Earlier this year, Apple announced Apple Intelligence, a new set of AI features coming to iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. Apple rolled out the first set of Apple Intelligence features last month with the release of iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1. However, several exciting AI features, including ChatGPT integration, Genmoji, and Image Playground, were not part of the initial release.
Late last month, Apple started beta testing iOS 18.2 with several new AI features, including ChatGPT integration. With ChatGPT integration, users will be able to take advantage of powerful OpenAI models in Siri, Writing Tools, and for visual intelligence with Camera Control. Additionally, users will be able to access ChatGPT for free without creating an account, with their IP addresses obscured, and OpenAI won't store their queries.
Users with a ChatGPT Plus subscription can connect their OpenAI account to access all of ChatGPT's advanced capabilities. A ChatGPT Plus subscription costs $19.99 per month and offers the following benefits:
5x higher message limits on GPT-4 and other advanced models like the o1 preview. Higher limits for photo and file uploads, image generation, and web browsing. Access to ChatGPT's Advanced Voice mode for real-time voice interaction.
In the recently released iOS 18.2 developer beta, Apple added a new way for users to upgrade to a ChatGPT Plus subscription. Instead of requiring users to download the ChatGPT app and buy the subscription, users can subscribe to ChatGPT Plus directly from the Settings app's ChatGPT Extension page, as you can see in the screenshots above.
This is the first time Apple has natively integrated a third-party service along with the option for a subscription inside its Settings app. Obviously, Apple will be getting a 30% commission on each subscription made via this method, but this is still a surprising move from Apple. We think this could be something OpenAI negotiated as part of its ChatGPT integration deal since it would be losing a lot of money because of free ChatGPT usage from iOS, iPadOS, and macOS users.
It will be interesting to see how this partnership between Apple and OpenAI evolves and whether other AI services will be integrated similarly.
Images via Aaron