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Apple will boost its Siri voice assistant and operating systems with OpenAI’s ChatGPT as it seeks to catch up in the artificial intelligence race.

The iPhone maker announced the Siri makeover along with a number of other new features at its annual developer event on Monday.

It’s part of a new custom AI system — called “Apple Intelligence” — that aims to offer users a way to more easily navigate Apple devices.

Updates to its iPhone and Mac operating systems will allow access to ChatGPT through a partnership with developer OpenAI.

ChatGPT can also be used to enhance other tools, including text and content generation. The test version will be available in the fall.

Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, said the move would take his company’s products “to new heights” as he opened the Worldwide Developers Conference at the tech giant’s headquarters in Cupertino, California.

The announcement was not welcomed by everyone. Elon Musk, the owner of Tesla and Twitter/X, has threatened to ban the iPhone from his companies due to “data security.”

“Apple has no idea what actually happens after they give your data to OpenAI,” Mr. Musk told X. “They’re selling you down the river.”

Apple is facing pressure to introduce new AI features into its products after the rapid rise of competitors that have adopted the technology.

Ben Wood, principal analyst at CCS Insight, said that while Apple’s new personal AI system “should help calm nervous investors,” its integration with ChatGPT could reveal and create deeper problems for the firm.

“Perhaps this means that Apple is recognizing its limitations, given that ChatGPT will come in at a point where Siri can no longer help the user,” he told the BBC.

Apple has been largely absent from the avalanche of AI products released by tech firms in recent months.

Mr. Cook told investors in 2023 that the company would take a careful approach to the technology. On Monday, those plans were finally laid out.

Apple Intelligence is not a product or application in itself.

It will become part of every Apple app and product customers use — whether it’s a writing assistant that refines drafts of your messages, or your diary that can show you the best route to get to the next one meets you

In that sense, it’s similar to Microsoft’s Copilot AI assistant — but you won’t have to pay extra to activate it.

Siri, the voice assistant that Apple acquired in 2010, has been revamped with a new interface and a more conversational approach to help users more seamlessly navigate their devices and apps.

Apple wanted to emphasize the security of Apple Intelligence during Monday’s keynote.

Some of the processing will be done on the device itself, while larger operations requiring more power will be sent to the cloud — but no data will be stored there, he said.

This is vital for customers who pay high prices for Apple’s privacy promises.

The system “puts powerful generative models right at the heart of your iPhone, iPad and Mac,” said Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, Craig Federighi.

“It relies on your personal context to give you information that is most useful and relevant to you, and protects your privacy every step of the way.”

Apple’s decision to integrate OpenAI’s ChatGPT technology was widely expected, but it’s an unusual move for a company that guards its own products so closely.

Google and Microsoft have recently faced scrutiny over mistakes made by their AI products in recent months, with the search giant rolling back a new feature in May after its wrong answers went viral.

For years, Apple also refused to allow its customers to download apps outside the App Store on the grounds that they might not be secure, and did not allow any web browser other than its own Safari for the same reason.

It only changed when forced by EU law.

Is it a sign of recognition that even Apple can’t compete with ChatGPT right now?

If so, that tells us a lot about the current prowess of AI supergiant OpenAI.

The firm said it would integrate other products in the future, but did not name any.

Apple has announced that its mixed reality headset, the Vision Pro, will go on sale in the UK on July 12. Available in the US from February.

Other new features announced Monday include: