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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Siri AI catches up to existing AI assistants.
- The new Siri can handle multi-step tasks and requests.
- Apple also expanded its model offerings and infrastructure.
After a multi-year wait, Apple finally launched its new AI-powered Siri at WWDC on Monday, conveniently named Siri AI. It keeps some familiar Siri functionality Apple users are accustomed to, but improves what the assistant can do with Apple Intelligence, the company’s subtle, privacy-first AI offering announced two years ago at WWDC 2024.
But making the most of the new Siri could come with additional fees. Here’s what we know.
How Siri AI works
This “entirely new version of Siri,” as Apple called it, is now more conversational and can pull information from the internet as well as interpret what’s on your screen to answer questions and complete tasks more seamlessly. It’s backed by Apple Intelligence, which has been enhanced with Google’s Gemini through 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 have come to expect from AI assistants like Gemini and Claude, and perhaps what users already wanted out of Siri before AI assistants presented a competitive option. Much like the context-sourcing Gemini Personal Intelligence, Siri AI can access your entire Apple ecosystem and source what you’re looking for from messages, photos, emails, and other apps based on a quick conversational prompt.
Ask Siri AI to pull up that restaurant your coworker recommended, for example, or a hotel reservation from your email (pretty much like Gmail Live, which Google launched at I/O last month). It can also draft emails, edit photos, and help you brainstorm what to bring to the potluck your group chat is cooking up, alongside taking more accurate dictation.
Rather than only engaging with Siri in its ambient, called-upon form on your device — yes, “Hey Siri” still works — you can now also open a standalone Siri AI app that houses past conversations, similar to 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 exactly go beyond what we’ve seen other AI assistants handle over the past year. Siri AI basically brings Apple’s built-in AI offering up to speed with competitors looking for space on your device, but is “uniquely designed to protect users’ privacy,” the company said, a commitment it’s rested its reputation on.
That’s no small thing, though; data and safety concerns have proven a primary turnoff for users hesitant to embrace AI features, but that could change if they feel protected by Apple’s existing infrastructure. Apple said Siri had been “rebuilt from the ground up” with access to Apple’s latest Foundation Models, which run both on-device and in the cloud, protected by Private Cloud Compute.
Also: The new iOS 27 child safety features I’m most excited about as a parent
“With powerful new features and unrivaled privacy protections, Siri remains the world’s most private digital assistant,” the company said.
In a tiny, missable mention 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 upgrade fees for more capacity.
The company expanded on that in the official blog:
“Some Apple Intelligence features, including image generation, have daily usage limits because they rely on powerful server models. Increased access is available with most iCloud+ subscription plans, which also include Apple Intelligence support for compatible Home cameras.”
This isn’t surprising given that the costs of using AI have been rising across the board recently. But the asterisk further keeps the new Siri and Apple Intelligence announcements grounded in the catch-up stage. Worse, having to pay to generate images on your Apple device when another AI service could make the same image for free could eclipse Apple’s privacy-first appeal.
Availability and delays
Siri AI is available for developer testing now in each new OS 27, except for WatchOS, and will arrive in beta later this year for users with devices set to English. Devices include iPhone 16 or later, as well as “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 iPhone nearby,” Apple said.
Apple clarified that the Siri AI rollout will be limited in some areas. The European Union’s (EU) Digital Markets Act (DMA) is currently preventing Apple from rolling out Siri AI in iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 due to privacy requirements, ironically. It will be available for EU users in MacOS 27, VisionOS 27, and WatchOS 27. Siri AI won’t be available in China.
