That Big Siri ChatGPT Update Is Here

Less than a week remains until Apple Intelligence‘s has formally launched the next AI upgrades that will begin to make Siri much more helpful.

ChatGPT access is included directly into the iOS 18.2 beta. Less than a week remains until Apple Intelligence’s formal launch, but the next AI upgrades will begin to make Siri much more helpful. With the inclusion of Visual Intelligence and the capability to forward Siri commands to ChatGPT, the upcoming iOS 18.2 update, which is already available as a developer beta, begins to make your phone more smarter. Siri will no longer be a simple “let me Google that for you” feature for phones that have Apple Intelligence; instead, it will now be a “let me ChatGPT that for you” feature, along with all of its associated pros and cons. 

With the introduction of Visual Intelligence and the capability to forward Siri commands to ChatGPT, the upcoming iOS 18.2 update, which is already available as a developer beta, begins to make your phone more smarter. Siri will no longer be a simple “let me Google that for you” feature for phones that have Apple Intelligence; instead, it will now be a “let me ChatGPT that for you” feature, along with all of its associated pros and cons.

Every time Siri wishes to forward a request to ChatGPT, it will by default require confirmation. I would prefer that conduct, and this makes a lot of sense. However, I switched it off after using it for an afternoon and realizing that all I wanted was to access the ChatGPT response more quickly. Fortunately, Siri still answers simple queries on its own and doesn’t ask ChatGPT questions like “When is the US election?” And when that’s the most effective method to find the solution, it will still simply Google something for you.

However, ChatGPT handles more complicated tasks, thus Siri is capable of handling far more than I’m used to putting it through. It will provide you with a brief list of possibilities along with descriptions if you ask it, “What are some cocktails I can make with whiskey and lemon juice?” In essence, Old Siri will just provide a sample of a Google search.

ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini are examples of AI chatbots that frequently make stuff up and get things incorrect. However, I’ve been turning to them more and more as a place to start when I need assistance with anything and I’m essentially at a loss. I really grew sick of accessing Gemini in a browser, so I downloaded it on my iPhone 16 (using Google’s iOS app) instead. It’s a helpful method to get started, but only if you don’t believe anything the AI tells you. Apple has included some excellent privacy safeguards for ChatGPT users. According to Apple, OpenAI is “only needed to process your request in order to fulfill it and does not store your request or any responses it provides.” Additionally, AI models won’t be trained on the data. All of OpenAI’s conditions are applicable when you log onto your account, and your requests are recorded in your ChatGPT history. However, if you don’t want or already have an OpenAI account, you don’t need one at all. Thank you for that.

Visual Intelligence, which is also enabled in 18.2, will provide iPhone 16 owners another option to access ChatGPT’s capabilities. A camera live view may be accessible by depressing the camera control button. You may use Google Image search to obtain comparable results online or have ChatGPT evaluate your photo after you shoot it. It’s about time iPhones got a feature like this integrated into the device; it’s a glorified, iOS-ified Google Lens. In the past, Siri could check up landmarks, flora, and other such things, but nothing as comprehensive as this.

Visual intelligence tends to be the best and well appreciated. It was really complimentary when describing different areas of my property, describing our whiskey collection as “impressive” and my foyer as “cozy” and “well-organized.” With a photo of my home bar, it generated a respectable list of drinks to mix, and with a picture of the issue, it guided me toward a home repair. AI is quite useful for these kinds of low-stakes queries, provided that the response is viewed as a beginning point.