Apple is building an AI assistant into Keynote, Pages and Numbers that analyzes the open document and works on it. The beta is based on models from Apple and OpenAI and arrives in the App Store in November with the update to Apple Creator Studio. At launch, the assistant can only be used in US English.
What does the assistant do in the three apps?
Apple describes separate tasks for each app. In Keynote, the assistant helps with designing, animating and refining slides. In Pages, the helper drafts texts, rearranges them and revises individual passages. In Numbers, the AI handles calculations, organizes data, suggests suitable chart types with a preview at the tap of a finger, and creates new tables, which it fills with facts from the model's knowledge.
The difference from a chatbot in the browser lies in the context: The assistant accesses the presentation, text or table you are currently working on. So you don't have to first copy content into a chat window and bring the result back. How reliable the results turn out in everyday use will only become clear after the beta launches in November.
What do you need for it?
The new AI features are part of Apple Creator Studio, the subscription that also includes Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro and Pixelmator Pro. Keynote, Pages and Numbers themselves remain free, and you can continue to edit presentations and documents without a subscription. For the assistant, Apple additionally requires a device with Apple Intelligence and iOS 27, iPadOS 27 or macOS 27.
What you need for the assistant
Beta in Keynote, Pages and Numbers, according to Apple available in the App Store from November 2026
- Apple Creator Studio subscription
- Device with Apple Intelligence
- iOS 27, iPadOS 27 or macOS 27
- For external AI agents via MCP: macOS 27 on the Mac
- German language: for now only US English
Beta feature; Apple does not name a date for German
Sources: Apple Newsroom, iThinkDifferent
Apple Intelligence itself has supported German since iOS 18.4 and macOS Sequoia 15.4, i.e. since March 2025, as Macerkopf reported at the time. This release does not apply to the assistants in the office apps, and Apple does not say when German will follow.
You can book the subscription monthly or annually, and new subscribers get a free trial month. When you buy a new Mac or a suitable iPad, Apple adds three months. Students and teachers at universities pay a discounted education rate.
What changes for external AI agents?
On the Mac, Apple additionally opens the three apps to third-party tools. Via the Model Context Protocol (MCP), external AI agents read content from Keynote, Pages and Numbers, make changes and carry out automated actions. The prerequisite is macOS 27; Apple does not mention iPad and iPhone for this. Whether you need the subscription for MCP remains unclear.
Keynote also gets an open file format: The Keynote Interchange Format with the extension .keyx is a JSON-based package that programs and agents can read directly. Until now, a Keynote file is, according to iThinkDifferent, contained in a zip archive with compressed binary files. For Pages and Numbers, Apple does not announce such a format.
What this means for you
Before signing up, it's best to first check whether your Mac or iPad supports Apple Intelligence and already runs version 27. Without both, the subscription for Keynote, Pages and Numbers won't get you an assistant.
If you create your presentations in German, it's best to save the trial month until Apple adds the language. An English client presentation, on the other hand, is a good test case for the beta. Until then, ready-made slide templates for Keynote save you most of the design work.
If you already work with an AI agent on the Mac, it's worth trying MCP on a copy of your file after updating to macOS 27. How to prepare presentations and tables with AI in general is shown in the AI guide to presentations and data.
Apple unveiled the new features on October 27, 2026.
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