Tim Cook impressed King Charles with this specific iOS 18.2 feature

Apple CEO Tim Cook just concluded a visit to London where he also met with King Charles. During the visit the king was overheard talking: specifically asking questions about Apple Intelligence. While not everyone may be sold on Apple’s AI features, the king’s fascination with it shows how mind blowing this tech is for someone who’s lived a long life.The feature that really got his attention was Image Wand which can turn a rough sketch into an image. This tool obviously just recognizes key details of what you’ve drawn and then generates a picture similar to it using a modern AI model. But it is quite a feat of technology — especially for someone who grew up without smartphones — to witness firsthand.

Cook’s visit included welcoming the king to Apple’s Battersea headquarters in an effort to show the company’s willingness to continue to invest in the U.K. He thanked the king for his “commitment to philanthropy”.

— Tim Cook (CEO at Apple), The Standard, December 2024

The visit also saw Cook engaging with people from a nearby youth center and remarking on the time he first joined Apple. He was also asked about the current job market which is in a massive recession. Cook said that the job industry worked in cycles and that it would even out eventually. For everyone’s sake I really hope that’s true. That other part of the cycle can’t come soon enough.