Apple is introducing a feature that everyone has been eagerly waiting for, ducking finally! Now, users can say what they meant without their gadget changing it to something less offensive—but not what they really intended.
During Apple’s Monday event, the iPhone maker announced that it will change its autocorrect feature so it won’t change a common expletive to “ducking”—not too hard to guess which one. And the company will be using artificial intelligence to do it.
“In those moments where you just want to type a ducking word, well, the keyboard will learn it too,” Craig Federighi, Apple’s chief of software, said at the event, adding that the new software update, iOS 17, will have “big updates” to users’ texting experience.
Clearly apple won’t say “AI” on stage nearly as much as google, but natural language models on device to improve autocorrect makes a lot of sense. Useful AI. The language model is trained on the way you type and the words you actually ducking use pic.twitter.com/rViq9X94XU
— Marques Brownlee (@MKBHD) June 5, 2023
The tech powering this feature will lean on a transformer language model, which helps with word prediction, and is similar to one used in the viral chatbot ChatGPT, according to CNBC. The A.I. model will anticipate words and phrases based on each user as part of the new update.
“Predictions improve based on the phrases and words you use, so they are more personalized,” Federighi said.
The new feature will be a welcome change for users of Apple devices, who grudgingly put up with the quirks of its autocorrect feature. It’s also an example of how Apple is advancing its A.I. innovations in a different way than its tech rivals including Google, who are building out chatbot-like functionalities to roll out across applications, among other things.
Apple did not immediately return Fortune’s request for comment.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Apple’s new A.I. endeavors—or “machine learning,” as the company refers to the tech with its technical term. Some of its other A.I.-linked developments include creating a digital persona by scanning the user’s face and body to be used while wearing the Vision Pro headset, as well as one that can tell one pet from another.
All of Apple’s big tech announcements came during the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference hosted in Cupertino, where the company is headquartered. The company unveiled a long-awaited mixed-reality headset called Vision Pro, priced at $3,499.
The device, which rivals tech giant Meta’s Quest 3 headset and looks similar to a pair of ski goggles, will help users turn their living room into a gaming location or a movie theater via immersion in a virtual setting. Among the many features of the product is one that will display the users’ eyes through the headset, making the experience of using it less isolating.
Shares of the iPhone maker rose 1.8% to a record high of $184.15 on Monday. Analysts have predicted that the launch of a new product—its first in eight years—could bring Apple closer to a $3 trillion valuation, depending on first-year sales.
But despite the fanfare surrounding Apple’s new product launch, analysts are holding their horses as they aren’t sure what to expect of a mixed-reality device, whose launch comes after similar products failed to take off.
“Vision Pro is something that investors will need to try before they believe. There are so many questions I have, that may take months to answer as content and applications build,” Gene Munster, managing partner at tech-focused investment firm Deepwater Asset Management, wrote on Twitter.
