Cook: Apple Intelligence Will Gain More Languages ‘Over the Course of the Year’
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Apple gave developers a nice treat this week when it launched a parallel beta cycle of iOS 18.1 to introduce the first of its Apple Intelligence features. While there’s still a lot that hasn’t arrived yet, the first iOS 18.1 beta gives us a taste of what’s to come, with writing tools, summaries, and even AI-generated photo memories already in place.
The other catch is that, as expected, Apple Intelligence is only available in US English, although that’s a settings restriction rather than a geographic one.It’s relatively easy to get it working in most other countries as long as folks outside the US are okay with the AI Writing Tools “misspelling” words like colour.
However, Tim Cook had some good news during yesterday’s earnings call: the rest of the world may not have to wait too long for Apple Intelligence to come to them.
When asked about the rollout of Apple’s new AI features by Amit Daryanani of Evercore, Cook responded that “languages beyond US English” will happen “over the course of the year.”
The rollout, as we mentioned in June … we’ve actually started with developers this week. We started with some features of Apple Intelligence, not the complete suite. There are other features, like languages beyond US English, that will happen over the course of the year.Tim Cook
While Apple has made it clear from its Apple Intelligence page that it’s only “initially” launching in US English, it has previously said little about when a broader launch could be expected beyond the vague language found in the footnotes on Apple’s website:
Some features, additional languages, and platforms will be coming over the course of the next year
However, Cook’s comments this week could provide some hope that this will be sooner rather than later. Unfortunately, it’s still not clear what “over the course of the year” means. Cook also said that “there are other features that will happen over the course of the year.”
While his omission of the word “next” could be taken to mean “over the course of 2024,” we don’t think it’s a good idea to read too much into that. Cook also added that “ChatGPT is integrated by the end of the calendar year,” suggesting a distinction between ChatGPT, which is definitely still coming in 2024, and other Apple Intelligence features, which may still roll out over the course of the next 12 months, putting us well into 2025 and possibly on the cusp of iOS 19 before it comes to a broader audience.
After all, while Cook has confirmed that ChatGPT is coming in 2024, and there’s reason to believe we’ll see Image Playground and Genmoji appear soon, reliable reports already suggest that Siri’s more powerful personal context features won’t even go into developer beta until early 2025, likely in iOS 18.4.
Fortunately, there’s every reason to believe that folks in most other countries will still be able to take advantage of Apple Intelligence. The ability to activate it by setting your device to the United States language and region isn’t just a beta thing; it’s Apple’s official stance that Apple Intelligence will work “with Siri and device language set to U.S. English,” not just for those folks physically located in the United States.
Unfortunately, “most other countries” will still leave out China and the European Union for the foreseeable future. Apple has taken steps to disable Apple Intelligence in both those places — even folks vacationing in Europe have had difficulty turning it on — due to regulatory issues.
In China, Apple needs the government’s blessing on its large language models (LLMs) and a partner to replace ChatGPT, which is prohibited in China. For the EU, Apple has to figure out how Apple Intelligence will fit into the competitive framework of the Digital Markets Act and the new European AI Act; with the potential for massive fines if it’s deemed noncompliant, it’s understandable Apple wants to get this right before turning the key.
Thankfully, Apple isn’t stalling on either of these. Cook told investors yesterday that the company is “very constructively engaged” with regulators in both countries and wants to get its features out to everyone as quickly as possible. However, Cook couldn’t say when that would happen as Apple is still trying to “understand the regulatory requirements.”
