wo years after Apple first unveiled its vision for a generative AI-powered Siri at WWDC 2024, the long-awaited AI overhaul is expected to finally take center stage at this year's event on June 8.
Siri will need to not only live up to expectations of transforming into an all-powerful assistant with full awareness of your personal context, but also deliver enough new and unique capabilities to justify the wait. According to Bloomberg, Apple plans to do just that.
As previously reported, Siri will feature a rebuilt model with Google Gemini technology, a standalone app, personal context and an AI-powered web search. Other features, as detailed in the Bloomberg report, are likely to include:
Third-party agents: Apple has been testing ways to allow third-party agents to operate in iOS 27 through the App Store.** New AI app interface**: Apps from Claude, Gemini, and ChatGPT will operate within a home screen that includes previous conversations, voice, text and attachment options, no matter which model you used.Smarter presentation: Siri will present text cards for topic prompts, understand your schedule, and write content based on web and device content.Camera: Siri will become integrated as a dedicated mode in the camera app to replace the Visual Intelligence experience and have images analyzed by AI. The Photos app will now feature tools called Reframe and Extend to help with video editing. Natural language prompt-based editing is also being tested.Shortcuts: The company is planning to revamp its Shortcuts app, which lets people create automations using natural language. There's an opportunity to transform this into a platform for creating agentic workflows.
The way users will access Siri is also different. Siri will live inside Dynamic Island as an always-on agent activated by either saying "Siri" or holding down the iPhone's power button as per usual, or an entirely new way where you could swipe down from the top center of the iPhone to launch a new search or ask interface.
There is a lot riding on this launch. It is likely Tim Cook's last big one as CEO before John Ternus takes over. The fall launch will likely include Apple's first push into a new category with foldables, and, most importantly, it is finally Apple's opportunity to show that the wait was worth it and earn back some credibility in the AI space.
Our Deeper View #
There's no denying that Siri has trailed behind competitors for years, and I've personally been among those advocating for third-party AI assistants accessible via the Apple interface as a workaround. The updates coming at WWDC next week look promising enough that users may finally be able to rely on the native assistant, which would be huge. It would be far more convenient and offer fewer reasons for most iPhone users to reach for the ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini apps. The option to integrate third-party agents and services is also a smart move, keeping users within the Siri interface even when running a different frontier model to accomplish some of the coolest workflows that today's AI can pull off.