Apple Intelligence is Here. Kinda! 🤔

Welcome back to the AI For Humans Newsletter!

Apple Intelligence is live! Yay! But… wait. Where are all the cool things Tim Cook promised us this summer?

They’ll be getting rolled out… slowly. Right now, you get a few things like summaries or photo retouching. And, then you’ll get more in December. And more in… I guess 2025?

Also if you have an iPhone 15 Pro (or up), upgraded to iOS 18.1 and are wondering where these new features are, there is one more thing you must do, which Apple doesn’t exactly make clear.

You literally have to request access to it from your settings.

Luckily it takes only an hour or so to get access, but seriously Apple, you should at least give us a heads up on this. Note: this also applies to macOS users with M1 (or better) processors who have upgraded as well. You have to go into System Settings, and request access in the “Apple Intelligence and Siri” section.

Once you do get it, the results are… fine?

We were always going to be most excited about a smarter Siri and the ability to connect ChatGPT directly into our iOS experience.

Siri is better (and now has that nice little rainbow frame animation) but in our testing so far it’s not perfect. We asked it where to find the best BBQ in Los Angeles (the answer, obviously, is Bludso’s) but it kept asking ‘Which one?’ and showing a variety of BBQ restaurants. Not a great start.

The ChatGPT integration, unfortunately, is only available in developer preview for now. There’s another update coming in December but it does make us wonder if this entire thing was half-baked when they announced it.

Tom’s Guide has a great article going over the best and worst of the new update. The short version is Apple Intelligence in iOS 18.1 enhances productivity with standout Writing Tools, an improved Siri (including type-to-ask), and handy notification summaries. However, the Photos app’s natural language search can be hit-or-miss, especially with indirect terms.

Overall we’re underwhelmed. We assumed Apple would bring the full weight of the company to bear on Apple Intelligence, and maybe behind the scenes they have. We just haven’t seen the full scope of it yet.

Until next week,

-Gavin & Kevin

We 💛 This - ElevenLabs Text-To-Sound Effects

Great sound design raises the bar for any production, from a Marvel movie to nest cam footage of granddad getting bucked off a yoga ball.

And while Runway Act-One has actors front-of-mind this week, we think an ElevenLabs release from earlier this year hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves.

It’s as simple as it sounds: pop a text prompt in and less than 10 seconds later you have four audio clips to bring your prompt to life.

It’s cheap, it’s easy, it’s a discount foley artist in your pocket.

Is it as good as the real deal? Not even close.

But it feels like magic. And for every situation that doesn’t require perfection, it’ll probably get the job done quicker and easier than ever before.

Take it for a free spin here, no signup required.