Apple Could Bring These AI Features to Siri at WWDC 2024
Apple’s native virtual assistant Siri is said to be a central part of the company’s artificial intelligence (AI) strategy, which could be revealed during the keynote session of its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) event on Monday. Previously, Siri was said to focus on making complex tasks smarter and more efficient. Now, a report has highlighted all the new AI features the virtual assistant could get. Specifically, Siri could be able to interact with various native Apple apps and perform actions based on verbal commands from the user.
Siri gets new AI capabilities
According to a report According to AppleInsider, one of the key areas of focus for the Cupertino-based tech giant is getting Siri to understand commands the way humans normally speak. Citing people familiar with Apple’s AI initiative, the report claimed that the virtual assistant is being trained on a variety of prompts that aren’t direct and rely on contextual understanding. For example, instead of asking Siri to “show me pictures of my dog,” saying something like “I’m feeling nostalgic” or “I want to create a blog” will also prompt it to show the photos and ask for further instructions.
However, this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the full list of AI features, the publication claims. Several native Apple apps will also be upgraded to allow Siri to handle various tasks within. According to the report, these apps will include: Books, Calendar, Camera, Contacts, Files, Freeform, Generative Playground (internal), Keynote, Mail, Magnifier, News, Notes, Photos, Reminders, Safari, Stocks, System Settings, and Voice Memos.
Siri’s AI Features in Apple Books
With the AI upgrade, Siri will reportedly be able to perform several new tasks within the Books app. The virtual assistant will reportedly be able to open a specific book or a section of it with just a voice command. It will also reportedly be able to open “The Book I last read,” change book themes, turn pages, pause audiobooks and more. Users will also reportedly be able to search for specific categories in the Book Store and display completed books, downloaded books and PDF documents when prompted.
Siri’s AI features in the Camera and Mail apps
Using the Camera app could also be easier with Siri’s reported new AI capabilities. The assistant may be able to change photography modes, add a timer and even switch to the front- or rear-facing camera. It’s unclear whether it will also be able to take a photo when prompted, which could help users get a group shot.
Last week, a report highlighted that Siri may be getting a Smart Replies feature that will allow users to quickly respond to emails. Furthermore, the new report claims that Siri will also be able to schedule email replies, forward emails, undo send, save and delete email drafts, block email senders, mark emails as junk, unsubscribe from newsletters, summarize an email or a thread, and mute and delete emails.
Siri’s AI features in Keynote and Photos app
The Keynote app is the go-to presentation platform for many Apple device users. Improvements to Siri will reportedly allow users to automate certain tasks. The virtual assistant can reportedly add images, image galleries, audio, video, text boxes or comments to slides using simple voice commands.
Siri can also show a specific slide, add a theme to a new presentation, create slides, play and stop a presentation, show the activity stream, add videos from YouTube, and control various text formatting options.
As for the Photos app, the report claims that Siri can open photos of specific people or pets, search for objects in photos, add photos to albums, duplicate, rotate and move photos, hide certain photos, open and create new memories, apply filters, open photos and videos in edit mode, and more.
Apart from this, previous reports have also highlighted that Siri could potentially offer transcriptions of notes in the Notes app, set reminders in the Reminders app, and read and summarize articles in the Safari browser. Notably, these features have not yet been announced by Apple and whether they will be added to Apple’s virtual assistant will only be known at WWDC 2024.
