Apple’s AI promises are finally, almost, here

Apple kicked off its annual developer conference with bold promises about artificial intelligence. Tim Cook, the company’s CEO, said it “will introduce new technologies and innovations that push the boundaries of what is possible.” But the slew of its announcements — centered on the new “Siri AI” — had more to do with catching up.

After almost completely neglecting Siri and making good on its AI promises in 2025, Apple has dabbled in the technology this year. It showcased Siri as an all-in-one virtual assistant that connects all your Apple devices together, with multimedia features, a dedicated app, an all-in-one AI agent, and more. Executives have repeatedly emphasized privacy, saying that unlike many of its competitors, user data involved in proxy tasks will be processed on the device and via “private cloud computing” and then discarded.

Unlike MicrosoftApple isn’t trying to prove it can compete head-to-head with the likes of OpenAI or Anthropic without help; Its new Siri is powered by Apple enterprise models primarily powered by Google Gemini. Instead, Apple has marketed AI as a practical and useful addition to the devices people already own. “It seems like some are racing ahead, pursuing AI for AI’s sake…At Apple, our mission has always been to turn the capabilities of advanced technology into products that are useful and intuitive for everyone,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “Truly useful AI should be centered around you and your needs.”

While tech companies are desperately looking for ways to make AI look straightforward Less threateningApple’s strategy fits perfectly. But after years of delays, the new Siri Still It won’t arrive until later this year, when it launches in beta (and there’s no timeline at all for the EU and China, something Apple blames on regulatory difficulties). The features largely mirror things other companies already offer. It is not clear whether Apple’s artificial intelligence strategy, which has been delayed for years, is worth the wait.

The new Siri is supposed to easily collect information from the Internet, emails, texts, contacts, notes, and calendars, and work with first-party apps and third-party tools alike. Apple suggests asking for it when you’re free to hangout with a friend and cutting back and forth, or letting it add calendar appointments and draft texts or emails (and maybe, just maybe, mimic the typing voice you use with the recipient, like your boss versus your best friend). The ever-controversial, dynamic island will display new AI-powered information cards from your world events, weather, calendar, and reminders. Onstage demonstrations demonstrated multi-step processes such as asking when a musician’s next show is, then setting a reminder to buy tickets and play one of his songs, or creating a recipe menu for a World Cup watch party and sending an invitation via text message to the user’s group chat — including the menu (which was clearly AI-generated).

One particularly interesting feature, which has been long-announced but is now coming to fruition, is Siri’s on-screen awareness. In a WWDC presentation, Siri lead Mike Rockwell looked at an Instagram photo of a natural place, asked Siri where it was, then had it compare the location to a friend’s new address — which wasn’t saved anywhere and was mentioned only once in text messages with said friend — and create a driving route with a stop at the new friend’s location. You succeeded. (Which is more than can be said for my current experience with weird searches for text messages on my iPhone.)

The company has generally gone more visually intelligent, allowing AI-edited photos to be taken in more styles and integrating Siri into the Photos app — users can look at an REI backpack and ask whether a particular pair of shoes will fit in it, or whether the backpack will work as a carry-on for a particular trip that’s already been booked.

Other interesting features that could make consumers’ daily lives easier: Apple Intelligence can tame Safari tabs in entirely new ways, it seems. You can use the Extension Description feature for specific web pages to have Siri AI encode the bio for you. The one-click solution will allow Siri AI to update eligible accounts with strong passwords. There will be one-click text prompts for the agent to create reminders (for example, if your friend texts you to bring their jacket when they go out tomorrow), or to send all the photos you’ve taken of them to someone on a given day. If you call an airline, Siri AI will show a small card on the phone call screen with your relevant flight information — something Apple clearly understands might seem unsettling, adding the disclaimer that Siri only bases this on who you’re calling, not what you say on the phone.

If all of this actually works, Apple could make real headway in the AI ​​customer race For the same reasons, Google is well placed to do this. It’s poised to attract users who won’t download a separate app or accept even minimal friction — Siri will be integrated directly into Messages, a conversation with an agent will look just like an iMessage thread, and an “Ask Siri” button will make its presence more noticeable. For some, Apple’s reputation for privacy and security can help mitigate this issue Creep factor From Agents – Federighi told the WWDC crowd that “privacy in AI is non-negotiable” and that user data will only be used to process user requests.

Overall, though, Apple has been consistently behind in the AI ​​race. The company botched its initial rollout of Apple Intelligence so badly that it led to a delay It led to the settlement of the class action lawsuitAnd it had to be Pause AI notification summaries After falsely telling users this Luigi Mangione shot himself. Last year, a handful of… Small functional updates Powered by both Apple Intelligence and ChatGPT, it’s designed to help it catch up with other AI heavyweights in live translation, search, visual intelligence, and more. Some were useful, but a few made big waves.

This year has been more exciting, but Apple’s new features are still decidedly derivative. Almost every AI company has a multimedia chatbot like Siri, or a programming assistant like Apple’s Xcode. Siri AI conversations can sync across different Apple devices, but the same goes for most other chatbots in some form — and Google in particular emphasized cloud sync at this year’s I/O conference. Even the Siri AI operating system announced alongside it, macOS Golden Gate, shares a name with the virus View Claude’s search.

Unlike Google, Microsoft and other major competitors — which are aggressively courting enterprise users who can pay for expensive subscriptions — Apple’s AI strategy remains relatively modest. It uses technology to complement its existing products, not fundamentally change them What are those products?. One year after Federighi told an audience at WWDC 2025 that Apple was “continuing our work to deliver features that make Siri more personal,” the company has finally set a timeline to deliver what it promised — but if those promises come to fruition, it will be thanks to the strength of Apple’s overall ecosystem, not the newness of its AI tools.