Apple Has Relegated Its First AI Chatbot to Customer Support
When Chatgpt was officially launched at the end of 2022, he launched a historic race on the AI that we still live today. The following year saw most of the largest technological companies launching their own AI products: Google published Bard (now Gemini), Microsoft made its debut, and Anthropic dropped Claude, even if Openai continued to iterate on Chatgpt. However, one of the biggest players was sadly absent from this list: Apple.
Despite being among the most precious companies in the world, Apple has had a raw blow with regard to AI. His great push in space did not come at all in 2023, but in 2024. Even then, Apple Intelligence was a little disaster. The company’s ostensible show function, a revised SIRI propelled by AI, was supposed to make its debut with iOS 18, but we are still waiting – and it will not arrive with iOS 26 this fall.
Apple has generative intermediary features that you can use today, including an image generator, a writing assistant and an image editor. But what is missing from Apple Intelligence is a dedicated chatbot: Siri will not engage in a conversation with you, and the integration of chatgpt with iOS 18 is more biased to help you with tasks than to hold a dialogue. If you want a chatbot experience on your iPhone, you need to use one of the dedicated third -party services available on the App Store or on the web.
Apple’s new “chatbot”
It changes now, at least, as long as you only want to discuss technical problems. Apple recently updated its Apple support application with a new “automated cat function”. Indeed, if you press the “Chat” tab, you will be welcomed by a splash screen “Chat with support” which confirms that the functionality is experimental and in early preview.
MacRumors initially identified the update, as well as a change in the conditions of use of the company for the assistance assistant, which is now read: “The support assistant uses generative models … You understand and accept that generative models can sometimes generate incorrect, misleading, incomplete, offensive or harmful results.”
When you start a cat, you will see a similar warning at the top of the page: “You chat with the Apple automated support assistant. This experimental feature can make mistakes. Check the important information.” From there, it is like any chatbot experience that you have probably had before – only a lot more limited in terms of subjects. As announced, the bot really cares only to help you with your technological problems, and to this end, it actually seems to work well.
I started a conversation with it, claiming that my iPhone was running hot, and he listed certain scenarios in which it could happen, and I asked if I had received a temperature warning or if it was just warm to the touch. I went with the latter, which prompted the bot to ask if the phone encountered other problems, such as screen gradation or slowdowns. I pointed out that my iPhone was working so slowly, and the bot suggested that it could be an application that flowed from hay and offered specific instructions to make it the strength of an application.
In another attempt, I acted like the fans of my MacBook Pro worked too quickly. I was surprised to see the bot asking which of the two MacBook professionals attached to my Apple account had the problem (he noted that the new pro was always covered by Applecare +). I decided to say that my oldest MacBook Pro was the one who has the problem. After telling the bot that fans were not blocked, he offered detailed instructions on the reset of the system management controller (SMC), common advice to reset functions such as the fan speed on the Mac Intel.
What do you think so far?
These are simple tests, but honestly, I am a little impressed. Apple has a huge backwards of support items on which to rely, and it is logical to be able to share these tips, because customers ask relevant questions in real time, and the experience is quite fluid. Throughout the exchange, the BOT offers links to different applications and services: if you ask questions about a broken iPad display, it will offer you an integrated configuration experience to make a repair appointment. If you ask questions about a purchase decision, it could offer a link to the Apple Store application.
I have no real technological problem to test the usefulness of the bot, so I can’t really put it to the test, but I would certainly try it the next time I have a serious problem with one of my Apple devices.
Do not wait more than technical support
If you try to talk to the bot of something other than Apple’s technical support, you will be struck by the following: “I cannot help with it. I can answer questions or offer help with certain Apple products and services.” All my attempts to chat with the bot on the things you could ask for Chatgpt have failed. The bot does not appreciate lightness either: when I said, my iPhone was hot again, and he asked me what I was doing just before I notice it, I said “putting it in the microwave”. The bot told me to call 911 if it was an emergency and gave me the opportunity to speak to a human representative.
Apple seems to have implemented this bot with serious railings to avoid improper use, because I cannot have it bait for anything outside the scope of technological support. Perhaps someone with more experience in manipulation of LLMS can design an intelligent enough prompt to bypass these restrictions, and I would like to see how the Apple bot would get out. But for the moment, the only way to discover the first Apple generative chatbot is to ask it questions about your Apple devices. How appropriate.
