Year on year, the annual Apple WWDC gives us fresh updates from the tech giant, about its newest and latest. This year proves no different, but Apple’s focus this time around falls on a key feature of the ecosystem. Introducing: Siri AI. Powered by Apple Intelligence and a partner up with Google Gemini, Siri is getting a major uplift that makes her that much more powerful and intelligent.
Siri, your new personal assistant
Her software now feels more deeply integrated and intuitive; and she is infinitely more capable of responding to personal requests that are actionable on your iPhone. Apple’s promise is that Apple Intelligence is still localised with on-device processing, meaning your information remains very much protected and private—never leaving your device.
The word personal truly takes fruition with this new upgrade. Moving forward, Siri will be able to answer questions that are related to information on our screens—be it providing information about a subject they’re snapping with their Camera or simply coming up with a suitable response in your group chat with your friends. What Siri AI is doing is taking a major leap forward in how it distills the information on your device, from your photos to messages, emails and other apps.
The app for it all
The biggest leg up it is getting is certainly its own dedicated app for Siri AI. Here are where all your ongoing conversations and threads with Siri are encompassed in one singular platform—even the enquiries that were half-baked, or requests that were not fully formed. With the app, you can revisit these conversations, upload images or ask further questions, instead of starting a whole new conversation with Siri AI. You might be curious about K-pop group Seventeen’s newest album for one, and wondering if they were coming to a city near you anytime soon. A few weeks later, you might even be able to take this request to the next level—and ask Siri to list the steps you might need to take to secure tickets for the group’s next world tour, or send you timely reminders for ticketing days.
If it feels familiar, that’s because it is; think of the app like Apple’s answer to Chat GPT. With Apple Intelligence aiding it however, the experience is now more integrated and informed, using personal context and understanding of why you’re even curious about a specific topic for example. With these important context clues at hand, Siri is better empowered to help cater the information you requested or narrow down the request to suit your own needs. This might mean surfacing an old conversation with a friend about a boutique hotel they may have recommended in Bangkok, or trying to find an image of a specific moment that you recently felt nostalgic for and were texting each other about.
All this, whilst remaining easy to access. Beyond the voice-triggered ‘Hey Siri’, she’s also easily accessible with the side button or swiping down from the Dynamic Island on an iPhone. For Mac users, a screenshot of your display will prompt a menu, and Visual Intelligence will let you search information about the image or document, and take action from there. Meanwhile, on an Apple Vision Pro, one could simply look at their subject in question to learn more. For those looking to customise things even further, Siri’s voice will also be free for you to play around with in terms of expressiveness and pace—for those who prefer her to speak faster, you could speed things up, and vice versa.
Images, discovered anew
It’s not just simply a matter of snapping an item and having Siri explain to you what you’ve snapped. For pictures of our meals—and we all know how much we love snapping those—you can even hit the nutrition tab to learn more about the nutritional insights of your food. And whilst Apple Cash isn’t something we have just yet, the prospect of being able to split your bill with just a snap of the physical receipt is certainly a game changer.
It’s the in-app features, like editing images in Photos, however, that might truly brighten up a creative’s life. With Spatial Reframing, you can actively improve the composition of a shot—and take the image up another notch entirely with just a single tap, even after a photo is taken. Editing on the go? It’s just gotten a whole lot easier.
Siri AI will be available later this year.
