Apple first released Siri 13 years ago. Now the iPhone maker is preparing to rework the personal voice assistant to keep up with powerful AI chatbots like ChatGPT.
According to a Bloomberg report released Thursday that cited people familiar with the matter, Apple is preparing to launch a new Siri that is more conversational and faster at responding to complicated queries.
The voice assistant will be capable of quicker back-and-forth. It is trained on more advanced large language models (LLMs), leading insiders to call it “LLM Siri.” An LLM is an AI system that processes massive amounts of text in order to understand and generate text itself.
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An announcement about the change could occur as early as next year, with the new Siri rolling out by spring 2026 at the earliest.
Apple isn’t trying to be the first to bring AI features to market; the company is taking a slow and steady approach to AI. When advertising an early Apple Intelligence update, Apple stated that the AI text message summaries and AI writing help were all part of Apple’s effort to make “AI for the rest of us.”
Apple gave Siri a new look with the iOS 18.1 update released in late October. Instead of an orb at the bottom of the screen, Siri now takes the form of a light that wraps around the edges of the iPhone screen. The light moves in response to a speaker’s voice.
Siri is also gradually beginning to understand more context, though not yet at the level demonstrated by ChatGPT-4o, which OpenAI CEO Sam Altman claimed in May has “human-level response times and expressiveness.” Siri is getting to that point: As of the iOS 18.1 update, Siri can process pauses and hesitation in speech. If someone says, “Siri set a reminder — wait, I mean an alarm,” Siri won’t stop working and will instead set the alarm. The voice assistant can also now process typed commands.
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The Siri updates so far have been “cosmetic” and pave the way for a new ChatGPT-like voice assistant to come, according to Bloomberg.
Apple shipped over 231 million iPhones across the world last year. Apple Intelligence on smartphones only applies to the iPhone 16 lineup and the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max.
