Apple’s Siri used to be the bleeding edge of what intelligent assistants could do, back in 2011 when Apple first integrated it into the iPhone. That was a long time ago, and things have changed.
When ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude started and showed the world what a truly intelligent chatbot could do, Siri felt very basic in comparison. Apple promised a replacement in 2024, and it had not happened before today, despite constant promises that the company is working hard to improve its smart assistant.
Siri can chat with you now.
Credit: Apple
Before WWDC 2026, many reports and rumors gave us an outline of what we can expect from the new Siri, including an autonomous app, a redesign, an AI brain based on Google Gemini (with options to invoke other third-party chatbots), all focused on privacy.
Now, during the opening keynote of WWDC 2026, Apple has officially introduced the new Siri. So what has changed?
However, Apple has partnered with Google to create new versions of what it calls “Apple Foundation Models,” which is the company’s goal of AIs that excel at different things, including speech recognition, image, and video production.
The most important thing this new building “unlocks” is the new Siri. It’s telling that Apple actually talked about privacy before it started showing us any new Siri features, assuring users that their data is not being stored by Apple.
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Siri can access your conversation and other personal content on your iPhone to get you the most relevant answers.
Credit: Apple
Privacy is great, but what can the new Siri actually do? Mike Rockwell, Siri’s VP of engineering, revealed the new name for AI-powered Siri: It’s called Siri AI (slow clap).
Yes, it includes a dedicated Siri app, a more conversational Siri, with a brand new design. When you ask Siri something, it will come out of the iPhone’s Dynamic Island with an answer, and the answer might include a Reminder, or a song, or a map (with driving directions to a location) or a web search result.
In the Apple ecosystem, Siri is everywhere, and the same goes for Siri AI. In one example provided by Apple, the macOS version of Siri is asked for help building a shed. It returns a well-organized selection of useful tips, while drawing on personal content already on the computer.
Siri can pull data from your past emails, and help you write new ones.
Credit: Apple
Siri AI will work on iOS, macOS, iPadOS, and watchOS, and even visionOS, and you’ll be able to start on one device, like an iPhone, and finish a task on a different device, like a MacBook.
The visual representation of Siri in visionOS is one thing that stands out: Siri appears as a moving ball, and you can ask her things by looking at her avatar and asking a question.
Eating with friends? Take a picture of the bill and your iPhone will help you sort it.
Credit: Apple
It looks nice, neat and tidy on Apple’s models, but it will take some real use to know if this new Siri is on par with today’s other smart assistants.
For more WWDC 2026 newsfollow our live blog to see all the latest announcements and surprises from Apple’s annual event.