Tim Cook addresses Apple Intelligence’s staggered rollout and ChatGPT timing

The first version of Apple Intelligence is now available for developers, but there’s a lot it’s missing. iOS 18.1 beta 1 brings the new Siri, for example, but lacks key features like ChatGPT integration. In yesterday’s Apple earnings call, Tim Cook addressed the staggered rollout of Apple Intelligence features and specifically mentioned a timeline for ChatGPT support.

Staggered rollout of Apple Intelligence features

Apple’s earnings call featured a lot of analyst questions about Apple Intelligence. Wall Street wants to know how much Apple expects AI to impact its bottom line.

During the call, Amit Daryanani from Evercore asked about the rollout of AI features. Specifically, he asked whether Apple Intelligence would receive a staggered rollout.

Here was Tim Cook’s response:

The rollout, as we mentioned in June, we’ve actually started with developers this week. We started with some features of Apple Intelligence, not the complete suite. There are other features like languages beyond U.S. English that will happen over the course of the year, and there are other features that will happen over the course of the year, and ChatGPT is integrated by the end of the calendar year, and so, yes, it is a staggered launch.

Much of this was no surprise.

We knew that Apple Intelligence would launch in U.S. English only, with additional languages coming over the next year. Apple’s own website footnotes say as much.

We also knew that not all features would be available at launch. In its WWDC keynote, Apple highlighted that certain Siri capabilities would roll out over time.

The most interesting tidbit, however, centered around ChatGPT.

Timing of ChatGPT’s integration with Apple Intelligence

To date, it’s been assumed that ChatGPT integration would make its way into the initial Apple Intelligence launch in iOS 18.1.

The feature isn’t in the first 18.1 beta, but current expectations are that future betas will add more Apple Intelligence features.

However, when speaking about the progressive rollout of Apple Intelligence, and unprompted by anyone, Tim Cook chose to call out ChatGPT integration as coming ‘by the end of the calendar year.’

Though no official announcement has been made, it sounds like ChatGPT won’t arrive with Apple Intelligence’s launch in iOS 18.1.

Instead, it appears set for iOS 18.2 later in the year.

When to expect iOS 18.2’s release

Apple typically releases two point updates to its major OS versions before a calendar year ends. For example, here are the dates for last year’s iOS 17 rollouts:

• iOS 17.0: September 18
• iOS 17.1: October 25
• iOS 17.2: December 11

A similar pattern is seen with iOS 16 the year before:

• iOS 16.0: September 12
• iOS 16.1: October 24
• iOS 16.2: December 13

Assuming this pattern holds, we should see the launch of Apple Intelligence in October with iOS 18.1.

However, if I’m reading Cook’s comments correctly, ChatGPT integration won’t arrive until iOS 18.2 in December. Perhaps alongside more AI features like Genmoji and other image generation tools.

Which Apple Intelligence features are you most looking forward to? Do you think they’ll make the initial 18.1 launch? Let us know in the comments.