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Highlights taken by ZDNET
- Siri AI discovers existing AI assistants.
- The new Siri can handle multi-step tasks and requests.
- Apple has also expanded its offerings of models and infrastructure.
After years of waiting, Apple finally unveiled its new AI-powered Siri at WWDC on Monday, called Siri AI. It retains some of the familiar Siri functionality that Apple users are used to, but enhances what the assistant can do with Apple Intelligence, the company’s subtle, secret AI offering that was announced two years ago at WWDC 2024.
But doing more with the new Siri may come at an additional cost. Here’s what we know.
How Siri AI works
This is a “completely new version of Siri,” according to Apple he called itnow it’s more conversational and can pull information from the internet and translate what’s on your screen to answer questions and complete tasks with ease. It is powered by Apple Intelligence, developed with Google’s Gemini in a partnership the two companies announced in January.
Also: iOS 27 is here: How to download the developer beta now
Basically, it should do what users expect from AI assistants like Gemini and Claude, and perhaps what users already wanted from Siri before AI assistants introduced a competitive option. Similar to Gemini Personal Intelligence available in context, Siri AI can reach your entire Apple ecosystem and find what you’re looking for in messages, photos, emails, and other apps based on instant conversational insights.
Ask Siri AI to pull up that restaurant a co-worker recommended, for example, or that hotel reservation from your email (it’s very similar to Gmail Live, which Google introduced at I/O last month). It can also compose emails, organize photos, and help you think about what to bring to your cooking group discussion, along with more accurate pronunciation.
Rather than only interacting with Siri in its native, voiced form on your device — yes, “Hey Siri” still works — you can now launch a standalone Siri AI app that stores past conversations, such as ChatGPT and Claude. The app syncs across all your devices, so you can start a conversation with Siri AI on your phone and finish it on your laptop or iPad.
The cost of privacy
If this all sounds familiar, it is — these features don’t exceed what we’ve seen other AI assistants handle over the past year. Siri AI actually brings Apple’s built-in AI that offers speed and space-seeking competitors to your device, but is “specially designed to protect users’ privacy,” the company says, a commitment it puts its reputation on.
That’s no small thing, though; data and security have proven to be key turn-offs for users reluctant to embrace AI features, but that could change if they feel secure with Apple’s existing infrastructure. Apple said Siri was “rebuilt from the ground up” with access to the latest models of the Apple Foundation, which work both on the device and in the cloud, protected by Private Cloud Compute.
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“With powerful new features and unmatched privacy protection, Siri remains the world’s most independent digital assistant,” the company said.
In a small, missed speech during the keynote video, Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, said Siri AI will get usage caps, and that users can pay an upgrade fee to get more capacity.
The company expands on that to official blog:
“Some features of Apple Intelligence, including image generation, are limited for everyday use because they rely on powerful server models. Additional access is available with multiple iCloud+ subscription plans, which also include Apple Intelligence support for compatible home cameras.”
This is not surprising given that the cost of implementing AI has been rising rapidly. But the star continues to keep the new announcements of Siri and Apple Intelligence based on the holding phase. Even worse, paying to generate images on your Apple device when another AI tool can generate the same image for free would overshadow Apple’s original privacy complaint.
Availability and delay
Siri AI is available engineering testing now on every new OS 27, except for WatchOS, and will come in beta later this year for users with devices set to English. Devices include iPhone 16 or later, and “iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPad mini (A17 Pro), iPad models with M1 or later, Mac with M1 or later, Apple Vision Pro, Apple Watch Series 10 or later, Apple Watch Ultra 2 or later, and Apple Watch SE 3 when paired with an Apple Intelligence-enabled Apple iPhone nearby.
Apple has clarified that the rollout of Siri AI will be limited in some areas. The European Union’s (EU) Digital Markets Act (DMA). currently banning Apple since rolling out Siri AI in iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 due to privacy concerns, ironically. It will be available for EU users on macOS 27, VisionOS 27, and WatchOS 27. Siri AI will not be available in China.
