This fall, Apple is incorporating ChatGPT into Siri in iOS 18. Although most of Apple Intelligence’s features are built by Apple, including most of Siri’s new capabilities, the company is still partnering with OpenAI to add ChatGPT’s powers as an additional AI tool in iOS 18, macOS Sequoia and iPadOS 18.
Here’s everything you need to know about ChatGPT’s Siri integration.
How to Enable Siri Support for ChatGPT in iOS 18
ChatGPT integrates with iOS 18, so activating it with Siri won’t require downloading additional apps.
More than that, ChatGPT will not have any setup process. There is no need to create or sign in to an OpenAI account before Siri can engage with the AI service.
Instead, whenever you ask Siri something in iOS 18 that she thinks ChatGPT is best suited to answer, you’ll be given the option to use ChatGPT for that request. No setup required.
ChatGPT will answer questions Siri can’t
One of the two main ways ChatGPT will benefit iOS 18 users is by answering the “know the world” questions that Siri can’t.
Apple used the phrase “world knowledge” several times in its WWDC presentation, contrasting it with the “personal knowledge” that Siri specializes in — questions about your calendar, your messages, your reminders.
Essentially, though, this means that ChatGPT will be able to answer the questions that Siri can’t. All this with the power of GPT4o.
Today, when Siri is unable to answer a question, she tends to search the web: “I found this on the web.”
In iOS 18, it will pass the baton to ChatGPT instead so you can get a really useful response. Examples include:
- providing a list of ingredients and requesting a recipe
- to take a photo of a plant and ask for care instructions
- other types of specialized requests that Siri isn’t equipped for
The insights provided by ChatGPT should dramatically improve Siri’s usefulness on Apple devices.
ChatGPT will draw text and create images on command
The other major areas where iOS 18 jumps into ChatGPT are text composition and image creation.
Although Apple Intelligence comes with its own set of writing tools created by Apple, they are aimed at helping you rewrite or proofread your existing work.
Siri in iOS 18 won’t be able to draft an email for you from scratch, nor will Apple Intelligence’s built-in writing tools — but you’ll be able to download ChatGPT for the job.
Whether you’re sending an email, messaging, or starting a new essay, you’ll be able to use ChatGPT to compose that text from scratch based on your request.
Through the same compositing tool, you can ask ChatGPT to create an image for you, and it will—despite the fact that Apple Intelligence has its own image creation powers.
All of this is obviously already possible using ChatGPT for web or its app, but building its powers into the system will make them available wherever you work.
Keeping your personal data
While Apple users generally have a high degree of trust in the company’s privacy practices, should that same trust extend to the OpenAI that powers these new iOS 18 capabilities?
The answer is: it doesn’t have to, because OpenAI is limited in what data it receives.
During the WWDC keynote, Apple CEO Craig Federighi promised that with ChatGPT integration on iOS 18, “Your requests and information will not be logged.”
This means that OpenAI will not be able to aggregate your various profile creation requests and potentially sell that data to third parties.
Require express permission with each request
The other key piece of Apple’s privacy story with its ChatGPT integration is that every time you make a request to Siri that will touch ChatGPT, you must first provide your explicit permission.
To ensure that your data only goes to ChatGPT when you specifically want it to, Siri will present a permission dialog if necessary to obtain your consent.
This extra step causes ChatGPT to turn on, not turn off. It also, unfortunately, creates the potential to display an annoying amount of permission fields.
Hopefully, even if it’s not there at launch, Apple will provide a settings switch at some point to enable the use of ChatGPT without having to give explicit permission each time.
Optional benefits of using an OpenAI account
Just because you don’t need to use an OpenAI account doesn’t mean you can’t. iOS 18 will provide the option to sign in to your existing account if you wish.
One benefit of signing in to your account is that your ChatGPT activity through Siri will then be linked to that account. Which can be useful if you prefer to keep all such activities related to OpenAI.
Perhaps a more significant benefit is that if you’re a ChatGPT Plus subscriber, Siri can take advantage of the additional features the plan provides. Current Plus features are described at the bottom of this page.
Siri in iOS 18: the ultimate AI aggregator
ChatGPT does not overtake Siri. But it will complement Apple’s Assistant in some key ways. Where Siri has historically failed, it will now get help from OpenAI.
This is also just the beginning. Google Gemini is also expected to be integrated with Siri. Ultimately, Siri can serve as the ultimate aggregator of AI assistants. Built on the foundation of Apple’s own AI tools, but backed by the best of its competitors.
Are you excited about using ChatGPT in iOS 18? Let us know in the comments.
FTC: We use automatic affiliate links that earn revenue. More ▼.
