Up until now, every Apple Intelligence feature has been offered for free. That’s going to change now, as the company is now selling “intelligence usage packs” for $49.99, which give you extra AI use beyond the monthly limit. This isn’t something out of the blue with Apple previously stating in September that it would eventually charge for heavier AI use. This is the first time the company actually has.
Where can you buy one?
At this point, only Logic Pro sells them. In the menu bar, go to Logic Pro > Intelligence Features > Show Usage > Buy More Usage. Further down the lane, Final Cut Pro, Pixelmator Pro and the iWork apps are expected to get them when their Creator Studio updates arrive later this month.
How do the intelligence packs work?
A pack is a one-time purchase, not a subscription. That’s unusual and unorthodox compared to the industry standard of charging a monthly fee. Unused usage would be carried over from one month to the next and expires 12 months after you buy it.
The intelligence pack would only come in when you’ve used up all your free monthly allowance. There’s no Family Sharing for the packs, which means that it only works for the Apple Account you used for iCloud when you bought it.
Will Siri AI and other features cost extra too?
For now, only the Creator Studio apps sell intelligence packs. Siri AI, Image Playground and the Photos tools are still free within their limits. We suspect that the same model could also expand to other AI features that run on Apple’s servers. Rivals aren’t waiting either, with ChatGPT already able to read and manage your iCloud Mail and Calendar.
In my view, a one-time pack that lasts 12 months is fairer than a monthly AI subscription. You have the liberty to use the service and not worry about it getting wasted by the end of the month. Most people will never hit the free limit anyway, but that’s just for casual, occasional users of the service.
We do hope the free limits stay generous. Do you think Apple’s AI capabilities are on par with the industry standard to be charging a user fee?
