Siri

A new report on Apple’s partnership with Google to have Gemini power the new Siri appears to confirm speculation that the iPhone maker is paying around a billion dollars a year for the deal.

It also claims that ChatGPT provider OpenAI made a conscious decision to decline the opportunity to provide the intelligence behind Siri …

Apple’s big Siri upgrades are expected to ship as part of iOS 26.4, and a new report indicates they might come with a very convenient new feature for Apple Notes users.

The Information has published a report with interesting tidbits about Apple’s partnership with Google, which will have Gemini serve as the foundation for its AI features, including the new Siri. Here are the details.

Apple yesterday confirmed reports that it was partnering with Google’s Gemini to provide the AI features for Siri and more.

The primary reason for the announcement couldn’t have been made any clearer by the way the company chose to release the news …

In just a few short months, we should hopefully get our first look at an all new AI-infused Siri. After unveiling it over a year and a half ago, Apple’s vision for an all new Siri faced many engineering challenges – and is yet to hit users devices. That should be changing soon, though.

Apple’s long-delayed AI upgrades for Siri are set to finally launch this year. Here’s the expected release date for the new and improved Siri.

Apple has been roundly criticized for falling behind in AI, and for its rather disastrous Apple Intelligence launch in which it was forced to admit it had promised things it couldn’t deliver.

The second criticism is valid, the first only partly so. But a new report suggests that Apple’s path to delivering on its AI promises may be a radical one: abandoning work on its own model. I do now think that’s absolutely the right thing to do …

As Apple loses its AI head and reboots its work with a restructure, OpenAI is ramping up the pressure by declaring “code red.”

Concerned about being overtaken by Google’s Gemini, CEO Sam Altman has said that all of the company’s efforts will be devoted to improving the quality of ChatGPT …

Apple has announced that John Giannandrea, the company’s Machine Learning and AI Strategy boss, is retiring from the company. The move may not come as a surprise for anyone closely following Apple and its AI missteps over the last few years.

A new ChatGPT voice update has made interacting with the chatbot far more flexible than it used to be, and I think is an example of one of the key things we can eventually expect from the new Siri.

While OpenAI’s change might seem like a relatively small one on the surface, I’m already finding that it completely transforms the experience of using ChatGPT …

Earlier this month, a pair of Bloomberg reports indicated Apple will partner with Google to power its highly anticipated Siri upgrades. I was initially hopeful this would prove a smart solution, but now following the rollout of Gemini 3 last week, I’m more excited than ever for the new Siri in iOS 26.4.

A new document in Apple’s Developer blog confirms that users in Japan will be able to reassign the side button to launch third-party voice-based conversational apps, rather than Siri. Here are the details.

Update, 5:55 p.m. ET: Apple has published a new Developer Blog post detailing the upcoming feature, which will be limited to users in Japan.

iOS 26.2 beta 3 is here, bringing signs of a forthcoming AirDrop upgrade and welcome Measure enhancements. But the code for iOS 26.2 beta 3 reveals a potentially bigger change coming: the ability to replace Siri with a third-party assistant when using iPhone’s side button.

Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported that Google and Apple are close to reaching a yearly $1 billion agreement for a version of the Gemini model that will power the revamped Siri next year.

But perhaps more interesting than the price tag is one factor that will actually affect everyone’s experience: its architecture. Here’s a look at how it will likely work.

Siri’s delayed AI upgrades are still expected to ship next spring in iOS 26.4, and a new report this week about Google’s tech powering the features might be exactly what Apple and its users need.

One of the big promises of Apple Intelligence is the ability to interact with our apps. Instead of the relatively simple requests we can currently make of Apple Music, for example, we should be able to give the app a vibe-like steer on what we’d like it to play and let it figure out which tracks match our spec.

That’s a capability Amazon has just made available in the iOS and Android versions of its own music app by introducing support for its own next-generation intelligent assistant, Alexa+ …

I said only recently that it’s getting harder and harder to believe Apple can deliver on the new Siri. The company’s backtracking on announcements coupled to very vague statements on revised timings were certainly not making it easy to imagine that the new intelligent assistant will deliver.

I’m not yet ready to do my own U-turn on this, and my skepticism still very much remains, but there have at least been a couple of encouraging signs in the last few days …

Via Mark Gurman, Apple has landed on its strategy for the new Siri update coming as soon as iOS 26.4 in the spring of next year. Behind the scenes, much of the new Siri experience will use Google Gemini models.

The custom Gemini model will run on Apple’s Private Cloud Compute servers, to help fulfil user requests. Apple has promised that the new Siri will be able to answer personal questions like ‘find the book recommendation from Mom’ by hunting through data on your device and generating the appropriate response on-the-fly.

A bipartisan bill could lead to teams being banned from using AI chatbots, in response to parents expressing concerns about inappropriate content ranging from sexual conversations to assistance with suicide planning.

If the proposed GUARD Act becomes law, then it could impact Apple in three different ways – including the company’s plans for the new Siri …

For a very long time, I urged patience with Apple’s efforts to turn Siri into a truly intelligent assistant. Back in 2023, I argued that the stakes were higher for Siri than for primarily text-based AI systems like ChatGPT.

I’ve also said that Apple’s commitment to privacy poses a far greater challenge for the company’s AI efforts, and that the payoff would be worth it. But it’s gotten harder and harder to maintain this position, and the latest report certainly doesn’t help …

Early next year, Apple is set to debut its new AI-infused Siri as part of iOS 26.4 – after well over a year of delays. However, despite all of the additional time the company had to rethink its approach, some Apple engineers testing the software reportedly have concerns as it stands today.