Apple may make Siri smarter with deeper AI integration

Apple Siri

Apple may introduce a much-needed generative AI-powered upgrade to Siri, its voice assistant, that could make it more conversational and versatile. According to a new report by The New York Times, the new version of Siri will be powered by generative AI and will be better at handling tasks like setting timers, creating reminders, custom requests, and more.

The report cites sources familiar with the matter have revealed that this new update will make Siri capable of chatting instead of just responding to questions one at a time. This update along with iOS 18 and other Apple OS increments are set to be unveiled at the WWDC event commencing from June 10, 2024.

However, this update doesn’t mean that Siri will have features similar to Open AI’s popular chatbot, ChatGPT. Instead, it will be able to do things like summarise incoming text messages and notifications. It should have a more private approach than other AI chatbots, as it will process most requests entirely on-device rather than relying on information from the web.

Siri was first introduced as a voice assistant in iPhones in 2011 and has been ever-present in most Apple devices since then. However, the virtual assistant has been known to struggle to carry on conversations and is instead limited to answering a single question at a time, with unsatisfactory answers.

This revamp of Siri would be a much-needed change as a part of a broader initiative within Apple to advance its AI capabilities within its ecosystem, which was also teased last week at the unveiling of the latest iPads.

Also read: iOS 18 may bring better integration between the Calendar and Reminder apps