Apple Music is getting a new Apple Intelligence feature in iOS 18, but who will want to use it?
Apple Music is Apple's Spotify rival music streaming platform. Since it's exclusively available on Apple devices, it tends to get updates alongside iOS updates. A recent leak hints that that's the case again with iOS 18, which brings a peculiar AI feature to the app.
Here's what we know about Apple Intelligence on Apple Music and when you can try it out yourself.
Generative AI is coming to Apple Music in iOS 18
Apple Music is reportedly getting an Apple Intelligence feature in iOS 18 that will allow users to create AI-generated artwork for their playlists, as first revealed by 9to5Mac. The feature was spotted in the iOS 18 beta 4 code, released on the Apple Developer site on Tuesday.
The feature will use the Image Playground tool in Apple Intelligence to generate custom cover images for playlists. So, when you create a new playlist in Apple Music, you will soon have an option to "Create Image" rather than uploading your cover image or using one of Apple's pre-designed covers.
As someone with many playlists on my music apps, I can see how this feature might be helpful to some people. However, it will depend heavily on the quality and style of the AI-generated playlist covers. Many users might not want all of their playlist icons to be AI-generated cartoon emojis.
Unfortunately, we'll have to wait a while to see how well this feature works. The code was reportedly spotted in the latest iOS 18 beta, but the feature is not available yet, even in the developer beta. Earlier rumors indicated that Apple is planning a slow roll-out for Apple Intelligence, so some features may not launch until 2025.
It's unclear where the AI-generated playlist covers feature falls in that timeline. Still, it's likely one of the earlier features we'll see in a public iOS release since it's already in the code for a beta release and seems like a relatively small, low-power feature.
Is this the type of feature users want from Apple Intelligence?
AI-generated playlist covers aren't exactly a revolutionary application for AI, but that might come as a relief to some. After all, at least Apple doesn't seem to be interested in making AI-generated music, which has been rife with controversy and copyright issues. Even so, it seems unlikely that features like AI-generated playlist covers will be exciting enough to get people interested in Apple Intelligence.
Tim Cook clarified in an interview during WWDC 2024 that "generative AI was never off the table" for Apple. It also played a central role in the reveal presentation for Apple Intelligence on June 10, with features like AI-generated emojis in the spotlight.
Are AI-generated images enough to get people to opt-in for Apple Intelligence and use it? After all, plenty of other AI image-generation tools exist today, such as OpenAI's popular DALL-E algorithm. Apple's Image Playground tool will need to be robust enough to compete with existing image generation tools to win users over.
Of course, Apple Intelligence will be capable of much more than image generation. Apple claims it will also level up Siri and unlock new assistant capabilities like improved language processing, understanding on-screen context, generating text content, summarizing content, finding emails and messages, and more.
We'll have to wait and see how these features perform in real-world use. Apple hasn't announced an official release date for iOS 18 or the first round of Apple Intelligence features yet, but based on Apple's release date history, we're expecting to see them in mid-September. Laptop Mag will cover all the latest rumors, updates, and news surrounding iOS 18, so stay tuned for more details.
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