AI in iMessage: unique emojis generated on-the-fly
Emojis are an integral part of communication today. Not really long ago, all major messengers introduced reactions to messages. When the feature was launched, it felt a bit excessive: you can simply send an emoji in response to a text received, and thus express your attitude thereto. Why would you need to react instead if the effect is similar? And yet, the idea caught on, and now even your parents are using the feature.
Apple wants to bring it to the next level. The company reportedly devises an integration of a generative AI with its iMessage service in order to let users create emojis on the fly. The emojis are supposed to be unique, created by the AI for the specific context, based on how it understands and interprets notional and emotional parts of the message. Not just some suggestions from the list, which is ever expanding: the latest candidates to join the ranks of assorted smileys are the eyesack face, a fingerprint, a tree without leaves, a harp, and a splatter mark.
It is not yet clear how the feature will work, but, since it’s Apple, it’s likely to be hated by some and loved by others. The simplest implementation, it would seem, can involve emoji suggestions popping up when you’re almost done with a sentence, or something of this sort.
There are some privacy concerns involved, of course, but Apple will likely parry them by saying that for the unique emoji generation purposes, AI will rely on local device resources exclusively and never send nor receive anything to/from the outside. Well…
AI in communications: beyond emojis
It's not really difficult to see how AI-enabled communications can develop further. Today, we're talking about artificial intelligence suggesting silly little emojis to help us better express the sentiment behind what's being texted; tomorrow, "paint a picture with words" and "a picture is worth a thousand words" will no longer be figures of speech. You'll just have to feed some words loosely describing the message you want to convey into the input box, and your correspondent will get a short clip expressing that message, subject to your approval.
Today, though, we’re not there yet, and if you need a picture or a clip, you actually have to create it. Here’s the link to the Design & Photo section of Mac Informer’s catalog:
Browse it to find programs that can help you unleash your creativity on Mac, the old-fashioned way.
