Apple Intelligence turned on by default in upcoming macOS Sequoia 15.3, iOS 18.3

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.

Beginning with the due-to-be-released macOS Sequoia version 15.3 as well as iOS and iPadOS 18.3, Cupertino's suite of AI features, which it calls Apple Intelligence, will be turned on by default for compatible devices.

"For users new or upgrading to iOS 18.3, Apple Intelligence will be enabled automatically during iPhone onboarding. Users will have access to Apple Intelligence features after setting up their devices," the notes for the iOS/iPadOS release candidate to developers reads, spotted by MacRumors.

First teased at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference last year and released in stages following the iGiant's September, "It's Glowtime" event, Apple Intelligence includes a suite of machine-learning-augmented services and features ranging from AI proofreading, rewriting, and summarization to text-to-image and text-to-emoji generation and a, supposedly, more useful Siri.

These features are supported on the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max or newer, and any iPad or Mac with an M1 processor or better. However, critically, users were required to opt in to the service. With its next round of operating system updates, it seems Apple is ready to bring these capabilities to a broader audience.

Having said that, not all functionality touted in the Apple Intelligence announcement has gone over well with users. Last month, Apple's news summarization feature botched a BBC headline, with the AI claiming that Luigi Mangione, the man accused of assassinating United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, had shot himself, when he had not.

As we understand it, this bit of Apple Intelligence will be absent with version 18.3 at least until Cupertino can convince its AI to stop hallucinating headlines.

The good news for those looking to sit out the AI hype is that customers setting up new or resetting compatible devices after the update goes out will still have the option of disabling Apple Intelligence after the fact. According to Apple, users will need to navigate "to the Apple Intelligence & Siri Settings pane and turn off the Apple Intelligence toggle. This will disable Apple Intelligence features on their device."

Apple isn't the only one rolling out AI features to its users. You may have noticed over the past week that your Google Workspace account has been crammed with AI assistants promising to help you craft emails, messages, and revise documents. This functionality is mainly coming to Business Standard and Business Plus plans.

Google has published a table mapping available subscription plans to new pricing. Existing customers will have until March 17 - or their renewal date for those paying annually or on a fixed-term plan - before their bills change.

The Big G says a customer using its Workspace Business Standard plan with a Gemini Business add-on will go from paying $32 per user, per month, to $14, with all the same features, which would be $2 more than Workspace minus Gemini. On the other hand, if you were paying $12 a month for a Business Standard Workspace without Gemini, that's going up to $14 with the AI features now built in.

Further complicating matters, opting out of Google's various AI widgets doesn't appear to be as simple as flipping a switch in the Workspace dashboard, as a group of netizens recently discovered.

Multiple subscribers have reported that the option of disabling Gemini for Workspaces is only available upon request from Google customer support. It turns out Google does provide instructions for disabling Gemini features in Workspace, but they seemingly only apply to enterprise editions of the G-Suite.

We've reached out to the search goliath for clarification; we'll let you know if we hear anything back.

The change comes shortly as Microsoft began rolling out its own brand of genAI functionality into Microsoft 365 Personal and family accounts, along with a $3 a month price hike in the US at least. Those who'd prefer an AI-less experience can opt for a basic or classic plan. ®

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