Apple is making major changes to Siri, the virtual assistant that has long been part of the iPhone. Now, Siri is given artificial intelligence features and a new name, Siri AI.
The change was announced at the annual Worldwide Developers Conference, Monday, as reported by NBC News, quoted Tuesday, June 9. This move makes Siri compete more directly with modern AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Google Gemini.
AI assistants are programs that can answer questions, search for information, and help carry out tasks with artificial intelligence.
The overhaul is being billed as Siri's biggest update since Apple bought the voice assistant technology in 2010 and incorporated it into Apple devices a year later.
In the company's presentation, Apple executives demonstrated Siri AI for various daily affairs. From finding concert dates, buying backpacks, to planning a football match watching event together.
Mike Rockwell, Apple's vice president in charge of Siri engineering, said Siri AI will take information from many sources, including data on devices and the open web.
"Siri is now a much more capable assistant, helping you find what you need and get more things done," Rockwell said, as quoted by NBC News.
Apple emphasizes Siri's ability to read the context from the user's device. The assistant can search for information from photos and text messages, create reminders, and even compile a calendar schedule with shorter steps than third-party AI assistants.
Because it is directly integrated with the Apple system, Siri AI can also be used from the keyboard in various applications. Rockwell gave an example that users can use it while typing in a group conversation or writing in a journal application.
Apple also said that Siri AI can be used to ask for travel tips, find stretching advice for runners, to find ideas for nicknames for hedgehogs.
Apple's move comes as other tech companies have been more aggressive about incorporating AI into their products. In 2024, two years after ChatGPT was released, Apple only introduced ChatGPT integration so that iPhone users could get chatbot answers through Siri conversations.
However, user interest in AI chatbots remains high. On Monday, three of the top six apps on Apple's App Store were chatbots: ChatGPT in first place, Claude in fifth place, and Google Gemini in sixth place. Meta AI is in 19th place.
Apple's relationship with a number of AI players is not simple. Google is both a competitor and a partner. Apple in January said it had entered into an AI partnership with Google and would use Gemini to help run a new version of Siri.
On the other hand, Apple's relationship with OpenAI is said to be tense. Bloomberg last month reported that the creator of ChatGPT judged that integration with Apple did not meet expectations and was considering legal action.
Craig Federighi, Apple's Senior Vice President of software engineering, as quoted by NBC News, said that Siri AI will be available later this year on iPhones, iPads, and Macs. In the initial phase, the service is only available in English, then expanded to other languages.
However, Siri AI is not immediately available in the European Union and China. Apple still has to complete regulatory requirements in these two major markets.
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