Apple finally gives Siri an AI glow-up after rare yearlong delay

• Apple detailed its long-delayed overhaul to Siri at WWDC 2026.
• The tech giant's AI assistant is set to finally get AI-powered capabilities, some of which were initially teased in 2024.
• Apple announced a deal with Google in January to have Gemini power Siri's AI.

Siri's full-fledged AI moment is finally here.

On Monday, Apple unveiled its long-awaited, much-delayed overhaul of Siri as it looks to catch up in the AI race.

"Today, we are introducing an entirely new version of Siri, Siri unlocked by Apple Intelligence," said Mike Rockwell, VP of engineering, said during the company's 2026 Worldwide Developers Conference. "We call it Siri AI."

The new Siri AI will exist within Apple's software ecosystem but also as a standalone app. Siri AI will launch in beta later this year, but it will not launch in the European Union or China initially, said Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering.

The underlying architecture of the new Siri is the result of Apple's partnership earlier this year with Google. The new features will launch in English with other languages to come.

Rockwell showed Siri using a variety of AI-powered capabilities, including the ability to find previously sent addresses, photos from particular locations, and more, "using your personal context." In one example, Rockwell showed how Siri could find specific photos he needed and share them with a group without ever opening the Photos app.

Siri will have a brand new voice experience "that enables Siri to sound incredible and a lot more expressive." Rockwell said users can also customize how expressive they want Siri to be. Along with voice improvements, Rockwell said Siri is also getting a dictation improvement "with a major boost in accuracy."

The Siri updates were just one part of the bevy of AI-enabled features Apple plans to roll out as part of its overhaul of Apple Intelligence, including the ability for iPhone to gather context during calls, reposition the framing of photos after they've been taken, and recognize faces with home cameras. Apple said some of the new AI features will have daily usage updates.

After encountering product development delays, Apple reached a deal in January with Google to have Gemini power Siri's artificial intelligence capabilities.

Federighi detailed the company's "deep collaboration" with Google.

"Together, we created the next generation of Apple Intelligence models," Federighi said during the WWDC livestream.

Siri troubles lead to embarrassing delays

If some of this sounds familiar, that's because much of it is.

In 2024, Apple announced a massive update to Siri, promising a more "natural" and "personal" assistant powered by Apple Intelligence. But then it ran into development issues.

By March 2025, Apple made the exceedingly rare move to announce that the Siri revamp was delayed.

That complicated Apple's marketing efforts. Apple also pulled down a September 2024 ad featuring "The Last of Us" star Bella Ramsey that featured Ramsey using Siri's AI to pull information from the calendar app to remember someone's name.

Last month, Apple agreed to pay $250 million to settle a class-action lawsuit accusing the company of misleading customers about the availability of AI-enhanced features.

Tim Cook reflects on his last WWDC as CEO

This is Cook's final WWDC as CEO, marking one of his last opportunities to close the chapter on Apple's AI setbacks. Apple's hardware boss John Ternus will take the helm as CEO starting on September 1.

Before the keynote presentation closed, Cook reflected on his time leading Apple.

"On a personal note, some of the greatest highlights of my time as CEO have been events like this," Cook said.

"Sharing powerful new tools with all of you and then seeing what you create with them has been a constant reminder that imagination has no limits," he said. "Over the years, you have helped people connect, create, learn, and experience the world in extraordinary new ways."