Apple switches Apple Intelligence on automatically in future
With iOS 18.3 and macOS 15.3, which are due in a few days, Apple takes a more aggressive approach to its new AI. It will be active without user intervention.
Apple Intelligence logo and icon: still optional.
(Image: Apple)
Apple Intelligence, as Apple calls its in-house AI support on macOS, iOS and iPadOS, is still only marked as a beta. This means that things can still go wrong in everyday use. Nevertheless, Apple has now decided to flip the main switch of the function, which the user previously had to activate, by default. This can be seen in the release notes for iOS 18.3, iPadOS 18.3 and macOS 15.3, which Apple published together with the release candidate version on Wednesday night. The updates should be released in the coming days, probably at the beginning of next week.
Opt-out instead of opt-in
“For users who are new to iOS 18.3 or have upgraded to iOS 18.3, Apple Intelligence is automatically activated during iPhone onboarding,” it says, for example, with similar wording for macOS 15.3. Previously, Apple Intelligence was only offered to users who could then activate it via a switch in the system settings. This main switch still exists, which is commendable, but you now have to turn it off if you don't want the service. The usual Apple Intelligence reloading processes for the local models (which incidentally cost storage space) still exist, but they are triggered automatically. They are necessary for the language model services (“Writing Tools”) as well as for the image generators (“Genmoji", “Image Playground”)
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In the future, users would have direct access to Apple Intelligence functions after setting up the device. “To disable Apple Intelligence, users must navigate to the 'Apple Intelligence & Siri' settings section and turn off the Apple Intelligence switch. This will disable the Apple Intelligence features on their device,” Apple added. The automatic start should encourage more users to try out Apple Intelligence. However, it does not appear to be intended that potentially problematic functions such as the summary of notifications will be active by default. Apple initially had to row back after various slip-ups and deactivated the feature for news apps to avoid AI fake news.
More Apple Intelligence on the Mac
With macOS 15.3, Mac users can also use the Genmoji function to generate their own AI-supported emojis for the first time, which was previously only released for mobile devices. Under iOS, the Visual Intelligence feature, which runs on iPhone 16, has also been improved. This allows you to capture data to enter it into the calendar, for example if you are aiming for a trade fair or concert poster.
Apple Intelligence is currently only available in English and the device must be set up accordingly. Within the EU, it is not expected to be released until April, together with a German language version.
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