After lagging behind its rivals in the artificial intelligence race for the last two years, Apple today announced that its smartphones would soon feature several tools powered by generative A.I.

Apple’s A.I. system will offer a rebuilt version of Siri that the company said will be capable of following a conversation. The technology will also be able to write, proofread, create images and write software code across applications. For requests that it can’t handle — for example, plan a dinner with just a list of several ingredients — users can direct the request to OpenAI instead. Apple struck a deal with the company to support its A.I. endeavor.

“These are the most ambitious changes that Apple has made to the iPhone in the past decade,” said my colleague Tripp Mickle, who has been reporting on the company for many years.

Apple’s move will test whether the tech giant can once again enter a new market and redefine it — as it did with the iPod, the iPhone and the Apple Watch. One advantage the company has is its massive mainstream user base, Tripp said.

“Despite Silicon Valley’s rush to embrace A.I., the technology hasn’t yet been at the fingertips of billions of users everyday,” Tripp told me. “Apple plans to change that overnight this fall with a suite of new tools that can be summoned with a tap of a button.”

For more: Your smartphone is going to change soon. This is how.