Overview
- Apple updated Pages, Keynote, and Numbers on Thursday, Oct. 22 to include a beta Intelligent Assistant that Apple says can draft text, generate slides and images, build formulas, visualize data, and pull up‑to‑date web information into files.
- The assistant is gated behind the Apple Creator Studio subscription, which costs $12.99 per month or $129 per year in the U.S., while basic iWork editing and collaboration remain free.
- Shortly after Apple posted the updates the apps were briefly removed from the iOS and Mac App Stores and then restored, and some reporters who downloaded the new app versions reported the assistant was not immediately usable, implying server‑side or staged activation is controlling access.
- The rollout is limited to U.S. English and requires iOS/iPadOS 27 or later, and Apple also added a Keynote Interchange Format (.keyx) intended to make presentations easier to import and export with other apps.
- The change signals Apple is positioning iWork to compete with Workspace‑style AI tools by integrating deep, document‑aware assistance into productivity apps while shifting some advanced capabilities behind a paid subscription, a move that will affect creators and businesses that rely on in‑app AI features.