For users new or upgrading to macOS 18.3, Apple Intelligence will be enabled automatically during Mac onboarding. Users will have access to Apple Intelligence features after setti

Plus: Google stuffs Gemini into Workspace, with a hidden off switch? 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.

When installing macOS Sequoia 15.3, iOS 18.3, or iPadOS 18.3, Apple Intelligence will be turned on automatically on compatible devices, Apple says

I’m talking, of course, about Apple Intelligence specifically. Partly because I’m more interested in Apple than other tech companies, and partly because Apple’s AI platform is that much more likely to be somewhat constrained by social ethics and the principles of data privacy.

In addition to iPhones, Apple Intelligence is being enabled by default on eligible iPads and Macs with the iPadOS 18.3 and macOS 15.3 updates, respectively. Notably, Visual Intelligence is exclusive to the iPhone 16 series, featuring a dedicated camera control button.

Apple Intelligence will only be enabled by default for hardware that supports it. For the iPhone, that's just the iPhone 15 Pro series, iPhone 16 series, and iPhone 16 Pro series. It goes further back on the iPad and Mac—Apple Intelligence works on any model with an M1 processor or newer.

Macworld From its introduction in iOS 18.1, Apple Intelligence has been an opt-in feature. Users had to decide to enable it, with Apple even going so far as to put people on a waiting list before they could use it.

Apple Intelligence was promised as a game-changing feature that would transform my iPhone for the better. As with most AI products, though, the reality was so lackluster that it o

I’ve previously argued that Apple Intelligence could be the biggest reason to buy an Apple smart home camera. Longer