Apple's native virtual assistant Siri is reportedly the centerpiece of the company's artificial intelligence (AI) strategy that could be unveiled during Monday's keynote session Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) event. Previously, it was said that the goal of Siri would be to make it smarter and more efficient to handle complex tasks. Now, a report has highlighted all the new AI features the virtual assistant could get. In particular, Siri could control various native Apple applications and take actions based on the user's verbal commands.
Siri for new AI capabilities
According to a report from AppleInsider, one of the Cupertino-based tech giant's main focus areas is making 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 that are not direct and rely on contextual understanding. For example, instead of asking Siri to “show pictures of my dog,” say something like “I'm feeling nostalgic” or “I want to make a blog,” she'll also ask Siri to show the pictures and ask for more instructions.
However, this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the full list of AI features, according to the post. Several native Apple apps are also said to be updated to allow Siri to perform various tasks within them. According to 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 update, Siri will be able to perform several new tasks in the Books app. The virtual assistant is said to be able to open a specific book or its section with just a voice prompt. You could also open “The book I last read”, change book topics, turn pages, pause audiobooks and more. Users will also reportedly be able to search for specific categories in the bookstore and display finished 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 new AI capabilities. The assistant may be able to change shooting modes, add a timer, and even rotate the front or rear camera. It's not clear if you can also click an image when prompted, which might help users click a group photo.
Last week, a report highlighted that Siri could get a smart replies feature that will allow users to quickly reply to emails. Additionally, the new report claims that Siri will also be able to schedule email replies, forward emails, undo sending, save and delete email drafts, block email senders, mark email as spam, cancel subscribing to newsletters, summarizing an email or thread, as well as muting and deleting emails.
Siri's AI features in the Keynote and Photos app
The Keynote app is the go-to presentation platform for many Apple device users. With Siri enhancements, users will 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 topic to a new presentation, create slides, play and stop a presentation, show the activity stream, add YouTube videos, and handle various text formatting options.
Coming to the Photos app, the report claims that Siri will be able to open photos with specific people or pets, search for objects in photos, add photos to albums, duplicate, rotate and move photos, hide certain photos, open them and create new ones memories, apply filters, open photos and videos in editing mode and more.
Apart from this, previous reports have also highlighted that Siri could offer transcriptions of notes in the Notes app, set reminders in the Reminders app, and read and summarize articles in the Safari browser. It should be noted that these features have not been announced by Apple and whether they will be added to Apple's virtual assistant will only be known at WWDC 2024.
