Apple reportedly working on AI-enabled Safari 18 for later this year

Apple is gearing up to unveil Safari 18 later this year, and it reportedly will be equipped with an array of features poised to improve the browsing experience. As reported by AppleInsider, the tech giant is testing a version of its Safari web browser, loaded with UI enhancements and an AI-powered tool called Intelligent Search.

It's expected that these unreleased features, being tested alongside internal builds of iOS 18 and macOS 15, could make their way to the end users as part of Safari 18 later this year, the report says.

Safari's revamped user interface consolidates essential controls into a single, easily accessible page controls menu in the address bar. The menu puts several options such as zoom, reader mode, privacy controls, content blocking, extension shortcuts, Web Eraser, and AI summary tool, in one place.

Apple's Intelligent Search could work similarly to the article summary feature available on the Arc browser, as per the publication. The feature is designed to summarize text by identifying key phrases and topics on the webpage.

Intelligent Search supposedly uses Apple's on-device AI technology, specifically the Ajax language-learning model, to deliver AI-enhanced browsing and text summarization. However, on the test builds of Safari 18, the feature needs to be activated manually from the new page controls menu.

Another feature in the works is called Web Eraser, which is again accessible through the page controls menu. As the name suggests, the feature lets you remove unwanted parts of a web page such as banner ads, text, images, or entire page sections.

The report says that Web Eraser remembers the content removed from a webpage, It will remain that way even if you close the original tab or window. The erasure tool will remind you about the modifications on your next visit, offering the option to roll back the changes and see the unedited version.

With that said, Safari isn't the only Apple software getting the AI treatment. It was previously reported that the Cupertino giant is readying generative AI features for iPhone's upcoming software upgrade, namely iOS 18. Apple was also reportedly spending millions of dollars a day on its ChatGPT rival.

Source: AppleInsider