Apple unveils rebuilt Siri with conversational AI at WWDC
In brief
- Apple unveiled Siri AI at WWDC with conversational abilities and personal context understanding
- New Siri drafts emails, edits photos, searches personal files, and performs cross-app actions
- Apple Intelligence combines on-device AI with Private Cloud Compute, integrating OpenAI and Google models
- Tim Cook delivered his final WWDC keynote before John Ternus becomes CEO September 1
A Conversational Assistant with Personal Reach
The rebuilt Siri draws on a user's personal context, understands on-screen content, searches messages, emails, photos, and files, and answers questions using information from the internet. During demonstrations, Apple showed the assistant drafting emails, editing and sharing photos, creating reminders, adding notes, and moving information between applications.
Users can ask follow-up questions and continue conversations in a chatbot-style interface. Siri AI performs actions across apps through expanded system-wide integrations. A dedicated Siri app stores conversation history and synchronizes it across devices through iCloud.
This rollout follows a troubled launch of Apple Intelligence—which forced Apple to delay key features, scale back its AI messaging at WWDC 2025, and defend itself against a class-action lawsuit over its marketing claims.
Architecture and Integrations
Siri AI runs on a new Apple Intelligence architecture that combines on-device AI models with Private Cloud Compute. Data processed through this system is not stored or accessible to Apple and can be independently verified by outside security researchers.
Apple has integrated OpenAI's ChatGPT and agreed to incorporate Google's Gemini into its AI offerings. The company also announced updates to Photos and image generation tools, including new editing features that can reframe photos, expand images beyond their original boundaries, and remove unwanted objects.
A redesigned Image Playground is capable of generating photorealistic images, with edited and generated images set to include SynthID watermarks.
Broader Apple Intelligence Rollout
Safari now uses AI to organize browser tabs by topic and monitor webpages for changes through a feature called Notify Me. The Passwords app can navigate websites and upgrade weak passwords on a user's behalf. Additional Apple Intelligence features are coming to Messages, Mail, Calendar, Phone, Shortcuts, and Home.
The announcement comes during Tim Cook's final Worldwide Developers Conference keynote as Apple's chief executive before John Ternus takes over as CEO on September 1.
