Apple unveiled a sweeping update to artificial intelligence (AI) features it had delayed. Two years ago, Apple declared the AI era at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) by introducing its in-house AI system, Apple Intelligence. But some core AI features of Apple Intelligence were delivered later than planned, and some had to be disabled due to bugs.
On the 8th (local time), at Apple Park, the company's headquarters in Cupertino, California, Apple introduced Siri AI—next-generation Apple Intelligence applied to its voice assistant Siri, including integration with Google Gemini—during the keynote of its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).
Siri AI has its own app. Apple said, "Siri AI has transformed into a personal assistant that can converse more naturally and provides writing tools and visual intelligence (visual AI) tools across the platform," adding, "It helps users more easily search for the information they want in messages, email, photos, and more; provides answers to questions on almost any topic; and enables a variety of actions within apps." Siri AI features are available for developer testing starting today and will be released to users in beta later this year.
◇ Siri that reads the context on screens, photos, and mail
The new Siri recognizes on-screen content and images, users' past conversations, photos, emails, and other personal context. It then combines this with external information from web search to generate answers. If the old Siri was closer to a voice assistant that executed set commands, Siri AI has effectively become a personal assistant–type AI that grasps a user's situation, finds needed information, and even proceeds to run apps.
For example, if a user asks, "When is Suki Waterhouse's show in San Francisco? How do I get tickets?" Siri finds the schedule and how to buy tickets and answers. If the user then asks to be notified on the ticket lottery application date, it adds the event to the Reminders app.
Even if you haven't saved the new address a friend sent by text recently, Siri can search messages and find it. If you ask, "Show me the photos from last week's ranch trip," it selects and shows photos that match from the album. Previously, conversations with Siri disappeared, but going forward, you can also review past conversation lists. These records are synced across Apple devices such as iPhone, iPad, and Mac via iCloud.
Apple said it also improved dictation and speech recognition performance. Users can adjust Siri's speaking rate and degree of emotional expression, and dictation will have higher spelling and punctuation accuracy.
◇ AI expanded across apps… Tim Cook's last WWDC
Apple is applying Siri AI across major apps. When you call an airline to change a flight, it recognizes the call content and then finds and shows the reservation number from email. If motion is detected on a home-installed camera, it analyzes the scene and alerts you that "A package has arrived." In the Safari web browser, it can detect changes on specific webpages and send notifications.
Camera-based visual intelligence features were also strengthened. Point the camera at food and it provides nutrition information; snap a receipt and it lets multiple people split the bill by what each ordered. Photo editing features were expanded so that if you don't like the composition of a shot, AI can extend the image or adjust it to look as if it were taken from another angle.
Apple stressed that it maintains privacy principles even if AI features use personal information. Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president, said, "Most AI providers shift the responsibility for data protection onto users, but Apple has blocked anyone, including Apple, from accessing or storing user data through On-device AI and a private cloud."
Apple also unveiled the next-generation iPhone operating system, iOS 27, and a MacOS named Golden Gate. It applied a CPU scheduler to boost processing performance, and improved app launch and photo loading speeds by prefetching needed data. iOS 27 supports iPhone 11, released in 2019. A new protection feature lets parents adjust device usage time, contacts, and whether to allow social networking services (SNS) by time of day.
This WWDC was Apple CEO Tim Cook's last annual WWDC. At the end of the keynote video, Cook delivered a farewell message, saying, "Over the past few years, you have helped people communicate, create, learn, and experience the world in remarkably new ways." He also shed tears.
Cook said, "With the amazing features we introduced today and many more to come, I am confident that a better future lies ahead," adding, "Apple has always made the world's best products to deliver experiences that enrich people's lives as our top priority." John Turners, who will take office as CEO in September, did not appear in the keynote.
Meanwhile, the market is divided over Apple's announcements. Some interpret the integration with Google Gemini as a pragmatic choice to narrow the gap after falling behind in the AI race. Others say many of the features are largely late implementations of what was announced two years ago, and that the "new killer feature" users expected was lacking.
Experts also offered cautious assessments. Craig Moffett of MoffettNathanson said, "This update is not groundbreaking." Paolo Pescatore, a senior analyst at PP Foresight, said, "Apple needs to prove that Siri and a broader range of AI features can move beyond mere potential to be genuinely useful in everyday life," adding, "The key challenge is not only technical advances but making AI work naturally in the background while delivering real value at critical moments."