Apple updated Siri with AI — and the assistant actually works for the first time in 15 years

Apple released an updated version of its voice assistant called Siri AI — and based on early impressions from reviewers, it's the first real step forward in a decade and a half of disappointment.

A Decade and a Half of Failures

Siri launched on the iPhone 4S in 2011 and has since occupied a strange niche: formally capable of much, but in practice regularly failed even at the most basic tasks. Users complained that the assistant couldn't properly set a timer, confused names from contacts, answered off-topic, and sent them to the browser when it should have performed an action. Meanwhile, OpenAI launched ChatGPT, Google released Gemini, and Anthropic — Claude. All of them moved far ahead while Siri seemed to stand still.

What Changed in Siri AI

Apple redesigned the assistant based on Apple Intelligence. David Pierce and Nilay Patel from The Verge tested it in the first days after release and documented significant progress:

• Understands multi-step and contextual requests
• Works with data from applications — email, calendar, notes, photos
• Performs actions within apps through App Intents
• Responds faster and is significantly less unpredictable
• For complex queries, it can connect ChatGPT with user permission

However, Apple does not position Siri AI as a competitor to ChatGPT-4o or Claude for deep reasoning tasks. Instead, the bet is on something different: reliable help with everyday tasks right on the device — without the need to switch between applications.

What Early Tests Say

Reviewers are unanimous: Siri AI is not a breakthrough from a technological standpoint — there's nothing competitors aren't already doing. But that's not the main point. According to Nilay Patel's assessment, the assistant finally does exactly what most people need, even without claiming to be the most advanced solution on the market. The key point is deep system integration. Siri AI knows what's in your email, what's in your calendar, what you photographed last week. Third-party assistants installed as separate apps don't have such access by default.

Why This Matters for the Market

Until now, iPhone users had a clear argument for choosing ChatGPT or Gemini: the built-in assistant was too weak and an alternative was needed. Now that argument is weakening. For Google, Microsoft, and others — this is a signal: Apple has stopped being an easy target in the AI assistant segment. Billions of iPhone owners who would never install a separate app now get a fully functional tool by default.

What This Means

The updated Siri won't revolutionize the industry, but it closes a painful gap in Apple's product lineup. If the assistant has become "good enough" for everyday tasks — most iPhone users will simply stop thinking about finding a replacement. For the market, this means the battle for AI assistants is shifting from a niche audience of tech enthusiasts to the mass market of ordinary people.