Apple’s Siri is finally getting a big AI upgrade
By Lisa Eadicicco, CNN
(CNN) — Apple on Monday announced an all-new version of Siri during its Worldwide Developers Conference, a move that could bring its roughly 15-year-old digital helper up to speed with rivals like ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini.
The tech giant also announced performance improvements for its iPhone, Mac and iPad software and new child safety features. But the new Siri is the biggest indication yet of how Apple is revamping its products as more people use chatbots and AI agents for everyday tasks. Many will be looking to see whether Apple’s history of turning nascent technologies into popular products will apply to AI.
The new Siri, which Apple is calling Siri AI, is available on Apple devices in a standalone app and will be able to analyze what’s on a user’s screen to better answer questions.
Apple has fallen behind in the AI race; its Siri overhaul has faced delays, and some features that were announced in 2024 still haven’t arrived. And its current AI tools for iPhones, iPads and Macs, called Apple Intelligence, aren’t distinctive enough to stand out from the competition.
Apple has rolled out features for translating speech, helping users search for content displayed on their iPhone’s screen and generating custom emojis. But companies like Google and OpenAI are launching AI agents they say can handle entire tasks on a user’s behalf.
“(Apple hasn’t) done anything that really blows people away,” said Gene Munster, cofounder and managing partner of tech investment firm Deepwater Asset Management.
The upgraded Siri could help Apple catch up.
Apple is partnering with Google on the models that will power its new Siri and other features, the companies announced in January, which could significantly improve the digital assistant’s performance, according to Anurag Rana, senior equity analyst for software and IT services at Bloomberg Intelligence.
“Gemini models have been just on a tear,” Rana said. “They have been doing really well right now.”
Investors and analysts have grilled Apple about its AI strategy on earnings calls over the past year. Although iPhone sales have been thriving, Wall Street wants to know how AI plays into the company’s long-term vision.
It will soon be up to incoming Apple CEO John Ternus, who currently oversees Apple’s hardware engineering and will take over as chief executive in September. Cook will transition into a new role as executive chairman of the board of directors.
But Apple’s large market share – more than 2.5 billion Apple devices are in use globally – could give it an edge.
That could be Apple’s big opportunity. More than half of iPhones in use globally, or about 1 billion iPhones, don’t support Apple Intelligence since the technology is only available on the iPhone 15 Pro and later, according to Rana.
“They’re not going to mess it up,” Munster said. “They’ve got too much at stake to drop the ball.”
This story is developing and will be updated.
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