Link Roundup: June 10, 2024
June 10, 2024
Here are a few links I found interesting this week. Following a technique I noticed on Tom Johnson’s blog (as well as the theme of the articles), I use AI tools to help provide summaries and then offer some thoughts of my own.
Apple, “Introducing Apple Intelligence, the personal intelligence system that puts powerful generative models at the core of iPhone, iPad, and Mac”
Summary
Apple is introducing a new personal intelligence system called Apple Intelligence that will be integrated across iPhone, iPad, and Mac devices. Some key features of Apple Intelligence include:
- New systemwide Writing Tools.
- Improved photo and video search capabilities.
- Integration of ChatGPT across Apple platforms.
- New email features like Priority Messages and smart summaries in the Mail app.
- Improved Siri capabilities.
- A new “Image Playground” feature.
- A focus on privacy.
My Thoughts
It will be extraordinarily interesting to see how this reshapes conversations about AI. Personally, I’m really interested in how this ease of access will alter conversations about these new tools in higher education. I’ve already begun to adapt to these tools and integrate them into my workflows (for quite a while now, actually), as have many folks working in various writing professions, such as technical communication. In my view, though, many academics in writing-related fields haven’t seriously engaged them. I’m looking forward to seeing how this continues to develop in the Fall.
OpenAI, “OpenAI and Apple announce partnership to integrate ChatGPT into Apple experiences”
Summary
Apple announced at the Worldwide Developer Conference 2024 that they’re integrating ChatGPT into iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, enabling seamless access to its capabilities like image and document understanding without switching between apps. The integration, powered by GPT-4o, will roll out later in the year, offering free access and optional premium features for ChatGPT subscribers.
My Thoughts
Similar to my comments above, I’m just struck by how accessible AI tools are about to be for everyone, and how inextricable they will be from other types of work. The line between work done with AI tools and work done without AI tools will soon become meaningless, I think. Anyone in knowledge work will need to embrace them and be conscious of both their value and limitations. Ignoring them, though, is not a possibility.