- By Shiona McCallum
- Technology reporter
Image source, Getty Images
Apple says it will no longer automatically change one of the most common curse words to ‘ducking’.
The autocorrect feature, which has long frustrated users, will soon use AI to detect when you actually meant to use that expletive.
“For those moments where you just want to type a ducking word, well, the keyboard will learn it too,” says software boss Craig Federighi.
He announced the development at Apple’s developers conference in California.
iPhone users often complain about how autocorrect forces them to rewrite their own messages – with the term “damn you autocorrect” becoming an acronym, a meme, an Instagram account and even a song.
The changes in the function will happen thanks to the use of a transformer model, which learns the context by tracking relationships in the data, such as the words in this sentence, using mathematical techniques.
Initially flagged in a 2017 paper from Google, Transformers are some of the most powerful classes of AI models, and autosuggest – or predictive text – systems are starting to become more mainstream.
The autocorrect change will be part of the iOS 17 operating system upgrades that are expected to be available as a public beta in July, with a general release in September.
This should mean that iPadOS 17 also brings a new function.
Elsewhere at the developers’ conference, Apple unveiled an augmented reality headset, the Apple Vision Pro which will retail for $3,499 (£2,849).
Apple chief executive Tim Cook said the new headset “seamlessly blends the real world and the virtual world”.
It will be available early next year in the US and in other countries later in 2024.
On Monday, Apple’s market valuation reached under $3 trillion – a new company record.
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