Trying to use Siri on an iPhone or iPad can be a frustrating experience. That's because Apple's voice assistant too often fails to understand or correctly respond to your requests. And in this age of generative AI, Siri can't handle the same types of tasks easily tackled by advanced AI bots. To skirt Siri's limitations and add a dose of AI, you can now use ChatGPT directly on your iPhone and iPad.
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Available in iOS/iPadOS 18.2, OpenAI's chatbot will take over from Siri to respond to certain questions and requests — just as if you were using the ChatGPT website or app. The difference here is that ChatGPT is integrated via Apple Intelligence. That means the AI can automatically pop up to help you when Siri is stymied.
Before you proceed, keep in mind that you need the right type of device, one that supports Apple Intelligence. That means any iPhone 16, an iPhone 15 Pro, an iPhone 15 Pro Max, any iPad model with an M1 or later chip, or an iPad mini with an A17 Pro chip.
With a supported device, you can ask Siri to call on ChatGPT to respond to specific types of requests, particularly those geared toward generative AI. Beyond submitting general requests, you can use ChatGPT with Apple's AI-powered Writing Tools to write and revise text based on your descriptions. On an iPhone 16, you can use ChatGPT with Visual Intelligence, which taps into the camera to provide details on the places and objects around you.
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You don't need your own ChatGPT account to use the AI through Apple Intelligence. However, if you do have an account, you can simply connect to it. This means you're able to access a history of your requests. Plus, those of you with ChatGPT Plus subscriptions can take direct advantage of the premium features. But even if you have an account, you may still want to use ChatGPT anonymously since by default your conversations won't be used for AI training.
OK, let's get ChatGPT on your iOS device.
How to set up and use ChatGPT on your iPhone or iPad
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