Apple to Unveil AI-Powered Smart Replies Feature for the Mail App at WWDC 2024: Report

Apple could introduce an AI-powered Smart Replies feature to its native Mail app, as per a report. The Smart Reply feature will be able to use artificial intelligence (AI) to instantly generate responses to emails in the inbox. The tech giant is reported to unveil the feature at the upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2024 scheduled for June 10. Siri is said to be equipped with the Smart Replies feature as well, which would allow it to generate messages and reply to emails on the user’s behalf. Reportedly, these AI-led upgrades are being developed by Apple’s Project BlackPearl.

Apple to add AI-Powered features to the Mail App

According to a report by AppleInsider, the Mail app is set for a major upgrade. Citing people familiar with the matter, it claimed that a Smart Replies feature will be able to generate email replies and help users respond to emails quickly. It is also said to be able to change the tonality of the responses. For instance, users can ask the reply to be more professional, more conversational, or friendlier.

The report claimed that the pre-release version of Apple’s upcoming operating systems also showed more upgrades for the Mail app. The search results of the app were seen to include data from Contacts, locations, and on-device documents. This is reported to add a more nuanced search function for the Mail app. These features are said to be powered by the Ajax large language model (LLM), Apple’s yet-to-be-announced on-device AI model.

Further, the Mail app might be able to categorise emails based on their text, claimed the report. This could mean that Apple will be equipping the Mail app with machine learning technology to analyse emails. The report highlighted that the app might be able to classify emails into one of the six pre-defined lists among Commerce, News, Other, Promotions, Social, and Transactions.

This could be useful for those who receive a large number of emails. Official email accounts of organisations may also benefit from it. Additionally, the report claims that Smart Replies and email categorisation features will also be added to Siri. While it is difficult to gauge the use case for the latter, the former will allow users to verbally respond to emails with AI-generated content.

Apart from these, a previous report has highlighted that Apple might add AI features for Siri, Photos app, Notes app, and more.