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WWDC 2026: Apple introduces Siri AI, a major overhaul of its personal digital assistant

At the kickoff of the 2026 Worldwide Developer Conference Apple introduced Siri AI, an entirely new version of Siri, powered by Apple Intelligence.

Today at the kickoff of the 2026 Worldwide Developer Conference Apple introduced Siri AI, an entirely new version of Siri, powered by Apple Intelligence.

Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering, said a “profoundly more capable and conversational assistant with personal context understanding, broad world knowledge, and onscreen awareness,” Siri AI can help users find what they need in the moment, from answering questions from the web on virtually any topic, to surfacing relevant information from a user’s personal messages, emails, photos, and more. 

Siri AI also includes a dedicated app for users to revisit conversations across their products, an expanded Visual Intelligence experience, and integrated tools for writing. With a new architecture designed to protect users’ privacy, Siri AI leverages the next generation of Apple Intelligence to bring state-of-the-art understanding and reasoning, along with powerful systemwide capabilities, to Apple’s operating systems, according to Federighi. These features are available for developer testing starting today, and will be available as a beta to users later this year.

An Entirely New, Deeply Integrated Siri

Powered by the next generation of Apple Intelligence, Siri AI is described as “a completely reimagined version of Siri that is more helpful, more capable, and more intelligent.” Since it’s built on Apple Intelligence, Siri can draw on personal context understanding and help users find what they need in the moment across messages, emails, photos, and more. 

For example, users can ask Siri to find a restaurant recommendation a friend messaged them about, surface a hotel confirmation number from an old email, or pull up photos with friends and family from a recent trip. And personal context understanding extends to third-party apps when developers integrate with Spotlight.

Federighi said that with even more systemwide app actions, Siri AI lets users get things done across apps, like drafting an email from scratch, or editing and sharing a set of photos. Using onscreen awareness, Siri AI can answer questions related to the content on a user’s screen. For example, if a user gets a text about a potluck with friends, they can brainstorm with Siri on what to bring and then add a recipe to the Notes app.

In addition, Siri AI can use broad world knowledge to get up-to-date information from the web on virtually any topic and generate a helpful answer, such as when and where to see the next solar eclipse, or when a musician is coming to town. Users can extend almost any response from Siri into a rich conversation and ask follow-up questions.

Users can take advantage of this new version of Siri from anywhere across the system. In addition to saying “Hey Siri,” iPhone users can invoke Siri with the side button, or swipe down from the Dynamic Island to start a conversation and get an in-depth answer. 

On iPad and Mac, Siri AI is integrated into Spotlight so users can search for answers to almost any question. It’s also integrated into systemwide context menus, allowing users to control-click to ask about images, files, or text on their screen. On Apple Vision Pro, Siri AI leverages spatial computing with a 3D visualization that users can place anywhere in their space, and they can invoke Siri by simply looking at it and starting to speak.

Users can also tap into Siri AI across their products when they’re on the go with iPhone, Apple Watch, CarPlay, and AirPods. Apple Watch users can start a conversation with Siri right from the wrist, or a new Smart Stack suggestion can automatically appear to help users continue a recent conversation.

Rebuilt from the Ground Up with a New Architecture

Apple said Siri has been rebuilt from the ground up with powerful AI at its core. It’s built to take full advantage of the new architecture for Apple Intelligence, including the next generation of Apple Foundation Models that run on device and on servers using Private Cloud Compute. 

When Private Cloud Compute is handling users’ requests, their personal data isn’t stored nor made accessible to Apple or anyone else. Outside experts can continue to verify this privacy promise at any time. Additionally, Siri AI uses the system orchestrator to tap into core capabilities like the Spotlight index and App Toolbox, which work entirely on device to keep users in control of their data.

An On-Device Model Brings New Capabilities

For products that support Apple’s most advanced on-device model ever, Siri AI offers even more expressive voices, as well as a major boost in accuracy with systemwide dictation, said Federighi. Users have the ability to customize the expressiveness and pace of Siri’s voice so it’s just right for them. Dictation now captures what users say as text with greater precision, automatically handling capitalization, punctuation, and formatting as they speak. With improved speech understanding, users can speak naturally and trust that their words will appear clearly, accurately, and as intended, according to Federighi.

A Dedicated Siri App to Revisit Conversations

When users want to revisit a past conversation or kick off a new one, they can open the all-new dedicated Siri app. The Siri app uses iCloud to privately sync conversational history across a user’s products, so they can start chatting with Siri on Mac and continue the conversation on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, or Apple Vision Pro, bringing together rich conversations in one place.

Siri with Visual Intelligence Now Across iPad, Mac, and Apple Vision Pro

Siri now offers powerful image understanding and multimodal capabilities, so users can ask questions about visual content, Federighi said.

On iPhone, Siri’s multimodal capabilities are integrated right into the Camera app with a new Siri mode, allowing users to get information and take action on what’s in front of them. Users can simply tap the shutter button to let Siri see what they see and receive useful responses. Siri mode in Camera also includes a rich new set of actions, including the ability to split a bill with friends using Apple Cash, get nutritional insights about a plate of food, and more.

For the first time, Visual Intelligence with Siri also comes to iPad and Mac, allowing users to search visually, ask questions, and take action on their screen. On iPad, Visual Intelligence is integrated right into the screenshot experience. On Mac, users can tap into it with a dedicated keyboard shortcut, allowing them to select something on their Mac display and type directly to Siri to get an answer.

Visual Intelligence also expands to Apple Vision Pro, allowing users to ask Siri about things just by looking at them, from the content inside app windows to physical objects around them.

A Smarter Way to Write and Edit Virtually Anywhere with Siri AI

Siri now offers integrated Writing Tools, allowing users to write with Siri AI virtually anywhere they type. Users can describe what they need and Siri can generate a draft from scratch. If a user wants to refine what they’ve written, they can describe the change they want to make and Siri will update it.

When writing in Mail and Messages, Siri can reflect how users usually communicate with each recipient, including the punctuation and tone they typically use. For example, if users normally send their manager short bullet points, that’s what will populate when they draft an email with Siri. 

Siri can also give users tips and suggestions to improve their written work. Plus, Siri now automatically proofreads for users as they type across the system, including within most third-party apps.

Additional Apple Intelligence Capabilities Make Everyday Apps Smarter

The next generation of Apple Intelligence also brings new features to the apps users rely on every day, including incredible editing capabilities in Photos, tools that can transform the way users browse the web in Safari, new ways for users to bring their imagination to life in life in Image Playground, and more, Federighi said.

Availability

  • New Siri AI features are available for developer testing starting today through the Apple Developer Program at developer.apple.com, across iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, and visionO® 27. Siri AI will be available for developer testing in a future watchOS 27 beta.
  • Siri AI will be available as a beta later this year for users with a supported device set to English, and Apple will expand support for more languages.
  • Apple Intelligence is available with support for these languages: English, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Vietnamese, Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional), Japanese, and Korean. Some features may not be available in all regions or languages. For more details, visit apple.com/apple-intelligence.
  • Apple Intelligence and Siri AI in iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, watchOS 27, and visionOS 27 are available on iPhone 16 models or later, 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.
  • Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision Pro users in the European Union (EU) will be able to access Siri AI when set to a supported language. Siri AI won’t be available initially in the EU in iOS and iPadOS. Apple says it’s “working hard” to find a path forward that preserves its users’ privacy and security.
  • Siri AI and the other new Apple Intelligence features won’t be available in China while Apple works through regulatory requirements.

I hope you’ll help support Apple World Today by becoming a patron. Almost all our income is from Patreon support and sponsored posts. Patreon pricing ranges from $2 to $10 a month. Thanks in advance for your support. 

Also, check out my daughter-in-law’s “Scattered Words” website if you’re interested in unique, handcrafted jewelry made out of an array of vintage dictionaries, books, and even a few antiques.

Dennis Sellers
the authorDennis Sellers
Dennis Sellers is the editor/publisher of Apple World Today. He’s been an “Apple journalist” since 1995 (starting with the first big Apple news site, MacCentral). He loves to read, run, play sports, and watch movies.

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