Apple’s Safari web browser is apparently getting a major update and may soon include artificial intelligence (AI) features. Earlier this month, a source stated that Safari might be among the first Apple apps to include AI functionality.
According to another report, the company is presently conducting internal tests on a number of new features for the Safari 18 build, which will be released alongside iOS 18 and macOS 15. Furthermore, the IT giant is rumored to be working on a system-wide visual lookup feature.
According to AppleInsider, the next Safari version could include a slight UI redesign, article summary capabilities, content banning on web pages, and perhaps an AI-powered assistant.
According to unidentified sources familiar with the work, Apple is currently examining the performance and practicality of these features. The publication also shared images of the features.
The most noteworthy feature described in the report is Intelligent Search. The feature is reported to use Apple’s on-device AI technology, notably the language-learning model Ajax, to summarise webpages and articles.
Based on the examples shared, the AI function summarizes the text into subject headings and small paragraphs that describe the themes. Notably, Google’s Gemini AI and Microsoft’s Copilot also offer similar features. It is unclear whether the Intelligent Assistant will have other features such as text generation.
According to the report, Apple is developing another AI-powered tool for its Safari 18 browser known as Web Eraser. This is a content blocker that can remove any element from a web page.
The tool can be used to remove banner ads, images, and text from a webpage. It is stated that the Safari browser remembers the items removed by a user even after the session has ended. The next time you open the same website, the effect is repeated and you can return to the unblocked view.
Aside from this, the browser will see a small interface change. According to reports, the address bar will soon feature a new page management menu. This menu will have options for activating those previously mentioned capabilities, as well as a variety of other tools that are presently distributed across multiple menus in Safari.
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According to the screenshot, it also has the ‘Aa’ option and the zoom feature. Notably, the new Safari browser’s UI remains consistent across iOS 18 and macOS 15, indicating that the tech giant is attempting to unify the browsing experience across both platforms.
Finally, the source stated that Apple is developing an upgrade to its visual lookup feature, which is already available in the photos app and detects plants, pets, and landmarks from photos.
According to the report, Apple is working to make this feature system-wide so that it may be used on any screen, including Safari web pages. The under-development enhancement is supposed to be powered by artificial intelligence.