Apple Intelligence Coming to Vision Pro: A UI Challenge Ahead

Apple’s AI technology set to expand to mixed reality, but not before 2025

Apple launched its new AI initiative, Apple Intelligence, during the WWDC keynote last month. This move marks the iPhone maker’s entry into the growing field of artificial intelligence technology for consumer hardware. While Apple confirmed that Apple Intelligence would be available on recent iPhones, Apple Silicon Macs, and iPads, one notable absence from the list was the company’s newest product — the Apple Vision Pro.

During WWDC, Apple hinted at future expansions of Apple Intelligence to other platforms. Now, a report by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman suggests that VisionOS, the operating system for Vision Pro, could be high on that agenda. The Apple Vision Pro certainly has the hardware capabilities to run Apple Intelligence, boasting 16 GB of RAM and an M2 chip — making it more powerful than some entry-level MacBooks. However, the primary challenge lies not in the hardware, but in the user interface.

According to Gurman, “Apple is actively working on bringing the features to the device, but it won’t happen this year.” The delay is primarily due to the need for a new user interface (UI) tailored to the unique characteristics of the Vision Pro.

Interacting with Siri or Apple Intelligence on a phone, laptop, or tablet is relatively straightforward, similar to sending a message in iMessage. However, creating a usable interface for a spatial device like the Vision Pro is considerably more complex.

The user interface design team at Apple faces the challenge of developing a way to make various aspects of Apple Intelligence — such as writing tools, OpenAI’s ChatGPT integration, and the new Siri — work seamlessly in a mixed-reality environment. This task requires rethinking how users interact with AI in a space where digital elements blend with the physical world.

While the exact details of how Apple plans to tackle this UI challenge remain unknown, it’s clear that the company is committed to bringing its AI technology to its mixed reality platform. As Apple continues to innovate in both AI and mixed reality, the integration of Apple Intelligence into the Vision Pro could represent a significant step forward in how we interact with artificial intelligence in immersive environments.

The delay in bringing Apple Intelligence to Vision Pro underscores the complexity of designing intuitive interfaces for new technological paradigms. It also highlights Apple’s commitment to delivering polished user experiences, even if it means taking additional time to get the details right.

As we look ahead to 2025 and beyond, the potential integration of Apple Intelligence with Vision Pro promises to open up new possibilities for AI-assisted mixed reality experiences. It will be interesting to see how Apple solves the UI challenges and what new interactions and capabilities this integration might bring to the world of spatial computing.