Though Samsung and Google have beaten Apple to the AI software punch, Apple has supposedly been working to add artificial intelligence features to its products. A new rumor suggests that the next version of its iPhone software, iOS 18, will add something its competitors already have: AI transcription of voice recordings in its Voice Memos app.
The AI transcription will provide a running transcript of Voice Memos as well as a summary, sources told AppleInsider. It will supposedly work similarly to the company’s Live Voicemail feature introduced last fall in iOS 17. The AI transcription and summarization will also be used in the Notes app, which will add audio recordings in iOS 18, according to an April report from AppleInsider. This feature will also come to Voice Memo apps on MacOS and iPadOS.
If true, Apple would be following its competitors in adding AI transcription of audio recordings. Google has included live auto-transcription in its Recorder app for years, while Samsung’s Galaxy AI, which debuted on this year’s Galaxy S24 phones, can translate conversations and summarize notes.
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Per other AppleInsider reports, the Voice Memos auto-translation will purportedly be the first of Apple’s AI features added to the company’s software this year. Other AI summarization perks are expected to come to Safari to summarize webpages and the Messages app to sum up big conversation chains.
Some of these features, including Messages, are rumored to run on on-device AI rather than through the cloud. This would fit Apple’s emphasis on user data privacy, since using cloud-based AI requires personal information to leave the device, creating the possibility that it could be intercepted or stolen from servers.
Read more: Apple’s AI Plans for the iPhone: What to Expect From iOS 18 and More
It’s possible Apple will announce this and other AI features at WWDC 2024, which is scheduled to start June 10. Since the company usually uses its midyear software show to release the first public betas of its upcoming iOS version, we could see AI transcription in Voice Memos or other AI-based features after then.
Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
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