Apple finally lays out its AI plans with a brand new version of Siri

 

Attendees during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) at Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California, US, on Monday, June 8, 2026.

David Paul Morris/Bloomberg/Getty Images

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, especially after the company’s AI ambitions have faced delays.

“If Apple delivers this well, Siri stops being a feature and becomes a new interaction layer for the iPhone, iPad, Mac and eventually future categories of hardware,” Francisco Jeronimo, a tech analyst for market research firm the International Data Corporation, told CNN over email.

Siri AI

The new Siri, which Apple is calling Siri AI, will be available on Apple devices both in a standalone app and throughout the company’s software. It will be able to analyze what’s on a user’s screen and incorporate information from a person’s Apple devices to better answer questions.

Apple plans to launch Siri AI in beta later this year. The company typically releases new software updates in the fall after giving developers and the public the chance to test them.

The company also says Siri will be able to factor personal information on a user’s iPhone into answers, such as referring to photos on a user’s phone when answering queries.

The new Siri will also have a more conversational chatbot-like interface and will work across Apple devices and apps.

Apple wants users to chat back-and-forth with Siri the way they do with ChatGPT for tasks like brainstorming and event planning, such as asking Siri for the schedule of upcoming World Cup games and then having the assistant plan a watch party. The new Siri app will let users revisit previous conversations.

The camera app will also have a new Siri mode that can answer questions and take actions based on what a user is pointing their camera at. At a restaurant, that could including a customer pointing the camera at the bill, selecting what they ordered and having Siri calculate what they owe. On Mac computers, it will soon be possible to select content on screen and then type to Siri to ask a question about the selected media.