Apple Announces Siri AI, Next Generation of Apple Intelligence

At WWDC 2026, Apple announced a new "Siri AI," describing it as a more conversational, personalized, and systemwide assistant that can understand on-screen context and interact with apps while relying on on-device processing or Private Cloud Compute. The relaunch comes two years after Apple's original Apple Intelligence promises stumbled and "never fully materialized," reports The Verge. MacRumors reports: Siri is now embedded directly in the Dynamic Island, accessible by swiping down from it, pressing the side button, or saying "Hey Siri." A revamped voice engine makes the assistant sound more expressive, with micro-adjustable voice settings available during initial setup.

During Apple's keynote demo, presenters showed Siri handling chained, multi-step requests with apparent ease. In one sequence, a presenter asked about a Suki Waterhouse concert, was told tickets require a lottery entry, and asked Siri to set a reminder when the lottery opens, which it did. In another, the assistant identified a photo's landmark, pulled up navigation to that location, and surfaced photos from a recent family trip, adding a specific image to a shared family album on request.

Another demo showcased Siri's ability to synthesize information across apps. A presenter asked about a dessert he had heard about at an event, and Siri located the relevant details from his Messages history. It then compiled the information into a watch-party menu, drafted a message to his contacts with the menu included, and presented send and edit options. In a further demo, a presenter asked about something his son had shared in a message and followed it up by asking Siri to compose an email on the subject.

A new dedicated Siri app lets users scroll back through prior conversations and kick off new ones, with conversation history synced via iCloud so sessions carry seamlessly between devices. The app is also coming to watchOS. On the Mac, Siri is now also integrated into Spotlight and available via right-click context menus on any file or window. On visionOS, Siri AI gains a 3D visualization that users can place anywhere in their space.

How Many Hats Do I Have?

[crunchy_one]

Finding an old text message is fine, but can it tell me how many hats I have?

Re:

[93 Escort Wagon]

Bartholomew Cubbins, is that you?

Re:

[Mr. Barky]

It depends upon how many selfies you take

Re: How Many Hats Do I Have?

[ArmoredDragon]

Yes, but it will only count the mfi ones. The rest aren't compatible.

Okay, but

[93 Escort Wagon]

Can I get it to mix in the occasional random "Here's what I found on the web" response, just for old times sake?

Good ol' Whatsinaname.

[geekmux]

Can I get it to mix in the occasional random "Here's what I found on the web" response, just for old times sake?

"Ah, that's Mister HereswhatIfoundontheweb to you, Siri.."

Re: Okay, but

[ArmoredDragon]

It's not that. Rather, slashdot editors love all things apple and bluesky. If Tim Cook farted near Steve Jobs' grave, you'll learn about it here first.

Valleygirl accent

[chrysrobyn]

I know it's really trivial, bordering on petty, but please oh please give her a different accent. She says "okay" so much, and the Valleygirl accent is never heard so pronounced as obviously as in that word that I really want any other accent. Mid Atlantic, Southern, Cascadian, Midwest, Irish, please anything other than Valleygirl.

Re:

[Enigma2175]

I have mine set to Australian, works for me.

Re:Valleygirl accent

[ceoyoyo]

You can change it you know. Irish is in fact an option. Two of them.

Re:

[Paradise Pete]

I know it's really trivial, bordering on petty, but please oh please give her a different accent. She says "okay" so much, and the Valleygirl accent is never heard so pronounced as obviously as in that word that I really want any other accent. Mid Atlantic, Southern, Cascadian, Midwest, Irish, please anything other than Valleygirl.

Several minutes were spent on the new voices. So yes, you can.

Re:

[mccalli]

...and then the reveal that you can't have it unless you have an M3 chip or later, plus 12Gb of RAM. So that's all the new Neo owners out then isn't it - that's a serious miss.

Re:

[garryknight]

Isn't that just the requirements for on-device Siri AI?

We've seen "demos" before

[misnohmer]

Is this general availability, or just demos? There were demos last time Apple Intelligence was announced too.

Will it be an idiot?

[TheRealPhaser125]

I'm not excited. Amazon keeps desperately trying to push all of my Echo devices over to being Alexa+ (by responding to something I genuinely asked about followed by "BY THE WAY, did you know Alexa+ is free blah blah blah") which stinks because I tried it and it's TERRIBLE. Stop trying to get me to use it. Also, I use an Echo Auto in my car, and you are absolutely unable to disable it there, so I'm stuck using it and it can't even figure out how to play music properly often.

I find myself yelling at the

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Also, I use an Echo Auto in my car...

Who's the idiot now?

Re:

[TheRealPhaser125]

I never once implied that I was smart, only that it wasn't.

They were talking about this on the business news

[oldgraybeard]

The Apple analyst was charged up because it would drive the product replacement cycle(Apple has many older devices still in use, like my old se). And drive service revenue by having Siri choose sponsored products where it can and Apple gets a cut.
So Apple AI is just like everyone else's AI. Long on Artificial, No Intelligence, just Automation, an ad/paid sponsors platform used as a sales and marketing tool to drive the Apple revenue streams.
But with assurances, nothing will leave the Apple walled garden and only those paying for access to the Apple customers will be allowed in.

Re:

[sinij]

As long as I can completely disable it, I have no issues. Currently Siri is completely disabled on my SE. It wasn't difficult to do and it stayed off. Unlike, for example, Microslop that attempts to ram it down your throat.

~crickets~

[JaredOfEuropa]

Maybe it's just me, but I'm not feeling or seeing a great deal of excitement about the arrival of AI on our personal devices. I'm also at a loss about what the compelling use case is supposed to be. Of course there are coding assistants and AI-driven help desks, which are great, and the AI summary in Google search is becoming more useful, but outside of corporate (read: easily monetizable) applications, where is the killer app that warrants, the trillion dollar investments, and the terawatt data centers?

Re:

[HiThere]

Once I see it doing what I want, I'll be interested. But in order to do that, it needs to be able to understand the action of the fiction I'm asking it to read. E.g. if it's reading "Alice in Wonderland" it needs to use a proper voice for Alice talking to herself as she falls down the rabbit hole. (And for the editorial comments interspersed.)

O,. and it needs to be able to do this without an internet connection.

meh!

[Going_Digital]

As long as I can turn the junk off, I really don’t care. So tired of all this AI nonsense, once the startup hype ends and people have to pay the true cost for the tokens burned the AI fad will be about as popular as 3D TV and virtual reality.

That's creepy

[jenningsthecat]

...and Siri located the relevant details from his Messages history.

Do I really want Apple to have access to my messages? And if they have access to my messages even in the absence of Siri, then do I really want Apple at all?

Re:

[Tony Isaac]

Well to be fair, you did give Slashdot access to your messages...

Re:

[pauljlucas]

Apple's iMessages are E2E encrypted. Only the sender and recipient have they keys to decrypt the messages on device; Apple does not. The new Siri search is run on device also.

Really don't use Siri now...

[bsdetector101]

IS Siri AI that combines Google into it ?

Re: Really don't use Siri now...

[LindleyF]

Yes, I think they gave up on making their own and bought Gemini to power this.

Big whatever

[satanicat]

Hopefully it becomes a thing I never, ever have to deal with.
I happily have siri disabled on all my apple disabled to the extent that it can be.

I care not about AI!

[antdude]

I turned those off in mine!

Apple years behind Android again....

[SinisterEVIL]

So they paid android to use Gemini because they couldn't figure out AI themselves. Hilarious.