Apple is coming soon iOS 18 packed with artificial intelligence capabilities. The new mobile operating system can rewrite text messages, summarize emails, and recognize objects in photos. But one of the most interesting features is Image Playground, which creates cartoon-like illustrations based on text prompts.
While Apple Apple has shown examples of its products in keynotes, demos, and product videos, but we’ve yet to see any real-world examples of the Image Playground character. Apple shared with WIRED the first example created by Image Playground that it’s shown outside of pre-recorded keynotes and marketing materials.
This adorable little dog wearing a party hat and smiling behind a birthday cake is no ordinary dog. His name is Bailey, and he belongs to Craig Federighi, senior vice president of software engineering at Apple, who created this image for his wife in honor of Bailey’s recent birthday.
Federighi mentioned the illustration in his interview with WIRED’s Lily Hay Newman about Apple’s Private Cloudsecure server environments the company built to handle AI task requests that can’t be handled on consumer devices, an Apple representative later shared. WIRED’s policy is to clearly identify every AI-generated image we publish, which is why you see watermarks on images.
Image Playground launches at a time when generative AI tools are slowly making their way into the software of all major tech companies, like Microsoft, GoogleAnd Metadata has released AI-powered software focused on productivity and creativity. While Apple’s approach in iOS 18 also prioritizes the practical side of AI, the company has also included some apps that are downright fun—Image Playground is a prime example.
It exists as a standalone app, but you can also access it through Messages. To create an image, you can type a description of what you want to see, select a photo of someone from your photo library, or choose from a number of preloaded concepts. You can also choose between three styles: Illustration, Sketch, and Cartoon. This feature is not to be confused with Genmoji, which lets you create custom emoji directly from the keyboard using text prompts.
Since neither of these generative AI features are in beta yet (though some other Apple Intelligence features are in the iOS 18.1 developer beta), the only examples we’ve seen of Image Playground and Gemoji’s output are tightly controlled by Apple. Until the features are released, Federighi’s adorable dog is the closest we’ll get to seeing outside of heavily edited and produced marketing materials. And I’d say it’s a pretty good example, and certainly not as creepy as the ones we saw during the keynote at WWDC Conference. Good job, Craig.
Updated: September 11, 2024, 7:33 p.m. ET. This story has been changed to add the name of Federighi’s dog.
