I probably come off as an AI sceptic. But then I’ve lost count of how many AI ‘breakthroughs’ have now been foisted on the masses that, when you dig into the details, do little more than make tech bros rich while providing questionable value to the wider world. And even Apple isn’t immune.
At WWDC25, it announced that Image Playground, previously a home for anodyne and harmless AI-generated images, would now incorporate ChatGPT. Which opens the floodgates to yet more AI slop: billions more soulless images chewing up resources. All while ripping off people’s art styles by leveraging a massive dataset that ChatGPT owners OpenAI never obtained the rights for. Not great.
But in the same keynote, Apple also announced something that was great – excellent, even: Live Translation. This feature will be baked deep into Apple devices and is a prime example of AI done right. It’s thoughtful and useful. It’s designed to augment rather than replace human activity.
The technology can enhance any communication app, and will naturally be deeply integrated into Apple’s own. In Messages, you’ll be able to automatically translate conversations on the fly. In FaceTime, each person on a call will be able to see live-translated captions while still hearing the original audio. And when using the Phone app, you’ll be able to get spoken translations.
All of this happens entirely on-device, which means everything you communicate stays between you and whoever you’re talking to. And Apple has already started thinking about wider applications of this technology, for example integrating it into Apple Music lyrics, so you can finally understand the meaning of your favorite songs that are in languages you don’t speak.
Of course, this is no magic wand. You’ll still need to take care while using these features. Anyone fluent in multiple languages will be well aware of the shortcomings of automated translation – and that message needs to be spread more widely. Nuance can be lost. Mistakes will happen. But the potential is huge. Imagine a foreign exchange student more easily integrating into an unfamiliar yet exciting new country, or a child and grandparent seamlessly communicating for the first time.
This is AI at its best. It’s not about replacing people but bringing them together and helping them connect. And that paints a far prettier picture than any ChatGPT-derived imagery that might crop up in Image Playground.