Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) announced a sweeping update to its Siri digital assistant at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday, marking the company’s most significant push into artificial intelligence to date.
The revamped assistant, dubbed Siri AI, will be available as a standalone app and integrated into search functions, home screens, and apps such as Photos across Apple devices.
Siri AI will draw on cloud computing networks and the internet while also leveraging personal data stored on a user’s device, including email and text message history, to deliver more tailored responses.
Despite the headline announcements, Apple shares fell close to 2% following the news, reflecting lingering skepticism from investors about the company’s ability to execute on its AI ambitions.
Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president for software design, addressed that skepticism directly at the Cupertino, California event, insisting the company’s approach prioritizes utility and user privacy above all else.
“Some appear to be racing forward, seemingly pursuing AI for the sake of AI without clear regard for the people — all of us — that it’s ultimately meant to serve,” Federighi said, adding, “We believe that truly helpful AI must be centered around you and your needs.”
The announcement comes after repeated delays to Siri’s AI capabilities raised serious questions about Apple’s competitive position as rivals including OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude captured consumer attention.
Apple is leaning on Google’s Gemini AI model as the foundation for its AI systems, following a multi-year collaboration between the two companies announced in January.
Daniel Newman, CEO of tech research and advisory firm Futurum Group, offered a measured assessment, saying Apple faces a clear “prove-it moment” following a rocky AI rollout over recent years.
“My first reaction — and I think the reason the stock sort of fell — was it’s ticking a box, but still uninspiring,” Newman said, warning that execution would be the ultimate test of credibility.
Newman noted that investors may find comfort in the fact that Apple is effectively “just paying rent to Google” for Gemini rather than pouring capital into expensive in-house AI development like many competitors.
Ben Bajarin, CEO of tech research company Creative Strategies, described Siri’s existing functionality as setting a low bar, but said the new version looked like “a pretty big upgrade” with the potential to reach a wide consumer base.
“It will work very cleanly into a whole slew of things that consumers might already do,” Bajarin said, though he cautioned, “I think now we’ll just have to see how it actually works.”
Francisco Jeronimo, an analyst with consultancy IDC, said Apple appears to want AI to “disappear into the operating system” rather than make direct chatbot interaction the central user experience.
“If Apple makes AI feel natural, private and useful for mainstream users, it will not just strengthen its ecosystem. It could redefine what consumers expect from every device they use,” Jeronimo said.
Siri AI will initially be available to U.S. customers later this year in English, with other languages to follow, though it will not be immediately accessible in the European Union or China due to regulatory constraints.
Apple also announced expanded parental controls at the conference, giving parents new tools to restrict website access, limit app downloads, control communications, and manage screen time for children.
These updates arrive as Apple and a range of other technology companies face mounting lawsuits alleging harms to minors, including mental health concerns linked to AI chatbots and social media platforms.
The WWDC event is expected to be the last for outgoing CEO Tim Cook, who announced in April that he will hand leadership to John Ternus, currently head of Apple hardware development, in September.
Cook, whose 15-year tenure saw Apple’s share price rise approximately 2,000% on a split-adjusted basis, briefly opened and closed Monday’s keynote but did not take a central role in unveiling the new products.
Closing out the morning session, Cook said “the best is still ahead” for Apple, and reflected on his time at the helm, stating it had been “the honor of a lifetime” to lead the company’s teams.
