I Tried Siri AI – and It’s Very Impressive

We may earn compensation from reviewed products. Learn about our editorial policies.

Need-to-knows

• Siri AI is Apple’s biggest leap for its digital assistant
• It can search deeply across your emails, messages, notes, and photos using natural language
• On-screen awareness lets Siri act within apps and the OS
• A dedicated ChatGPT-style Siri app is included, bringing all interactions together in one place

---

Two years ago, Apple introduced Apple Intelligence. Back then, it was billed as a boatload of fancy new AI features and a significant overhaul of Siri.

Since then, we’ve received those new AI features, but the rejuvenated Siri has been notably absent.

Until this week, when, during the WWDC26 keynote, Apple revealed the results of what appears to have been a colossal amount of work behind the scenes and thanks, in part, to their newfound access to Google’s Gemini.

This morning, I was granted access to the developer beta versions of iOS 27 and Siri AI, and I can confirm that what I’ve experienced of the latter so far has been nothing short of brilliant. I still have questions (I think we all do), but Apple’s digital assistant appears to have come of age.

It’s extremely early days, and there are no doubt many more beta updates to come, but things are starting to look a lot brighter for Siri.

What is Siri AI?

The new Siri is called ‘Siri AI’. I don’t think any of us saw that coming, but names aside, this represents the single biggest generational leap in capabilities for Apple’s digital assistant.

This is thanks in part to Apple’s partnership with Google Gemini, which was announced at the start of this year. That, in combination with Apple’s Foundation Models and Private Cloud Compute, has resulted in Apple’s take on agentic AI.

Related: iOS 27 features

During this week’s keynote, we were promised a new version of Siri that was more conversational and could deal with all sorts of back-and-forth with its master while handling context across those discussions. It would also be aware of personal context and have the ability to search deeply within your emails, messages, notes, and photos for answers to questions, no matter how clumsily they’re posed.

It’s what we were promised when Apple Intelligence was announced two years ago. But Apple appears to have gone further. Siri AI is also aware of what’s on your screen and can act on the information it ‘sees’. It can go all ‘Claude’ on your devices, by carrying out actions within apps and interacting with the operating system without you lifting a finger.

The new Siri will even sound more natural with tweakable pacing and expressivity. Oh, and there’s a ChatGPT-style dedicated Siri app, too, which brings all of this together and offers a home for all of your interactions with Siri AI.

There’s quite a lot to dig into here, and I’ll be doing just that over the coming weeks, but I couldn’t help but throw a few questions immediately at Siri AI as soon as I gained early access.

Get the lowdown: macOS 27

I should note at this juncture that everything you’re about to read is based on my experience with beta software, which is subject to change and, at the time of writing, isn’t available to the general public.

Siri AI: my tests

I’ll let you into a little secret: I’m not a huge user of digital personal assistants. I ask Alexa to set timers for dinner preparation. I’ll occasionally ask Siri to play a particular tune while I’m running. Now and again, I’ll ask Gemini if <insert name of celebrity here> is still alive. I rarely go any further, mainly because experience has taught me that these assistants aren’t always that helpful. It’s often easier just to do it yourself.

That means a lot is resting on Siri’s shoulders this year, but, equally, a rather big opportunity for a company like Apple to finally get it right.

The sudden appearance of Siri AI on my iPhone 17 Pro Max (which is running the developer beta version of iOS 27) inspired me to hit it, instantly, with some tricky questions.

More: iPadOS 27 features

“Siri, what was that quote I was sent by a Land Rover specialist for something to be fixed on my car?” I asked, in the most half-arsed fashion possible. “I can’t remember what it was for or how much it was,” I added, unhelpfully.

Within about five seconds, Siri AI responded with an extremely natural response that included the name of the specialist garage, the exact reason I’d ask them to quote me, and the price. Along with a summary of the email I’d originally sent them. Oh, and a link to the email in question.

I continued.

“Siri, my dad asked me for something recently relating to the iPad, but I can’t remember what it was.”

Faster, this time, Siri revealed a text message sent to me by my dad several weeks ago, where he’d asked if I knew of a decent iPad stand for his music gear. Once again, the response was conversational, and I suddenly had immediate access to the related message.

“Siri, find that recent Apple Store receipt and add a to-do item for me to add it to my expenses report.”

M4 iPad Air review

Bosh; a copy of the receipt in question was placed in front of me, along with confirmation of the to-do item in Reminders.

I decided to push it further.

“Siri, what’s my passport number?” I asked, knowing full well that while it was stored securely within my password manager, and, therefore, out of reach of Siri AI, there was a photo of my passport knocking around somewhere.

Sure enough, within a few seconds, Siri AI confirmed, in copyable text, what my passport number was and then revealed that it had found it within the aforementioned photo, but also within a couple of notes (both were very old visa applications).

At no point during any of those questions did I suggest that Siri should head into Messages, Mail, or Notes to find the stuff I wanted. And I’m sure you’ll agree that my requests were less than helpful. Certainly, if I’d have been on the receiving end of those questions, I’d have been asking some questions of my own.

How does the hold up overall? iPhone 17 Pro Max review

However, most impressive was the fact that I’d only installed the beta version an hour or so before undertaking those experiments. When I heard about Siri’s new contextual awareness, I assumed that it would have to do a boatload of searching and indexing of my digital life in order to quickly surface information. Clearly not. The speed with which it delivered those responses was either a demonstration of the raw power inherent within modern iPhones or, maybe, an indication that Apple Intelligence has quietly been indexing over the last few months in preparation for Siri AI.

Who knows. Who cares. It bloody works.

Wrapping up

I also asked Siri AI to show me all the photos of my dog. It did so, and I still haven’t figured out if the reason it only showed photos of Nala was that it had somehow worked out she was mine based on the geotags behind the photos, or some complicated triangulation of my whereabouts, my dog photo-taking habits, and background details within the photos.

Or maybe there are just far more photos of a fox red Labrador in my camera roll than there are of any other kind of pooch.

M4 iPad Air review

Once again. Who knows. Who cares. It just works.

I must stress that it is extremely early days for this next phase of Apple Intelligence and the brand-new Siri. But early signs are extremely positive. It’s the same story with the new image manipulation tools; my tests of both the extend and spatial reframing tools in Photos have produced utterly superb results.

We’ve come a long way, baby.

No one asked for AI. Certainly, no one expected to be able to ask their phone incredibly vague questions and to receive extremely accurate and useful answers. Within seconds. But that appears to be where we’re headed with the next batch of Apple operating systems (yes, depending on where you live and which devices you have to hand).

I’ll continue testing and reporting. Stay tuned.