise, strange artifacts occur. Siri is visually prettier, but hardly less comprehensible than before. You still end up on the web far too often when making a query. This should improve with iOS 18.2 and ChatGPT support, but the real new Siri won 't arrive before spring 2025.
Summaries are another stumbling block. Tests have shown that when Apple Intelligence is activated, notifications – such as those from Apple Home when a window is opened – may arrive later – interestingly, even when the summaries are actually deactivated. The summaries themselves are not always useful either, especially if the content to be summarized is more complex: A ten-page email simply cannot be broken down into three sentences without a lot of information falling by the wayside. There were also reports in the run-up to the release of iOS 18.1 that the summaries can sometimes be heartless. For example, the AI system had summarized iMessage messages from a user's girlfriend in which she ended the relationship with two sentences: "No longer in a relationship, wants her items from the apartment."
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