Apple’s upcoming iOS 18 is packed with AI-powered features. The new mobile operating system can rewrite text messages, summarize emails, and identify objects in photographs. But one of the most fun features is Image Playground, which generates cartoon-style illustrations based on a text message.
While Apple has shown off examples of its production during its presentations, demos, and product videos, we have yet to see a real-life example of an Image Playground character until now. Apple has shared with WIRED the first example created by Image Playground to be shown outside of its pre-recorded presentations and marketing materials.
This image of an adorable dog smiling in front of a birthday cake and wearing a party hat isn’t just any old photo. It’s from Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, who created it for his wife in honor of their pet’s recent birthday.
Federighi referenced the illustration during his interview with WIRED’s Lily Hay Newman about Apple’s private cloud computing, the secure server environment the company created to handle requests for AI tasks that can’t be processed on a consumer’s device. Apple representatives later shared it. It’s WIRED’s policy to clearly identify any AI-generated images we publish, which is why you see the watermark on the image.
Image Playground debuts at a time when generative AI tools have been creeping into the software of major tech companies, as Microsoft, Google, and Meta have all released AI-powered software that focuses on productivity and creativity. While Apple’s focus in iOS 18 also prioritizes the practical side of AI, the company has also included some purely fun apps, with Image Playground being a prime example.
It exists as a standalone app, but you can also access it through Messages. To generate an image, you can type a description of what you want to see, choose a photo of someone from your photo library, or choose from some pre-loaded concepts. You can also opt from three different styles, including Illustration, Sketch, and Animation. The feature shouldn’t be confused with Genmoji, which lets you generate custom emojis right from the keyboard using text prompts.
Since none of these generative AI features are available in beta yet (though some other Apple Intelligence features are in the iOS 18.1 developer beta), the only examples we’ve seen of Image Playground and Gemoji in production have been tightly controlled by Apple. Until the features are released, Federighi’s adorable dog is the closest we’ll get to seeing an example that exists beyond heavily produced and edited marketing materials. And I’d say it’s pretty cool — and certainly not as creepy as the examples we saw during the WWDC keynote. Good job, Craig.
WIRED’s Lily Hay Newman contributed reporting.