Apple CEO Tim Cook takes a photo in a viewing area for new products during Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference at the Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California, June 5, 2023.
Josh Edelson | AFP | Getty Images
In June, Apple announced iOS 17, the latest version of the iPhone operating system. Now, it’s available in a public beta form and it’s free for iPhone owners to try.
Keep in mind, this is a beta version, intended as a preview of the final software, so Apple can get help finding and squashing bugs before it’s officially released to the wider public.
In the fall, alongside new iPhones, Apple will officially release the software to everyone with a compatible iPhone. Apple recommends users who aren’t comfortable with beta software to wait until then.
Still, for people who like to live on the bleeding edge, Apple’s public beta for iOS allows them to get a preview of what all iPhones will look like in a few months — as long as they have an iPhone XS, released in 2018, or newer.
There’s a new process for installing the public beta. Instead of enrolling on Apple’s website and installing a configuration profile, you can simply go to Settings > General > Software Update and choose to install a beta version of iOS from the drop-down menu.
Here are some of the biggest changes in iOS 17.
Contact posters. One of the most noticeable changes in iOS 17 will be that you can choose a picture and font to change how you appear when you call another iPhone user. You can create your own “contact poster” in the same way you’d customize your own lock screen.
Better autocorrect. Apple’s autocorrect has been revamped with a new transformer-based language model, Apple said. This should improve accuracy and even improve grammar on the sentence level.
iMessage improvements and interface revamp. Apple’s text messaging app has gotten one of its biggest updates in years. The most visible change will be that the interface has hidden apps such as stickers or the camera, which now exist inside a menu on the left-hand side, as opposed to on the top of the keyboard. Apple also improved message search, stickers and will automatically transcribe short audio messages.
Source: Apple
Journal app. iOS 17 includes a new Journal app that will encourage users to type in a few thoughts every day, and then uses on-device machine learning to intelligently prompt the user to write more about their memories, people, music or photos. This is supposed to come later, so you won’t see it in this beta.
Apple Standby.
Source: Apple
New standby dock mode. When users place their iPhone horizontally on a wireless charger, instead of the same old lock screen, it will display a new interface with widgets such as a calendar or clock, alarms and other real-time information. It’ll be super helpful for folks who want to use their iPhone as a bedside clock.
Business card replacement. A new feature called NameDrop allows two iPhone users to share contact details by simply bringing their phones close together.
Mental health features in the Health app. Inside Apple’s Health app, users can log their daily moods and emotions as well as access tests and other assessments used to diagnose depression and anxiety.
Offline maps. Apple will add the ability to download and use maps offline in iOS 17. While Google Maps has offered the feature for years, this is the first time Apple has enabled it. Maps can be downloaded for entire regions.
AirPods Pro, 2nd generation.
Sofia Pitt
New AirPods features. Users with AirPods Pro will find new capabilities enabled through the new iOS. The biggest new feature is called Adaptive Audio, which uses machine learning and other software to analyze what you’re listening to and the sounds around you, and intelligently turns down the volume in your headphones to give you better awareness of your surroundings.
Don’t have to say “Hey” to Siri anymore. Apple has made the command to awaken its voice assistant shorter.
Photos recognizes pets as their own person. Apple’s machine learning has been able to detect cats or dogs in photos for a few years, but now it can identify individual pets and put them in their own photos folders. So, if you have two dogs, Apple Photos can tell the difference between the two in search and other applications.
Grocery lists in Reminders. Apple’s Reminders app can now take an unstructured list of groceries and automatically sort them into categories such as produce, frozen foods or dairy. It should make shopping more efficient.
Phone is too close to face. Apple also built in a detector called Screen Distance that can warn users their face has been too close to their phone for extended periods of time. It’s built into Apple’s Screen Time feature.
Apple Voicemail transcription.
Source: Apple
A new reason to leave voicemails. A new feature called Live Voicemail will show an iPhone user a transcription of a voicemail being left in real time so they can decide to pick up the call anyway.
FaceTime voicemails. Apple has added voicemail support for the first time for FaceTime calls. Previously, you could send the other person a text message.
Better two-factor authentication. One of Apple’s most-beloved features is that it automatically takes two-factor codes from text messages and drops them into the appropriate box on websites and in apps. In iOS 17, Apple will be able to automatically input two-factor authentication codes from emails received in the Mail app.
Smooth transitions in Apple Music. Apple Music has added the ability to cross-fade between tracks, or have the first one fade out at the end as the new song starts to fade in. Users will also be able to collaborate on playlists, something Spotify has offered for years.
Artificial intelligence robot looking at futuristic digital data display.
Yuichiro Chino | Moment | Getty Images
Artificial intelligence is projected to reach $4.8 trillion in market value by 2033, but the technology’s benefits remain highly concentrated, according to the U.N. Trade and Development agency.
In a report released on Thursday, UNCTAD said the AI market cap would roughly equate to the size of Germany’s economy, with the technology offering productivity gains and driving digital transformation.
However, the agency also raised concerns about automation and job displacement, warning that AI could affect 40% of jobs worldwide. On top of that, AI is not inherently inclusive, meaning the economic gains from the tech remain “highly concentrated,” the report added.
“The benefits of AI-driven automation often favour capital over labour, which could widen inequality and reduce the competitive advantage of low-cost labour in developing economies,” it said.
The potential for AI to cause unemployment and inequality is a long-standing concern, with the IMF making similar warnings over a year ago. In January, The World Economic Forum released findings that as many as 41% of employers were planning on downsizing their staff in areas where AI could replicate them.
However, the UNCTAD report also highlights inequalities between nations, with U.N. data showing that 40% of global corporate research and development spending in AI is concentrated among just 100 firms, mainly those in the U.S. and China.
Furthermore, it notes that leading tech giants, such as Apple, Nvidia and Microsoft — companies that stand to benefit from the AI boom — have a market value that rivals the gross domestic product of the entire African continent.
This AI dominance at national and corporate levels threatens to widen those technological divides, leaving many nations at risk of lagging behind, UNCTAD said. It noted that 118 countries — mostly in the Global South — are absent from major AI governance discussions.
UN recommendations
But AI is not just about job replacement, the report said, noting that it can also “create new industries and and empower workers” — provided there is adequate investment in reskilling and upskilling.
But in order for developing nations not to fall behind, they must “have a seat at the table” when it comes to AI regulation and ethical frameworks, it said.
In its report, UNCTAD makes a number of recommendations to the international community for driving inclusive growth. They include an AI public disclosure mechanism, shared AI infrastructure, the use of open-source AI models and initiatives to share AI knowledge and resources.
Open-source generally refers to software in which the source code is made freely available on the web for possible modification and redistribution.
“AI can be a catalyst for progress, innovation, and shared prosperity – but only if countries actively shape its trajectory,” the report concludes.
“Strategic investments, inclusive governance, and international cooperation are key to ensuring that AI benefits all, rather than reinforcing existing divides.”
Altimeter Capital CEO Brad Gerstner said Thursday that he’s moving out of the “bomb shelter” with Nvidia and into a position of safety, expecting that the chipmaker is positioned to withstand President Donald Trump’s widespread tariffs.
“The growth and the demand for GPUs is off the charts,” he told CNBC’s “Fast Money Halftime Report,” referring to Nvidia’s graphics processing units that are powering the artificial intelligence boom. He said investors just need to listen to commentary from OpenAI, Google and Elon Musk.
President Trump announced an expansive and aggressive “reciprocal tariff” policy in a ceremony at the White House on Wednesday. The plan established a 10% baseline tariff, though many countries like China, Vietnam and Taiwan are subject to steeper rates. The announcement sent stocks tumbling on Thursday, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq down more than 5%, headed for its worst day since 2022.
The big reason Nvidia may be better positioned to withstand Trump’s tariff hikes is because semiconductors are on the list of exceptions, which Gerstner called a “wise exception” due to the importance of AI.
Nvidia’s business has exploded since the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in 2022, and annual revenue has more than doubled in each of the past two fiscal years. After a massive rally, Nvidia’s stock price has dropped by more than 20% this year and was down almost 7% on Thursday.
Gerstner is concerned about the potential of a recession due to the tariffs, but is relatively bullish on Nvidia, and said the “negative impact from tariffs will be much less than in other areas.”
He said it’s key for the U.S. to stay competitive in AI. And while the company’s chips are designed domestically, they’re manufactured in Taiwan “because they can’t be fabricated in the U.S.” Higher tariffs would punish companies like Meta and Microsoft, he said.
“We’re in a global race in AI,” Gerstner said. “We can’t hamper our ability to win that race.”
YouTube on Thursday announced new video creation tools for Shorts, its short-form video feed that competes against TikTok.
The features come at a time when TikTok, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, is at risk of an effective ban in the U.S. if it’s not sold to an American owner by April 5.
Among the new tools is an updated video editor that allows creators to make precise adjustments and edits, a feature that automatically syncs video cuts to the beat of a song and AI stickers.
The creator tools will become available later this spring, said YouTube, which is owned by Google.
Along with the new features, YouTube last week said it was changing the way view counts are tabulated on Shorts. Under the new guidelines, Shorts views will count the number of times the video is played or replayed with no minimum watch time requirement.
Previously, views were only counted if a video was played for a certain number of seconds. This new tabulation method is similar to how views are counted on TikTok and Meta’s Reels, and will likely inflate view counts.
“We got this feedback from creators that this is what they wanted. It’s a way for them to better understand when their Shorts have been seen,” YouTube Chief Product Officer Johanna Voolich said in a YouTube video. “It’s useful for creators who post across multiple platforms.”