Apple started rolling out iOS 18.2 to everyone’s iPhone last week. The version number may seem random, but this update is significant because it’s the first time you can access the Apple Intelligence features teased at WWDC. The AI abilities include ChatGPT integration through Siri, the introduction of GenMoji, and the space to play around inside the aptly named Image Playground.
iOS 18.2 includes other improvements, like two-stage shutter abilities for Camera Control, which are included with the update, and AI-infused inbox sorting inside the Mail app. You can read the official release notes for the update to see everything. While those improvements will likely enhance the iOS experience, everyone’s hankering for Image Playground and Apple Intelligence. I’m here to give the people what they want.
I’ll say this: whatever the Apple algorithm thinks of me and my likeness, it seems to have been generated in the safest way it knows how. I wasn’t expecting my AI self to resemble the main character of the latest batch of saccharin Hallmark Christmas movies. But I’m almost wondering if that’s the point of how Apple tuned things to be. I fed my family’s photos through Apple Intelligence, too, and they similarly looked prepped and polished enough to star in a poorly written holiday-themed meet cute.
© Florence Ion / Gizmodo No, this isn’t me.It took a few tries with the Apple Intelligence prompter to get the images I wanted to share here. During my first attempt at generating a picture of myself, Image Playground selected a photo from the archives where I wear headphones and my hair is pulled back. The resulting generated photo of me had me looking older than I am by at least twenty years. It gave me gray-toned short hair rather than the long, plain brown hair I have in all the other photos it has stored of me. Even my AI-generated clothing looked like something out of the Izod catalog for preppy retirees. That’s not who I am!
I used Image Playground’s built-in internal rating system to inform it that this was not passable. After you’ve selected thumbs up or down, the app invites you to share more details as feedback to the development team. There are many options, and I would encourage you to send off a few comments as you play around with the ability.
Apple’s Image Playground was more fun when it didn’t involve me and my loved one’s technologized faces. I asked it to generate an image featuring a purple cow grazing on a pasture underneath a starry sky with a UFO off in the distance. It delivered that nearly flawlessly, or at least from what I could see on the iPhone 16 Pro. Then, I asked Image Playground to generate an image of a kitten with baby snakes scattered around. Apple Intelligence struggled there and fused multiple tails into the image in a snake-like formation. Poor kitten.
© Florence Ion / GizmodoI did like how responsive Image Playground is as you add and subtract prompts. As you’re working on your image, you can fine-tune it with terminology and themes, including adding and removing different terms as you see fit. I took the kitty cat with multiple tails and transformed it into an astronaut cat that is also royalty. Because why the hell not?
I did attempt to go off-script in a naughty way. I asked Image Playground to generate an image of “Naked Santa running through a blizzard but covering his private areas in creative ways.” What can I say? I was inspired by my recent watch-through of Hot Frosty, one of this year’s Netflix holiday specials. Image Playground denied me my fantasy. Apple Intelligence smacked my hand away, figuratively speaking, with a kind but firm command. “Unable to use that description.” Fine.
The good news is that you can generate other holiday imagery for whatever group text you’re attempting to engage. You can save those images and return to them later to tweak them as you see fit. If you want to generate your own Hallmark holiday movie poster, the ability is available with the iOS 18.2 update for the iPhone 15 Pro and all models of the iPhone 16.
English (US) ·