Apple releases Apple Intelligence. Here’s how to get it on your iPhone

Published

1 year ago

October 28, 2024

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Apple CEO Tim Cook poses as Apple holds an event at the Steve Jobs Theater on its campus in Cupertino, California, on Sept. 9, 2024.

Manuel Orbegozo | Reuters

Apple on Monday released iOS 18.1, an update that includes the company’s artificial intelligence, called Apple Intelligence, for the iPhone 16 and iPhone 15 Pro. It also released software updates for iPad and Mac with Apple Intelligence.

The release is a critical milestone for Apple, which is relying on the feature launch to power its marketing campaign for the iPhone 16 lineup released last month.

It is also Apple’s answer to Wall Street’s questions about its AI strategy. Apple has taken a different path with its device-based AI than its megacap rivals, which are focused on cloud-based AI systems powered by billions of dollars of Nvidia chips.

Apple Intelligence is limited to start. The first wave of Apple Intelligence features includes writing tools that can proofread or rewrite text, new features that can remove objects from photos and a feature that can summarize a stack of notifications into a single message.

Siri updates during Apple’s WWDC2024 in Cupertino, California, on June 10, 2024.

Source: Apple Inc.

Monday’s release includes improvements to Siri, including a new look that makes the entire screen glow around the phone’s edges. Siri can answer questions about Apple products, including troubleshooting, and has more natural voices.

However, the update does not let Siri take actions inside of apps, which is expected in another update next year. Plus, another update with ChatGPT integration and image-generation abilities is also scheduled for later this year as part of iOS 18.2.

Some investors believe Apple Intelligence could drive a major upgrade cycle and cement Apple as the leader in daily usage of cutting-edge AI.

“Given the staggered launch of Apple Intelligence, we expect iPhone demand to pick up post initial release of Apple Intelligence in late Oct,” Bank of America Securities analyst Wamsi Mohan wrote in an Oct. 25 note.

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You need an iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max or any iPhone 16 model to install and use Apple Intelligence. The service primarily uses the iPhone’s chip, which is why it does not work on earlier phones, though some more complicated queries will be handled by Apple’s servers.

You also need to turn it on by asking for access to Apple Intelligence in the Settings app. Doing so puts users on a waitlist. Apple has not said how long the wait will take, but during beta tests over the summer, users typically received access within the same day. Your phone will then download large files — Apple’s AI models — that Apple Intelligence needs to operate.

Apple Intelligence can summarize important emails inside the Mail app.

Apple

The most prominent feature included with Apple Intelligence is its ability to summarize notifications. Instead of the typical stack of notifications on previous iPhone interfaces, Apple will summarize an entire stack into a single notification. It has not been perfect, but it can be useful into taking 12 market alerts from CNBC or a long conversation in a group chat into something that can be easily digested.

Another major change that users will quickly notice is that Siri has a new text interface, accessed through swiping up from the bottom of the screen, enabling users to query Siri without speaking out loud.

Apple’s Writing Tools will also show up in any place in the operating system that you can enter text, including non-Apple apps. Users can highlight chunks of text and choose to rewrite it in a more “friendly,” “professional” or “concise” style. However, Apple’s Writing Tools will not generate entire paragraphs without input.

The software suite also includes updates to Apple’s Mail and Photos apps. The Photos app now has a more intelligent search, which can understand natural language. It can also generate a short movie from a user’s photos.

To download iOS 18.1, go to Settings > General > Software Update. To sign up for the Apple Intelligence waitlist, go to Settings > Apple Intelligence and Siri > Join the Apple Waitlist.

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How black boxes became key to solving airplane crashes

Published

13 hours ago

November 30, 2025

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How black boxes became key to solving airplane crashes

After the search for survivors and recovery of victims in tragic aviation accidents — like that of a UPS cargo plane shortly after takeoff from Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport in Kentucky last month — comes the search for flight data and a cockpit voice recorder often called the “black box.”

Every commercial plane has them. Aerospace giants GE Aerospace and Honeywell are among a few companies that design them to be nearly indestructible so they can help investigators understand the cause of a crash.

“They’re very crucial because it’s one of the few sources of information that tells us what happened leading up to the accident,” said Chris Babcock, branch chief of the vehicle recorder division at the National Transportation Safety Board. “We can get a lot of information from parts and from the airplane.”

Commercial aircraft have become very complex. A Boeing 787 Dreamliner records thousands of different pieces of information. In the case of the Air India crash in June, data revealed both engine fuel switches were put into a cutoff position within one second of each other. A voice recording from inside the cockpit captured the pilots discussing the cutoffs.

“All of those parameters today can have a very huge impact on the investigation,” said former NTSB member John Goglia. “It’s our goal to to provide information back to our investigators who are on scene as quick as we can to help move the investigation forward.”

This crucial data can also help prevent future accidents. A crash can cost airlines or plane manufacturers hundreds of millions of dollars and leave victims’ families with a lifetime of grief.

But in some circumstances black boxes were destroyed or never found. Experts say further developments such as cockpit video recorders and real-time data streaming are needed.

“The technology is there. Crash worthy cockpit video recorders are already being installed in a lot of helicopters and other types of airplanes, but they’re not required,” said Jeff Guzzetti, aviation analyst and former accident investigator for the Federal Aviation Administration and NTSB. “There’s privacy and cost issues involving cockpit video recorders but the NTSB has been recommending that the FAA require them for years now.”

Watch the video to learn more.

— CNBC’s Leslie Josephs contributed to this report.

Technology

Stocks end November with mixed results despite a strong Thanksgiving week rally

Published

2 days ago

November 28, 2025

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Stocks end November with mixed results despite a strong Thanksgiving week rally

Technology

Palantir has worst month in two years as AI stocks sell off

Published

2 days ago

November 28, 2025

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Palantir has worst month in two years as AI stocks sell off

CEO of Palantir Technologies Alex Karp attends the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit, at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S., July 15, 2025.

Nathan Howard | Reuters

It’s been a tough November for Palantir.

Shares of the software analytics provider dropped 16% for their worst month since August 2023 as investors dumped AI stocks due to valuation fears. Meanwhile, famed investor Michael Burry doubled down on the artificial intelligence trade and bet against the company.

Palantir started November off on a high note.

The Denver-based company topped Wall Street’s third-quarter earnings and revenue expectations. Palantir also posted its second-straight $1 billion revenue quarter, but high valuation concerns contributed to a post-print selloff.

In a note to clients, Jefferies analysts called Palantir’s valuation “extreme” and argued investors would find better risk-reward in AI names such as Microsoft and Snowflake. Analysts at RBC Capital Markets raised concerns about the company’s “increasingly concentrated growth profile,” while Deutsche Bank called the valuation “very difficult to wrap our heads around.”

Adding fuel to the post-earnings selloff was the revelation that Burry is betting against Palantir and AI chipmaker Nvidia. Burry, who is widely known for predicting the housing crisis that occurred in 2008 and the portrayal of him in the film “The Big Short,” later accused hyperscalers of artificially boosting earnings.

Palantir CEO Alex Karp vocally hit the front lines, appearing twice in one week on CNBC, where he accused Burry of “market manipulation” and called the investor’s actions “egregious.”

“The idea that chips and ontology is what you want to short is bats— crazy,” Karp told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

Despite the vicious selloff, Palantir has notched some deal wins this month. That included a multiyear contract with consulting firm PwC to speed up AI adoption in the U.K. and a deal with aircraft engine maintenance company FTAI.

But those announcements did little to shake off valuation worries that have haunted all AI-tied companies in November.

Across the board, investors have viciously ditched the high-priced group, citing fears of stretched valuations and a bubble.

In November, Nvidia pulled back more than 12%, while Microsoft and Amazon dropped about 5% each. Quantum computing names such as Rigetti Computing and D-Wave Quantum have shed more than a third of their value.

Apple and Alphabet were the only Magnificent 7 stocks to end the month with gains.

Sill, questions linger over Palantir’s valuation, and those worries aren’t a new concern.

Even after its steep price drop, the company’s stock trades at 233 times forward earnings. By comparison, Nvidia and Alphabet traded at about 38 times and 30 times, respectively, at Friday’s close.

Karp, who has long defended the company, didn’t miss an opportunity to clap back at his critics, arguing in a letter to shareholders that the company is making it feasible for everyday investors to attain rates of return once “limited to the most successful venture capitalists in Palo Alto.”

“Please turn on the conventional television and see how unhappy those that didn’t invest in us are,” Karp said during an earnings call. “Enjoy, get some popcorn. They’re crying. We are every day making this company better, and we’re doing it for this nation, for allied countries.”

Palantir declined to comment for this story.

WATCH: Palantir CEO Alex Karp: We’ve printed venture results for the average American