Apple has its own version of Google Lens, by the name of visual intelligence (lower-caps spelling, here). Basically, the idea is to make getting and consuming information easier, by way of allowing users to simply point the camera at something, click a button on an iPhone, and get info on that something.
The Five Most-Key Takeaways from This Blog Post
- iPhone 16 models have this feature, which involves clicking and holding the Camera Control button on the side of these devices. On iPhone 16e, users can access the feature with the Action button or Lock Screen or Control Center.
- Search is one use for visual intelligence. For instance, pointing the camera to get visual-intelligence information about a brick-and-mortar store with a vague name and facade that do not indicate what it sells.
- Translation, summarization, and text-to-speech, are other uses. That can be especially useful when traveling, or reading dense user manuals. Plus, it is useful for people with visual impairments.
- Identification is another use, which allows you to get a straight answer about what something is. A pretty flower is one example, another being a car on the road.
- Business owners will benefit from this feature, as it allows users to learn about products on store shelves, and brick-and-mortar stores, just by pointing the camera at these things.
The Significance for Business Owners
Visual intelligence, as with the similar Google Lens on Google’s smartphone devices, can be yet another way to lead potential customers to a purchase point.
Apple itself makes the pitch that this will be a great feature for helping business owners, as visual intelligence can pull up Tap Order, Tap Reserve (for making reservations), and even Tap \[three-dot icon\] (for contacting the business), among other optional Taps.
These Taps go beyond mere information like getting business hours (Tap Schedule) or learning about menu items or services (Tap Menu). Visual intelligence clearly offers actions that lead people to making purchases.
In other words, visual intelligence is about more than just learning about the places and objects around you, but creating a pathway for users to make decisions (read: purchases) that can lead to profits for businesses that end up in front of an iPhone camera’s lens.
What this means is that one of Apple’s specific goals in designing visual intelligence is to help connect businesses to consumers. Otherwise, why include those Taps?
So, visual intelligence will better help its users navigate the world, and being placed on routes to making purchases from businesses. For business owners, this can help increase profits, as customers will not have to or even rely on traditional internet searches to be led to a purchase
A Broader Significance for Digital Marketing
The point-and-learn promise of Apple’s visual intelligence and Google Lens is that it can offer an alternative path to making purchases than traditional search engines.
That of course does not mean it will replace search engines, because these features rely on search engines to feed the user information and click-to-purchase buttons.
Really, it just strengthens the odds of the users finding their way to a business. Especially in the case where the user truly does not know what is in front of the camera, and so would not know what to type or speak to the search engine.
Considering cases like that, it becomes clear that if anything features like visual intelligence are actually creating more opportunities for businesses to get customers, rather than replacing existing opportunities.
The other significant thing about this feature is that it can simply speed up the process of finding information, as well as finding oneself on the pathway to a purchase point.
That connects to a broader trend in A.I. in search, which is taking more and more of the search actions off the hands of the users, and letting A.I. quickly deliver to the user the sought-after information, along with nodes on purchase-point pathways.
For business owners, this means that potential customers will have to do less work than ever in finding their business, along with learning about their business.
The Last (But Not Least) Key Takeaway from This Blog Post
Apple is a high-profile example of how A.I. is increasingly becoming a presence in everyday life.
What will really boost the sensed omnipresence of artificial intelligence is what Apple is doing with the iPhone 16 line, which is integrating more and more A.I. into the devices that are already a part of our everyday lives.
Considering that Apple added an entire new button to next-gen iPhones for enabling the A.I. visual intelligence, when so much of that companies design philosophy is to strip away buttons, should signify the dedication to getting users on board with using A.I. regularly.
For business owners, it is clear that companies like Google and Apple are keeping businesses in mind when designing these A.I. tools. The ease of pointing a camera and getting information could make features like this a regular part of people’s everyday lives, and businesses’ everday operations.
Other Great GO AI Blog Posts
GO AI the blog offers a combination of information about, analysis of, and editorializing on A.I. technologies of interest to business owners, with especial focus on the impact this tech will have on commerce as a whole.
On a usual week, there are multiple GO AI blog posts going out. Here are some notable recent articles:
- For Businesses and Other Organizations, What Makes a Successful Chatbot?
- IBM Watson vs. ChatGPT vs. Gemini: How Will Each Affect Search Engines?
- Using A.I. to Find Resources for Business Owners
- How Would Restricting Open-Source A.I. Affect Business Owners?
- The EU’s A.I. Act Has Become Law: The Implications for Business Owners (Especially American)
In addition to our GO AI blog, we also have a blog that offers important updates in the world of search engine optimization (SEO), with blog posts like “Google Ends Its Plan to End Third-Party Cookies”.
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