As the sentences go, “Apple Intelligence now works in Apple Shortcuts” is most likely not going to motivate many people to click on a link. And that’s too bad: This change, one of the more overlooked new features in macOS 26, means you can use Apple’s on-board AI to do all sorts of things when you’re designing shortcuts.
Look, I get it: Apple makes Intelligent AI a feature, not a product, and features are generally less interesting to read about than full-blown products. And Apple Shortcuts – which let you create a simple automation to perform multiple tasks – is one of those features that’s easy to overlook. But it can save you a lot of time, if you’re willing to put in a little effort to automate tasks you do frequently.
For example, I set up my daily journal with shortcuts, creating a new journal entry that includes things like the weather, a quote, and a general structure. I use this shortcut almost every day and it makes my life better.
Adding a larger language model to Shortcuts means it’s easier to create automations that can simplify your life. This way:
How does this work
Go to Apple Shortcuts, create a new shortcut, and you’ll see “Apple Intelligence” listed as one of the applications that is supported. There are some text-related actions, allowing you to do things like proofread text, summarize, and create a list. You also get the ability to create an image if you want.
However, for my money, the most useful action offered is “Use Model”, mainly because of how open it is. With it you can choose between three models – a completely offline and private model running on your device, a server offered by Apple using the same model, or even ChatGPT (no subscription or API key required).
You can type any symbols you want, allowing you to manipulate text in all sorts of useful ways. For example, I wanted to be able to quickly copy the details of an event invitation from a text message or email, then add it to my calendar. I created a new shortcut that grabs the current text from the clipboard. I’ve added a bunch of usage model steps that use the original text and output things like the event title, start time and location for the event. I then set up a shortcut to create an event using these details.