In a landmark announcement at WWDC, Apple revealed a series of cutting-edge AI enhancements for Siri, aiming to significantly upgrade the virtual assistant's capabilities. Central to these advancements is the integration with OpenAI’s ChatGPT model, which promises to make Siri more intuitive, responsive, and versatile.
These new features stem from Apple Intelligence, Apple's innovative personal intelligence system focused on privacy. This system empowers Siri to perform sophisticated tasks across apps, such as retrieving detailed information from user emails or locating and extracting data from stored images to streamline form-filling processes.
Siri's updated design now features a vibrant, multi-colored border that appears on the screen during use, making it more visually prominent. The virtual assistant has also been refined to better understand spoken language, even when users falter in their speech. This improvement ensures Siri can maintain the context of conversations, enabling it to perform sequential tasks efficiently.
Users will benefit from Siri's enhanced capability to interpret and act upon simple descriptions of desired apps or features. Additionally, Siri now supports typed queries, allowing users to interact with the assistant via text. This feature provides flexibility, as users can switch between typing and voice commands seamlessly.
With on-screen awareness, Siri can take actions based on the content displayed on the user’s device. For instance, it can update contact information directly from messages or execute complex in-app tasks, such as locating and enhancing specific images based on user instructions.
The integration with ChatGPT adds a new dimension to Siri's functionality. When appropriate, Siri can leverage ChatGPT’s expertise to provide detailed responses, such as offering recipe advice. This interaction is user-controlled, with Siri requesting permission before accessing ChatGPT to complete tasks, ensuring privacy and security.
Apple's announcement comes after extensive speculation about the company's AI strategy, particularly its efforts to develop robust language models. The ChatGPT integration is anticipated to roll out later this year, while the new Siri features, powered by Apple Intelligence, will enter beta testing with iOS 18 this fall in the US.
This significant upgrade aims to reposition Siri as a leading virtual assistant, overcoming past criticisms of its limited improvements since its debut on the iPhone 4S in 2011. By integrating advanced AI and tapping into ChatGPT's capabilities, Apple is poised to deliver a more powerful, versatile, and user-friendly Siri, breathing new life into its virtual assistant service.
