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Apple’s most recent updates (both software and hardware) are focused on Apple Intelligence — Apple’s branding of artificial intelligence.
Much of Apple’s marketing centered on getting users to upgrade their hardware to the latest models, which are built to support Apple’s AI tools. In this article, we’ll explore some of the features of Apple Intelligence and which of those features may help legal professionals be more effective.
Recently, I watched a documentary on the prolific film music composer John Williams. In that documentary, he noted that he writes all his music by hand, even though he noted it might be faster to use more modern methods.
This is an important lesson: faster is not always better. The key is what is effective. So it is with artificial intelligence.
Lawyers use words for a living. Apple’s most recent updates leverage those words, from both a writer’s perspective and a reader’s perspective. Apple calls these “Writing Tools” and “Proofread.”
To try out how this works, open a new Note using Apple Notes. Type in some text. If you are on an iPhone or an iPad, tap the screen and you will see the “Select” or “Select All” options.
On Mac, highlight the text and then Control-click the selected text (right click) and choose Writing Tools. Note: if you don’t see Writing Tools as an option, you either need to update your software and/or your device.
Using Writing Tools, you can either Proofread or Rewrite the text. Proofread will use AI to check “text for grammatical and spelling errors.” You can review each suggested change and its explanation.
As an example, I copied the above paragraph, beginning with “To try out how this works,” and asked AI to Proofread it. AI provided no suggested changes.
Next, I did the same thing, but asked AI to Rewrite it. Here are the results.
Original: To try out how this works, open a new Note using Apple Notes. Type in some text. If you are on an iPhone or an iPad, tap the screen and you will see the “Select” or “Select All” options. On Mac, highlight the text and then Control-click the selected text (right click) and choose Writing Tools. Note: if you don’t see Writing Tools as an option, you either need to update your software and/or your device.
Rewrite: To test this feature, open a new Note in Apple Notes. Type some text. If you’re on an iPhone or iPad, tap the screen to display the “Select” or “Select All” options. On a Mac, highlight the text and then press Control-click (right-click) on the selected text to choose Writing Tools. Note: if you don’t see Writing Tools as an option, you may need to update your software or device.
If you don’t like the Rewrite, you can ask it to Rewrite it in certain tone (Friendly, Professional, or Concise) or “Try the rewrite again.”
You can also use these tools to Summarize and Organize text. For example, write a list of things to do: get milk, get groceries, go to the bank, and finish writing summary judgment brief.
Select the list and choose Writing Tools, Summarize, Make List. Here are the results.
Original: get milk, get groceries, go to the bank, and finish writing summary judgment brief
AI summarized as a list:
• Get milk
• Get groceries
• Go to the bank
• Finish writing summary judgment brief
You can see how the summarize feature could be helpful with larger amounts of text, like lengthy emails. AI puts this idea to good use.
According to Apple: Staying on top of emails has never been easier. Priority Messages, a new section at the top of the inbox in Mail, shows the most urgent emails, like a same-day invitation to lunch or a boarding pass.
Across their inbox, users can see summaries without needing to open a message, and for long threads, they can tap or click Summarize to view pertinent details. Additionally, Smart Reply provides suggestions for a quick response and will identify questions in an email to ensure everything is answered.
In my experience, the email summary feature is nice. It works in a way that doesn’t interfere with your normal workflow. In fact, you almost don’t notice it. This has been a good way for me to monitor my non-work accounts.
The auto-reply feature shows promise, prompting the user through suggested responses answering each question raised in the email, and prepares a solid first draft.•
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Seth R. Wilson is an attorney with Adler Attorneys in Noblesville. In addition to practicing law, he helps manage the day-to-day technology operations of the firm. He writes about legal technology at sethrwilson.com and is a frequent speaker on the subject.
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