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Apple's WWDC conference kicked off overnight, and as expected the biggest news was all about an improved, AI-powered Siri.
The company announced Siri AI, a complete reimagining of its voice assistant built on an improved version of Apple Intelligence.
Apple has rebuilt it from the ground up with a new architecture designed to be more helpful, more conversational, and far more capable.
The biggest change is what Apple calls "personal context understanding." If you want it to, Siri AI can now dig into your messages, emails, and photos to surface relevant information on demand.
Ask it to find a restaurant recommendation a friend texted you, pull up a hotel confirmation from an old email, or surface holiday photos from a recent trip. Third-party apps will be able to tap into this feature as well when developers integrate with Spotlight.
Siri AI also promises access to broad world knowledge, pulling up-to-date answers from the web on virtually any topic. This means you will be able to have back-and-forth conversation with it, asking follow-up questions without starting from scratch each time.
Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering, framed it as a step change in how the assistant handles tasks.
"With access to broad world knowledge for up-to-date answers on virtually any topic, along with onscreen awareness and personal context understanding, Siri AI can help users take action across apps more naturally than ever," he said.
A new dedicated Siri app will let you revisit past conversations, with chat history syncing privately via iCloud across all your Apple devices. In other words, you'll be able to start a conversation on your Mac, then pick it up on iPhone or Apple Watch.
Visual Intelligence, which was previously limited to iPhone, will extend to iPad, Mac, and Apple Vision Pro.
On iPhone, there's a new Siri mode built into the Camera app, letting you point your phone at something and get instant information or actions, including nutritional insights about food.
On Mac, a keyboard shortcut lets you select anything on screen and ask Siri about it.
Apple is also promising writing improvements. Siri can now generate drafts from scratch, refine text on command, and adapt its style based on who you're writing to.
So if you usually send your boss short bullet points, Siri AI will pick up on that pattern.
System-wide auto-proofreading is also built in, working across most third-party apps as you type.
Pricing and availability
Siri AI is a free software update arriving as part of iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, and visionOS 27. Developer betas are available today, with a wider user beta expected later this year.
Compatible devices include iPhone 16 models and later, iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max, iPad models with M1 chip or later, Mac with M1 or later, Apple Vision Pro, and Apple Watch Series 10 or later.
Some advanced features, including more expressive voices and improved dictation, require newer hardware such as iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro models, or a Mac with M3 or later.
Australian users on English should have full access when the beta rolls out. Siri AI will not be available in China while Apple works through regulatory requirements, and iOS and iPadOS users in the EU will also miss out initially.
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