Apple’s native virtual assistant Siri has been reported to be the central piece of the company’s artificial intelligence (AI) strategy that could be unveiled during the keynote session of its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) event on Monday. Previously, it was said that the focus of Siri would be to make it smarter and more efficient at handling complex tasks. Now, a report has highlighted all the new AI features the virtual assistant might get. Notably, Siri might be able to control several native Apple apps and take actions based on verbal commands by the user.
Siri to get new AI capabilities
According to a report by AppleInsider, one of the major focus areas for the Cupertino-based tech giant is to make Siri understand commands the way people 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 which are not direct and rely on contextual understanding. For instance, instead of asking Siri to “show pictures of my dog”, saying something like “I’m feeling nostalgic” or “I want to make a blog”, will also prompt it to show the pictures and ask for further instructions.
However, this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the full list of AI features, according to the publication. Several native Apple apps are also said to be upgraded to allow Siri to perform various tasks within them. As per the report, these apps will be 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 execute several new tasks within the Books app. The virtual assistant is said to be able to open a specific book or its section with just a voice prompt. It could also open “The Book I last read”, change book themes, flip pages, pause audiobooks, and more. Reportedly, users will also be able to search for specific categories in the Book Store and show finished books, downloaded books, and PDF documents when prompted to.
Siri’s AI features in Camera and Mail apps
Using the Camera app could also be easier with Siri’s reported new AI capabilities. The assistant might be able to change photography modes, add a timer and even flip to the front-facing or rear camera. It is unclear whether it can also click a picture when prompted, which can help users click a group photo.
Last week, a report highlighted that Siri might get a Smart Replies feature that will enable users to quickly reply to emails. In addition, the new report claims Siri will also be able to schedule email replies, forward emails, undo send, save and delete email drafts, block email senders, mark email as junk, unsubscribe from newsletters, summarise an email or a thread, as well as 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. With enhancements to Siri, users will reportedly be able to automate certain tasks. The virtual assistant is said to be able to add images, image galleries, audio, video, text boxes, or comments to slides with simple voice prompts.
Siri is also reported to show a specific slide, add a theme to a new presentation, create slides, play and stop a presentation, show Activity Stream, add videos from YouTube, as well as manage various text formatting options.
Coming to the Photos app, the report claims that Siri will be able to open photos involving 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 editing mode, and more.
Apart from this, earlier reports have also highlighted that Siri might be able to offer transcriptions to notes in the Notes app, set up reminders in the Reminders app, and read and summarise articles in the Safari browser. Notably, these features have not been announced by Apple, and whether these will be added to Apple’s virtual assistant will only be known at the WWDC 2024.