Currently, Unicode 15.1 supports only 3800 different emojis. But for anyone who somehow thought that wasn’t enough, today at WWDC 2024, Apple announced the ability to use artificial intelligence to create unique emoji based on your instructions.
Called Genmoji, which sounds like a sinister portmanteau of the words “create” and “emoji,” these new creations are powered by Apple Intelligence, a new collection of AI features coming to iPhone, iPad, and Mac later this year. . Similar to creating images with services like Midjourney and Dall-E, users will be able to create custom emojis by entering specific instructions. Once created, they can be shared with others as stickers, reactions on Tapback, or simply embedded in messages.
While the feature isn’t expected to officially launch until later this fall, there’s no major limit to what you can dream up. In a teaser released at WWDC, Apple showed examples like a smiley face with cucumbers over its eyes and a T-rex riding a skateboard while wearing a tutu. Knowing Apple, he said he’s sure there will be some limitations to Genmoji using more graphic cues like guns or blood.
Now, on some level, it can be fun to annoy your friends based on their latest failure with Genmoji. But at the same time, part of the magic of emoji has always been being able to convey a message using a limited number of icons while getting your point across. Also, it’s really hard to imagine how much added value a bagel with lox Genmoji (see lead image above) adds to the classic image. But since it’s AI it’s very hot now, it was probably inevitable to see Apple Intelligence applied to emojis. 🤷♂️
