iOS 18 could bring AI assistant for Safari browser

Apple’s mobile web browser Safari could get a browsing assistant powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and this may happen with the upcoming iOS 18 software update.

This tip is from an X account @nicolas09F9, who says that the iOS 18 will bring “Safari browsing assistant” and another feature is “Encrypted visual search”. However, the tipster has not shared any details about these two additions.

Adding a browsing assistant could be a new step toward better search support from the iPhone maker. The new AI-powered Microsoft Edge with Copilot is the latest example in the segment.

A user can search the internet through Edge and the search also includes suggestions to chat with the Copilot, Microsoft’s large language model. But doing chat is not the only thing. The AI integration improves search results and provides related search directly to the result screen.

Furthermore, it can improve webpage translation, autocomplete, summarizing search results, and more. The new improvement may also contribute to productivity related to text selection.

On the other hand, the encrypted visual search would be better to keep your visual search secured.

The visual search functionality is currently available through the “Visual Look Up” feature in the Photo app. It enables the user to get information on-screen content information via the Safari browser.

Specific changes currently remain unknown but the source code found by the tipster hints that it exists and Apple is working on it.