Apple is preparing to push AI hard this year, and according to Gizmodo, will be bringing its upcoming AI capabilities to its Safari web browser.
The next version of this web browser will reportedly be AI-infused and is expected to launch at the same time as the upcoming iOS 18 software update, which is expected to bring AI features and a chatbot to iPhone users.
Safari will reportedly get Intelligent Search, which will use on-device AI to identify topics and key phrases in web pages to summarise the content.
Apple’s LLMs (large language models) will identify sentences that give explanations or describe the structure of objects, depending on the page text, as well as recognise repeated words and key sentences as topics.
Additionally, there will be a Web Eraser, which will allow the user to remove specific parts of a web page, including banner ads, images, text, and page sections.
Safari will remember these changes after the user closes the tab or window.
When the user revisits the page, they’ll be informed the page was modified to reflect their chosen changes, and then the user will get the option to revert the changes and restore the page to its original state if wanted.
Another feature the new Safari will reportedly have is an updated UI, with a new page control menu, as well as zoom options, privacy controls, content blocking options, in-page text search, reader mode, and extension shortcuts.
Next year, Apple will also reportedly integrate a “much more powerful visual search feature” into the browser, that will allow the user to “obtain information on consumer products when browsing through images”.
This will reportedly be similar to the Visual Lookup feature that lets Siri identify pets, plants, and landmarks in photos.
ChannelNews recently covered that Apple and OpenAI are in talks to create a chatbot for upcoming Apple devices. There’s also a chance Apple will incorporate Google’s Gemini AI into its devices.
Apple’s LLMs are being designed to power some AI features, with OpenAI talks centred around a “chatbot/search component.”
Additionally, Apple is also in talks with Google, to licence its Gemini chatbot for iOS 18.
Google’s Gemini AI chatbot created to compete against ChatGPT, providing features such as AI meetings and messaging with studio look, studio sound, studio lighting, and “take notes for me.”
In addition to Safari and iPhones, Apple are also expected to bring AI capabilities to its MacBooks and iPads.
