Apple unveiled a significantly redesigned Siri digital assistant at its Worldwide Developers Conference, integrating artificial intelligence capabilities into the voice control system that has long frustrated users. The company demonstrated the new AI-powered assistant, which will be officially called "Siri AI," during its keynote presentation.
The revamped Siri represents a fundamental shift in how the assistant functions. Rather than serving as a question-and-answer tool that draws from the web, the new version will operate more similarly to AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Google Gemini. Mike Rockwell, Apple's vice-president of Siri engineering, explained that the company had rebuilt the tool with generative AI at its core, powered by Google's Gemini AI model through a billion-dollar partnership.
Rockwell demonstrated the assistant's capabilities by showing how it can pull information from Apple's native app ecosystem to help with daily tasks. In one demonstration, he showed Siri identifying a beach location from a photograph, then retrieving a friend's address and providing directions to the beach in Santa Cruz, California, with a stop at the friend's house. All of this occurred within the Siri interface rather than requiring users to switch between multiple applications.
The new Siri will have its own dedicated app and be available across iPhone, iPad, and Mac devices. It will be more conversational than its predecessor and capable of proofing text, shopping, adding calendar events, and using the camera to retrieve information like nutrition details from food. Initially, the assistant will only be available in English, with the fall rollout scheduled for later this year.
Dipanjan Chatterjee, a principal analyst at Forrester, characterized the update as significant. "A fundamentally re-architected Siri inside iOS 27 with a little help from Google's Gemini would represent more than an update – it would signal Apple's readiness to make AI the primary interface layer across its ecosystem," he said.
The Siri announcement came as part of broader updates to iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27 Golden Gate. Apple also announced that the new macOS version will require Apple Silicon processors, continuing the company's transition away from Intel-based systems.
The update marks a notable shift for Apple, which has taken longer to release AI features compared to competitors like Google. During the keynote, Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice-president of software engineering, acknowledged this approach. "Some appear to be racing forward, seemingly pursuing AI for the sake of AI, without clear regard for the people that it's ultimately meant to serve," he said.
The company had previously announced plans for an updated Siri in 2024 but repeatedly postponed its release. Earlier this year, Apple agreed to pay $250 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging false advertising of Siri's AI capabilities, with some consumers receiving payouts up to $95.