Every new iOS 18 AI feature for the new Siri just leaked

Apple’s main objective for Siri seems to be enhancing its capabilities and improving its understanding of natural language voice commands. According to a recent leak, Apple has been training Siri by having technicians issue intentionally vague commands. For instance, instead of asking, “Hey Siri, show me pictures of my cat,” they’re using broader prompts like, “I want to make a blog,” or “I am feeling nostalgic right now.” These commands require Siri to first interpret the request and then decide the best way to respond to what it thinks the user might want or need.

This approach aims to make Siri more user-friendly for those who aren’t familiar with or prefer not to use precise syntax. For example, a command like, “Hey Siri, I want some coffee,” may or may not activate a smart coffee machine, whereas a direct command like, “Hey Siri, turn on the coffee machine,” clearly would. The goal is to reduce the need for exact phrasing, making Siri easier to use.

The Apple Insider leak doesn’t specify the technical details behind these improvements. It’s unclear whether these new Siri features are driven by “Ajax,” Apple’s internal large language model, or if they involve technology from ChatGPT, given Apple’s rumored partnership with OpenAI. It could be a mix of both, but this remains uncertain.

New Siri features: A list of highlights

As previously mentioned, the comprehensive leak covers over 18 first-party iPhone apps and details how Siri will integrate with each. Here are some highlights that we find particularly intriguing:

Camera: Siri will enable voice control for the camera. You can toggle video recording, open the camera in various modes (photo, portrait, video, etc.), start a shutter timer, and switch between the front and rear cameras. This feature could let you set up your iPhone for a group photo, step back, and use voice commands to take the picture remotely.

Mail: The Mail app is set for a major revamp. It will use machine learning to automatically classify emails, similar to Gmail. Siri will also be capable of handling detailed tasks via voice commands, such as composing and sending emails, scheduling them, marking them as junk, and setting reminders to read them later. Additionally, Siri will summarize emails and generate "smart replies," akin to Gmail's Smart Reply and Help Me Write features.

Photos: Apple plans to introduce numerous photo editing tools powered by generative AI. Many of these features are familiar to Pixel users, such as moving or removing objects from photos, filling in gaps with generative AI, finding specific photos with particular people or animals, and applying AI-generated filters.

Safari: Siri will help summarize webpages in Apple's web browser, a feature already available on Android via Google Gemini. Users will also be able to create new tab groups or open a Private tab using voice commands.

Voice Memos: With Siri, you can go completely hands-free with Voice Memos. You can instruct Siri to start a new voice recording, stop it, save it with a specific name, and move it to a designated folder, all without touching your iPhone.

When will these launch?

Apple insider Mark Gurman reveals that some Siri features won't debut at WWDC. While Apple will likely announce a few, many won't be available until 2024, with most expected to roll out in a 2025 software update.

That said, Apple is still expected to release some features at or around WWDC. However, it's unlikely that iOS 18 will include all the leaked Siri features, as they will probably be introduced gradually over the coming months.