Apple announced a revamped Siri AI assistant at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 2026) on Monday, which also marked CEO Tim Cook’s final annual keynote address.
The Siri overhaul comes two years after promising but failing to launch a smarter voice assistant, and a $250 million settlement with buyers who sued, alleging they upgraded their iPhones expecting a smarter Siri, only to discover the features would arrive much later.
What’s new
Siri AI aims to evolve Siri beyond a voice-controlled assistant into a full-fledged conversational companion that rivals platforms like ChatGPT and Claude. Apple has partnered with Google’s Gemini AI to make this possible.
The smarter Siri will be able to combine information from the web with data from users’ texts, emails, and photos to deliver more personalized assistance.
Key features include “Write with Siri” in Mail and Messages, which mirrors the user’s personal communication style. It can also identify items and answer questions about them using the Camera app.
The upgraded assistant will debut alongside a dedicated Siri app. It will appear in a new animation in the Dynamic Island, replacing the old glowing screen edge.
Other WWDC announcements included:
- The new iOS 27, an update that will be supported all the way back to the iPhone 11.
- An adjustable Liquid Glass visual which goes from clear to tinted.
- Additional parental instruction features for Screen Time.
The Siri AI upgrade also expands system-wide, coming into macOS Spotlight and watchOS. A beta version is scheduled for release later this year.