There has been a recent boom in AI apps intended for general use by the public, and now, for those hoping to write better, a new app has arrived.
A new iOS app launched by AI21 Labs called Wordtune for iOS launched on Tuesday. The platform uses artificial intelligence to help Apple users rephrase and rewrite sentences, as well as improve their grammar wherever they write. The software comes in the form of an integrated keyboard application an expansion of the company's already-released Google Chrome extension.
Wordtune for iOS is the latest of recent developments in the AI field which is being referred to by experts as “generative AI.” While prior applications of AI technology have typically been utilized in backend or advanced computing environments, 2022 has seen a massive spike in the availability and diversity of AI-driven applications that can be used to generate new content based on user input.
“Machine vision is the lens into the human eye, and natural language is the lens into the human mind. To understand text is to understand thinking.”
AI21 co-CEO Yoav Shoham
At present, there are quite a few generative AI apps being used by people around the internet, including popular art generators such as DALL E and Midjourney, portrait generators like MyHeritage’s “AI Time Machine” and the recently-trending Lensa app, as well as other text-based platforms like the narrative video game AI Dungeon or the storytelling application NovelAI.
“Over the last several months, generative AI - both visual and textual - has been all the rage, but until now users have been limited to using the technology on their laptops or desktop computers,” said Ori Goshen, co-founder and co-CEO of AI21 Labs. “With the launch of Wordtune for iOS, we are unlocking the magic of Generative AI on everyone’s mobile device, fundamentally enhancing the way people write, communicate and compose text on their phones.”
The recent surge in Generative AI is the result of some key developments in the field, namely Natural Language Processing. NLP is a facet of artificial intelligence which was recently cracked wide open by developers, and has enabled machines to begin in earnest the process of breaking down and comprehending human language — and perhaps by extension, thought.
Goshen’s partner at AI21 Labs, co-founder and co-CEO Yoav Shoham, explained the prolific importance of NLP advancement during an interview with The Jerusalem Post. “NLP seems inherently tied to progress in AI, because it captures complex human thinking,” he noted.
“The previous decade was sort of the decade of machine vision: computers looking at pictures and understanding what they’re seeing. That turns out to be an easy problem. [At least], it's much easier than understanding text,” Shoham said. “Machine vision is the lens into the human eye, and natural language is the lens into the human mind. To understand text is to understand thinking.”