Apple Shared Its First Public AI-Generated Image. It's Craig Federighi's Dog

Apple's forthcoming iOS 18 is loaded with a slew of artificial-intelligence-powered capabilities. The caller mobile OS tin rewrite your substance messages, summarize emails, and place objects successful photos. But 1 of the astir amusive features is Image Playground, which generates cartoon-like illustrations based connected a substance prompt.

While Apple has shown examples of its output during its keynotes, demos, and merchandise videos, we person yet to spot a real-world illustration of an Image Playground quality until now. Apple has shared with WIRED the first-ever illustration created by Image Playground that it’s shown extracurricular of its pre-recorded keynotes and selling materials.

This representation of an adorable tiny canine smiling successful beforehand of a day barroom wearing a enactment chapeau isn't conscionable immoderate random pup. It belongs to Craig Federighi, elder vice president of bundle engineering astatine Apple, who created it for his woman successful grant of their pet's caller birthday.

Federighi referenced the illustration during his interrogation with WIRED’s Lily Hay Newman astir Apple’s Private Cloud Compute, the unafraid server situation the institution built to grip AI task requests that cannot beryllium processed connected a consumer’s device. Apple reps shared it later. It's WIRED argumentation to intelligibly place immoderate AI-generated images we publish, truthful that’s wherefore you spot the watermark connected the image.

Image Playground is debuting astatine a clip erstwhile generative AI tools person been creeping into bundle from each the large tech companies, arsenic Microsoft, Google, and Meta person released AI-powered bundle that focuses connected productivity and creativity. While Apple's attack successful iOS 18 besides prioritizes the applicable broadside of AI, the institution has included immoderate purely amusive apps too—Image Playground being a premier example.

It exists arsenic a standalone app, but you tin besides entree it done Messages. To make an image, you tin either benignant a statement of what you privation to see, take a photograph of idiosyncratic from your photograph library, oregon prime from immoderate preloaded concepts. You tin besides opt betwixt 3 antithetic styles including Illustration, Sketch, and Animation. The diagnostic is not to beryllium confused with Genmoji, which allows you to make customized emoji straight from the keyboard utilizing substance prompts.

Since neither of these generative AI features are disposable successful beta conscionable yet (although a fewer different Apple Intelligence features are with the iOS 18.1 developer beta), the lone examples we've seen of Image Playground’s and Gemoji’s output person been tightly controlled by Apple. Until the features are released, Federighi's adorable canine is the closest we'll get to seeing an illustration that exists beyond heavy produced and edited selling materials. And I'd accidental it's a beauteous bully one, and surely not arsenic creepy arsenic the examples we saw during the keynote astatine WWDC. Good job, Craig.

WIRED's Lily Hay Newman contributed reporting to this story.