back to article Apple Intelligence turned on by default in upcoming macOS Sequoia 15.3, iOS 18.3

Ready or not, generative AI assistants and productivity aids are getting harder to avoid with a growing number of software vendors enabling them by default. Beginning with the due-to-be-released macOS Sequoia version 15.3 as well as iOS and iPadOS 18.3, Cupertino's suite of AI features, which it calls Apple Intelligence, will …

  1. jokerscrowbar

    Hey Siri Précis my inbox

    ‘Well, there's egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg bacon and spam; egg bacon sausage and spam; spam bacon sausage and spam; spam egg spam spam bacon and spam; spam sausage spam spam bacon spam tomato and spam’

    1. TimMaher Silver badge
      Coat

      Re: Spam

      All written in Python.

      1. David 132 Silver badge

        Re: Spam

        ...when the CPU is Idle.

        Sorry. My jokes Palin comparison to yours.

  2. Neil Barnes Silver badge

    opting out of Google's various AI widgets

    I'm opting out.

    My data lives on _my_ computer or _my_ servers/backup systems.

    Piling your data on someone else's server may work for some folk, but not for me, thanks.

    1. Randy Hudson

      Re: opting out of Google's various AI widgets

      Oh _my_!

    2. Gordon 10 Silver badge
      WTF?

      Re: opting out of Google's various AI widgets

      You seem confused.

      By definition if you have used *any* of Googles services your data is already on their servers.

      What did you actually mean?

    3. MachDiamond Silver badge

      Re: opting out of Google's various AI widgets

      "Piling your data on someone else's server may work for some folk, but not for me, thanks."

      They aren't going to like that. How can they provide you with the goods and services tailored to your needs if you aren't giving them your life story updated by the second?

  3. Tubz Silver badge

    Looks like I won't be upgrading past an iPhone 14 then !

    1. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

      re: Looks like I won't be upgrading past an iPhone 14 then !

      You can disable it. The OFF switch is there in Settings just waiting for you to use it.

      1. Dan 55 Silver badge

        Re: re: Looks like I won't be upgrading past an iPhone 14 then !

        So why silently enable it?

        Rhetorical question of course.

    2. mIVQU#~(p,

      Even if it's enabled it's more or less useless.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        I have a compatible phone, I turned it on as I have to work with these tools and have some knowledge of what they are doing.

        Other than creating a few cartoon pictures I really can't see the point of this. Noticed no significant improvements to any 'intelligence' equipped features.

        Other than taking up space and cycles it seems wholly pointless. Which is worse than something that is shit, this is just irrellevant, like 95% of things branded with AI

    3. illuminatus

      from a 16 upgrader

      Don't worry about it too much. I've just gone from a 14 pro max to a 16 pro max (processor, camera and RAM improvements are nice to have). When I installed the iOS 18.2.1 upgrade on the new phone, Apple Intelligence was there, but off by default. It is literally one toggle to disc hit, and I made sure it was still that way when doing the 18.3 RC update last night. I am much less keen on having it switched by default, but it's very easy to disable. There are also per app "Learn from this app" hooks on iOS for Apple Intelligence/Siri in settings that you may wish to check, but I think there's not a lot point in them being on or off either way if you've switched it off globally.

    4. Gordon 10 Silver badge

      You missed a nuance. Its currently on the "Pro" and "Pro Max" models.

      You're *currently* safe to buy a vanilla iPhone 15 or 16 or their Plus versions.

    5. Rich 2 Silver badge

      I’m sticking with my iPhone 8

  4. Guy de Loimbard Silver badge

    Worrying trend

    That we are slowly losing the capacity and ability to actually control our own devices.

    I fully understand the need to patch and keep things secure, but "features" being forced on us by default will soon become the norm and, by the looks of it, impossible to circumvent.

    I do wonder what the rest of our learned El Reg readers think, but I'm getting tired of being forced to have something I don't want by the various tech players in the market!

    1. luminous

      Re: Worrying trend

      When your company is owned by shareholders and thus you are investing heavily in AI to supposedly not get left behind your competitors; you either enable these services by default or without the ability to disable them, so you can then show off how many people are using them (and that they are not a complete waste of money).

      I don't want any of these new "features" and for now I'll keep any devices that are not "compatible". In the future, I guess we have no choice but to just not use them? It's this decade's version of Clippy...

      1. Guy de Loimbard Silver badge

        Re: Worrying trend

        Good point.

        Let's hope these features disappear in due course, just like Clippy.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Worrying trend

        It’s fast approaching the point of Null.

        I honestly don’t need a smart phone at all. If feature phones also disappear, then I’ll happily go without any mobile device.

        We managed before these things came along.

    2. Captain Hogwash Silver badge

      Re: we are slowly losing the capacity and ability to actually control our own devices.

      That ship sailed long ago. If you want control of a phone then Linux or de-googled Android are the only options.

      1. MachDiamond Silver badge

        Re: we are slowly losing the capacity and ability to actually control our own devices.

        "Linux or de-googled Android are the only options."

        For most things, that works fine. I've not noticed any issue with having a de-Googled phone. I'm not an app fiend and don't want ones that must hand over my information to work.

        The only issue with Linux is when you need to run a rather specialist program that's only available for Win/Mac. For day to day comms and computing, it's fine and really a transparent shift. I run dedicated machines for many things for security and to lower risk and the time it can take to rebuild from backups. My CAD PC doesn't need to be online, so it isn't. My Chromebox is online for two things and if it's compromised, there's no sensitive data on it and it's quick to erase and make all better again. That's it's reason for being here, fast rebuilds and not needing to have other more important machines connected.

    3. Gordon 10 Silver badge

      Re: Worrying trend

      Counterpoint.

      How is this different to whats gone on for years?

      Pretty much every function on your phone has an on/off button, inlcuding fundamentals such as GSM radio.

      Whether it is default on or off is just quibbling over details. You need to remember that informed/engaged Register Techie usage is a tiny tiny use case.

      1. Alumoi Silver badge

        Re: Worrying trend

        So you would be OK with $company stealing all your info just because the button is on by default. After all, you can turn it off anytime you want, right?

        Setting up a new phone, do you activate mobile data and/or wifi first thing OR you finish the setup, delete/block/disable all the crap and then enable it?

        At least tell me you use and adblocker when surfing the net :P

    4. MachDiamond Silver badge

      Re: Worrying trend

      "That we are slowly losing the capacity and ability to actually control our own devices."

      I'm doing my best by not constantly buying the new shiny. I have to wonder if support for the spying lives on forever or if companies hoovering up your data are still doing that when they go from Spyware 16.0 to Spyware 17.0 and the newest isn't hardware compatible on something a couple of years old.

      For plenty of software, the usefulness curve has flattened out. For me, the noticeable improvements are for things like Slicers used in 3D printing far more than the CAD program I use to design the part. My accounting app is years old and runs self-contained on an older Mac Mini I could replace for $20 if it ever died. The last thing I'm going to do is put my accounting "in the cloud". Besides, it's accounting. How much has that changed in 200 years?

      1. David 132 Silver badge
        Thumb Up

        Re: Worrying trend

        >Besides, it's accounting. How much has that changed in 200 years?

        Not an accountant, so can't comment with any authority, but depending on how broad your definition of "accounting" is, of course tax rules for deductibles and exemptions etc have changed a lot (in fact about every 5 minutes in the UK/US it seems!).

        Still, I'm not criticising. I still play a particular PC game daily that is 20+ years old, and a family member asked me for help recently getting AutoCAD 2006 - i.e. similar vintage! - running for him. The neophilia of our industry is both a blessing and a curse.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Worrying trend

          Basic accounting principles are more or less the same BUT Tax/Accounting rules change constantly !!!

          You should know the basics so you can check what you are doing and the s/w is working correctly.

          Don't blindly depend on software 'knowing' all the latest rules, for your own safety (unless you are paying for such as part of your subscription and the company is able back up its claims of compliance some how !!!)

          There is no excuse of 'the software made a mistake', the tax authorities WILL hang you on high regardless !!!

          If unsure get assurance from someone who is qualified and will put their name/reputation to the advice !!!

          :)

        2. MachDiamond Silver badge

          Re: Worrying trend

          "Not an accountant, so can't comment with any authority, but depending on how broad your definition of "accounting" is, of course tax rules for deductibles and exemptions etc have changed a lot (in fact about every 5 minutes in the UK/US it seems!)."

          I consider tax stuff as separate from accounting for the reason that tax rules do seem to change every 5 minutes. I set up my chart of accounts so the "headers" transfer to tax forms mostly without needing any additional calculations. Under the headers I have all of the detail I care to have. I can take my "income" total from the header account and drop that right on the tax form. They don't need the particulars in most cases, but I have them if I need to defend something in an audit.

      2. FirstTangoInParis Silver badge

        Re: Worrying trend

        > The last thing I'm going to do is put my accounting "in the cloud". Besides, it's accounting. How much has that changed in 200 years?

        Have 200 upvotes. It’s not the accounting that’s changed with cloud packages, it’s the quality of the software that has nosedived. Quick books desktop worked. Quick books online is a massive pile of poo, I went back to Excel. Stuff breaks for a pastime and the help is useless. Likewise Xero, except a load of stuff (notably bank and supplier feeds) just doesn’t work and looks like nobody CBS to fix it. For example, there is no dedicated field to enter a customer purchase order on an invoice, the forumites have been asking for it for FOUR years and they’ve been roundly ignored.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Worrying trend

          "no dedicated field to enter a customer purchase order on an invoice"

          This can be worked around on *most* systems That 'I' am aware of ... BUT a work around is NOT good enough really, particularly if you are paying an ongoing fee for support/updates/etc.

          You MAY forgive it on a package you paid for ONCE, some years ago, but ongoing subscription type systems are supposed to be an advantage BECAUSE there is on-going support and fixes.

          Too many people/companies THINK they can write an accounting package/system ... it is not trivial and NEEDS input from real accountants who use these systems in anger in real companies.

          People who think they 'know how' make these sorts of mistakes because they do not use accounts for REAL and have to deal with large amounts of customers daily.

          A 'big system 'can be scaled down BUT a 'small system' does not ALWAYS scale up ... (I'm teaching grandma to suck eggs at this point !!!)

          P.S.

          I saw these problems over 30 years ago and they STILL apply now ... sigh!!! ... nothing learnt & nothing changes !!!

          :)

        2. MachDiamond Silver badge

          Re: Worrying trend

          "Quick books desktop worked. Quick books online is a massive pile of poo,"

          I use AccountEdge which is very similar to Quickbooks but I like the UI much better. I can export data from AE to a pre-formatted Libre spreadsheet which makes analysis super simple.

    5. 0laf Silver badge

      Re: Worrying trend

      There is nothing slow or recent about it. Look under the hood of your car, there is a big plastic cover which effectively says "don't dare to fix me yourself" and they've been in place for 25yr. Your options to modify and tweak the workings of electronic devices you own has been getting degraded since 'programmes' became 'apps' or since screws were replaced by clips and glue.

      The dark patterns used to encourage the unwary to give away data and rights are only ever challenged when it's small fry. No one has seriously taken on MS or Google on this. The big GDPR fines in the press never get collected. They are quietly lobbied away and reduced to a number which is pocket change for these firms.

  5. abend0c4 Silver badge

    The option of disabling Gemini for Workspaces is only available upon request

    Filed in triplicate, in person at the Port Lockroy Post Office.

    It's almost as if its value would not immediately be apparent to prospective customers.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: The option of disabling Gemini for Workspaces is only available upon request

      I pay google for email (ie I send/receive at @mydomain.com), and I have the option to disable the "Generative AI > Gemini app" under the Admin console, which I've done to no effect. From that Reddit thread it seems I have to ask them specifically to disable it "in the workspace". This will be my task for the day. They waste my time, I waste their time, the world turns.

      The only thing I've done with it is type in "how do I disable Google Gemini?". It came back with a generic page telling me what it was,

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: The option of disabling Gemini for Workspaces is only available upon request

        I can confirm this works. Go into the admin console, do live support chat, ask to disable Gemini for Workspace, they will flick a magic setting that you (despite being admin) don't have access to unless you ask. Reload the admin page, and only then can you disable it. Don't forget to complain at the end - the support agent noted I would not be the first to do so. Took a couple of minutes, I was lucky with the queue.

  6. Nifty

    In Europe turning on a new cloud based feature without an opt-in will contravene GDPR.

    1. Guy de Loimbard Silver badge

      Indeed it may be in violation of GDPR, but I can't imagine that's going to stop anyone when it comes to steamrollering AI through!

    2. Charlie Clark Silver badge

      It didn't stop Apple doing just this with the KeyChain.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      M365 Personal

      Microsoft already did turn on the new extras in UK. Bumping renewal costs from £60 to £85 unless you can work out how to find the "downgrade to classic" buttons that are well hidden.

      It annoys me that they can't be more honest with this stuff. Ask if you want to get a massive price rise to pay for CoPilot or stay with the basic office. Don't hide this behind a confusing opt-out.

      Most oldies I know just want to be able to use Word\Excel\Outlook. And now they are nobbling Outlook it means introducing more people to Thunderbird and LibreOffice.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: M365 Personal

        Especially since renewal costs (as well as original purchase) for LibreOffice is £0. And they don't replace the interface every couple of versions under the false flag of "see, we improved it!"

    4. Richard Tobin

      But is it a cloud-based feature? Or does it run locally? Their past statements have not been explicit about this.

    5. Gordon 10 Silver badge

      No it wont. Thats a massive oversimplification.

    6. MachDiamond Silver badge

      "In Europe turning on a new cloud based feature without an opt-in will contravene GDPR."

      Good luck with that. If there isn't sufficient "opt-in", they'll come out with something else that will make you turn it on so the new thing will work. The "accept" box will be stuffed in a series of "accept" boxes (and loads of mouse type) to numb the site before they inject the spyware. When first presented with the opt-in, you looked at it and it failed the sniff test, but you may not revisit that process again to refresh your memory so if you are fine with the new thing, you'll slap the button and get on with it.

      GDPR isn't going to cover software that isn't marketed in regions where it can be applied. If you "source" some software elsewhere, good luck.

  7. wolfetone Silver badge

    If you have to turn it on by default, then the product is no fucking good in the first place. If it was we would turn it on ourselves.

    1. Guy de Loimbard Silver badge

      Careful now wolfetone, there's a danger one is expecting common sense! :)

      1. wolfetone Silver badge
        Trollface

        Is that not a feature of this AI bullshido then?

    2. VonDutch

      Do they force install the latest U2 album with it?

      1. Zippy´s Sausage Factory

        The difference between AI features and the U2 album is that they expect you to start paying for the AI features at some point in the future.

        I actually kept the U2 album, it's the only one of theirs I've got and I sort of quite like it actually

        1. wolfetone Silver badge

          Hello Bono.

          1. Zippy´s Sausage Factory

            Yeah, I don't like it that much. It's kind of a "dig out every six months or so and get as far as track three" sort of deal.

        2. MachDiamond Silver badge

          "I actually kept the U2 album, it's the only one of theirs I've got and I sort of quite like it actually"

          I'm not a fan. How about The Aristocrats with the Primuz Chamber Orchestra? I'd be up for a Vol 2 as well.

  8. Fonant
    Facepalm

    LLM generative "AI" is just a bullshit generator.

    The big tech companies seem desperate to force bullshit-generation onto their customers. Perhaps because, when asked, most people don't want the bullshit-generation, but the companies in question have staked their future success on generating bullshit more often than their competitors?

    The "AI" (LLM) bubble is going to burst very soon. I hope!

  9. Roland6 Silver badge

    “ text-to-emoji generation”

    A real demonstration of the pointlessness of AI, the real problem is understanding just what the emoji’s being used are being used to represent.

    1. MachDiamond Silver badge

      Re: “ text-to-emoji generation”

      "A real demonstration of the pointlessness of AI, the real problem is understanding just what the emoji’s being used are being used to represent."

      About the only use I have for emojis is when they are used to designate sarcasm. Sometimes it's too subtle to pick up on right away. The rest of the time things with emojis get put in the bin straight away.

  10. jezza99

    The latest version of clippy

    I thankfully found the off switch for Apple Intelligence after it had hid most of my emails and kept interrupting my chat sessions.

    No, I don’t need the device to write my comments for me. They are my comments, warts and all. Nor do I want to read sanitized versions of other people’s comments.

  11. ArguablyShrugs

    Pretty sure disabling Apple "Intelligence" WILL free the roughly 10 GB it takes up, right? Right?

    Oh, who am I kidding...

    1. Guy de Loimbard Silver badge

      .... WILL free the roughly 10 GB it takes up, right? Right?

      That's a good point!

      Exactly how much space and bloat does this Intelligence bring?

    2. Gordon 10 Silver badge

      Re: Pretty sure disabling Apple "Intelligence" WILL free the roughly 10 GB it takes up, right?

      Good question. The onboard LLM is about 3Gb from memory (this may be the MacOS one) . In the current versions its installed on opt-in. I would hope Apples system engineers talk some sense to the Product teams on this one.

    3. BenDwire Silver badge

      Re: Pretty sure disabling Apple "Intelligence" WILL free the roughly 10 GB it takes up, right?

      And maybe improve battery life as well?

  12. Kevin Johnston

    Brain is hurting

    Maybe it is time to make a gesture using the locale appropriate number of fingers and go back to a 'battery lasts all week' featurephone. I have already gone penguinista and disconnected from anti-social media systems so the phone is the last place they can harass me.

  13. ICL1900-G3 Silver badge

    iPhone onboarding

    Jesus Christ!

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Apple & AI ... what could POSSIBLY go wrong !!!

    It is the 'End of Days' ... Apples greed means that 'Apple Intelligence' is an REAL oxymoron !!!

    Apples 'standards' have been dropped (more like 'trampled' in the rush) as they see the other 'Tech Behemoths' throw $Billions at the 'AI' God.

    The masses are already begining to bow down before this God as the relentless pitch for 'AI' overwhelms ANY reason or doubts !!!

    Mammon is calling like a mythic siren and no-one is looking out for the 'rocks' !!!

    Apple has already had one little stumble re: 'error-prone AI-generated news summaries', to quote part of a recent headline !!!

    Careful now (Down with that sort of thing) ... your reputation is begining to slip !!!

    :)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Apple & AI ... what could POSSIBLY go wrong !!!

      Disambiguation:

      NO ... not that 'Mythic Siren' !!!!

      Apparently, there is a 'Mythic Siren' in the gaming world !!!???

      Try 'Mythic' then 'Siren' not in any way related to gaming !!!

      Proving that everything has been thought of or said before ... by someone !!!

      :)

  15. s. pam
    FAIL

    Hey Siri, go fluck off

    it will be IMMEDIATELY turned OFF in all our devices....!

  16. Rainer

    Isn't it in the US only, anyway?

    Even then, I only have an iPhone XR.

    I will see when I update (maybe next year or so).

    The XR still works surprisingly well, given it's a 2018 phone (bought in early 2019).

    Though it's showing its age at times.

  17. Roger Kynaston
    Unhappy

    I'm waiting

    The Artificial Idiocy bubble has to burst at some point.

    I must be such an optimist.

    1. MachDiamond Silver badge

      Re: I'm waiting

      "The Artificial Idiocy bubble has to burst at some point.

      I must be such an optimist."

      I agree. The Vulture Capitalist money dries up at a certain point and often for a whole industry if they don't see returns quickly enough. If a highly visible investor such as Mark Cuban gets out of a sector, many will follow.

  18. Winkypop Silver badge

    A solution

    Looking for a problem

  19. Mitoo Bobsworth

    Apple Intelligence

    Isn't that an oxymoron?

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