The most anticipated features coming to the best Macs later this year in macOS Sequoia are part of Apple Intelligence. It's a suite of artificial intelligence and machine learning features that perform a variety of tasks. For Mac users, some of the biggest changes include an overhauled Siri that has the potential to be a better alternative to Spotlight search and Finder. Unfortunately, you'll have to wait quite a while to use these macOS features. They aren't available in macOS Sequoia developer beta 2 yet, and they will still be a beta feature when they debut later this year.

Luckily, you don't have to wait to start using some of the Apple Intelligence features the company touted at WWDC 2024. Some of them are already available as part of ChatGPT's new Mac app. These alternatives might not feature the same level of integration as Apple's own upcoming offerings, but they provide many similar functionalities. You can use the ChatGPT app for Mac to analyze your files, provide context about what's on your screen, and help you write. Those are many of the same features that Apple Intelligence will bring later this year. With a quick download and a free account, you can beat Apple to the punch by using the ChatGPT app today.

4 Writing tools

ChatGPT can help you write, and it's only a command away

Chatbots that leverage generative AI have long been able to help refine your writing, or write something new from scratch. With a great prompt, it's easy to use ChatGPT to come up with a title, refine a sentence, or create a brand-new template. Although this functionality isn't exactly new, a key part of Apple Intelligence is writing tools that can be accessed throughout macOS. ChatGPT's Mac app can replicate Apple's upcoming writing tools in a similar fashion.

After you set up the ChatGPT for Mac app, you'll be able to directly access the ChatGPT "Chat Bar" from anywhere in macOS. It's accessible by entering the command Option + Space, and works just like Spotlight search — which is called upon by entering Command + Space. The similarity between these two commands isn't by accident. OpenAI wants it to be just as easy to access the Chat Bar as it is to trigger Spotlight search, and it is. Instead of waiting for Apple Intelligence, simply call up the Chat Bar and give ChatGPT your desired writing prompt. Then, copy and paste the response into your word processor or text field of choice.

3 Analyze files and data

If you give ChatGPT your files, it can summarize them and answer questions in context

It's always worth mentioning that AI chatbots are never 100% accurate, and will confidently state their responses as if they are true even when they're incorrect. However, one way to improve the quality of your results is to provide chatbots like ChatGPT with source material that it can pull from directly. You can upload photos, documents, and more to the Chat Bar and ask ChatGPT queries that directly correlate to that source material. It's a clear alternative to Apple Intelligence features that can respond to prompts about your on-device files and data.

For example, I uploaded a PDF version of an XDA article and asked ChatGPT to summarize it in five sentences or less. For what it's worth, ChatGPT responded with a six-sentence summary, and that goes to show the feebleness of AI chatbots today. But it did correctly summarize the article, and was able to answer follow-up questions about its context. That's a big potential use case for Apple Intelligence, and the ChatGPT for Mac app handles it today. Since you can call upon the Chat Bar with a simple command, it's not that much harder to use than future Apple Intelligence features will be.

2 AI-generated emails

ChatGPT can create email templates for a given purpose and tone

Apple wants to use AI to revolutionize your email inbox in a few ways. First, it wants to use AI to organize and sort through your emails, making them easier to discover and search for. Then, Apple Intelligence can also use generative AI to reply to emails for you. ChatGPT doesn't have the integration to match Apple's first goal, but it can certainly reply to emails for you. Simply trigger the Chat Bar, give it a prompt that explains what kind of email you're looking for. Be as descriptive, clear, and precise about what you want for ChatGPT, and it'll give you a great template more likely than not. You can also give the ChatGPT for Mac app information about the email you're replying to to enhance the contextual accuracy of your response.

1 An intelligent assistant

ChatGPT can view your screen's contents and provide context

By far, the most exciting Apple Intelligence feature coming to macOS Sequoia is a supercharged Siri. It's allegedly smarter and can tap into your system files and information to provide accurate and helpful responses. What if I told you that the ChatGPT for Mac app can do some of the same things already? I'd be lying if I said that using ChatGPT is as seamless as Apple's own features are claimed to be. However, by allowing the Chat Bar to take screenshots of your screen, ChatGPT can answer questions and provide context about what you're seeing.

After clicking the Attachments icon in the Chat Bar, you can select Take Screenshot to share a part or all of your screen. Be conscious of what you're sharing, and don't share sensitive information. When the screenshot is clipped to the Chat Bar, type in a prompt that asks a question about what you're viewing on your Mac's screen. In our tests, we asked ChatGPT about an XDA article concerning Snapdragon X laptops. The chatbot was able to summarize the limited amount of information viewable on the screen and answer follow-up questions about the article's topic. That's more than Siri or Spotlight can do today, and it's pretty close to the experience Apple wants to bring to macOS Sequoia later this year.

Do you need to wait for Apple Intelligence?

There are a few reasons to wait for Apple Intelligence. For starters, when you choose to share information with ChatGPT, you trust OpenAI with your data. That may be a mistake, considering that user data is used to train OpenAI data. Additionally, it was uncovered that the ChatGPT Mac app was storing conversations in plain text — just like Recall. The company fixed this security flaw, but it just goes to underscore the risks you take when you trust a third-party app with your data. If you'd rather use on-device processing and Private Cloud Compute, wait for Apple Intelligence.

With that being said, using ChatGPT's new Mac app is not unlike using a web chatbot or mobile app. If you already use ChatGPT in other ways, there's no reason not to give ChatGPT for Mac a try. You'll get to access similar features before Apple Intelligence is even available for beta testers.