A ZDNet editor tested the new Siri with Apple Intelligence on Mac across 10 tasks

Apple Intelligence — the new AI layer on top of macOS Sequoia — has finally reached a broad audience of Mac users worldwide, and with it came a radically reworked Siri. A ZDNet editor decided not to limit themselves to first impressions: the assistant went through 10 practical tests covering real-world tasks from everyday life. The result is mixed — and telling.

What has fundamentally changed

The main distinction of the new Siri is deep access to the user's personal context. The assistant now reads emails in Mail, messages in Messages, events in Calendar, and notes — and formulates responses directly on the device, without sending data to the cloud. Requests like "When did I last talk to this person?"

or "Remind me about the meeting today at three" no longer cause Siri to respond with confused silence. In parallel, Apple connected ChatGPT from OpenAI for requests that go beyond personal data. The user decides with each request whether to allow the query to be sent to an external system.

The interface was also updated: the new Siri glows along the edges of the screen instead of the old bubble, supports text input alongside voice input, and can maintain context across multiple exchanges.

Where the assistant succeeded

The test showed that the updated Siri confidently handles tasks that require deep integration with the system and the user's personal data.

• Contextual search — the assistant finds the needed email or reminder without mistakes, relying on actual email and notes content
• System commands — switching focus modes, managing files, changing app settings
• Writing Tools — proofreading, rewriting, and summarizing selected text work reliably
• Notification summarization — long conversations are condensed into a one-line priority summary
• Voice tasks — reminders and events are created quickly and accurately even with vague wording

Where there's still work to do

Not everything went without comment. Some requests are processed slower than you'd expect from a local assistant: a pause of several seconds is frustrating in everyday scenarios. Siri occasionally misinterprets complex compound commands — especially when the task involves two or three apps at once. A number of Apple Intelligence features are still marked as "coming soon": full integration with third-party apps and an agent mode that performs multi-step tasks without constant confirmation are still in development. Users see the promise, but not always — the actual capability.

"This is a promising start, but

Apple still has work to do," the author of the test concludes.

What it means

Apple Intelligence is not a one-time release, but a living product that the company is rolling out in waves of updates over several months. Already the next versions of macOS Sequoia could significantly change the picture — especially in terms of autonomous agents and expanded APIs for third-party developers. The competitive race between Apple, Google, and Microsoft in AI assistants is becoming more visible with each month. For users who have long waited for a useful voice assistant within the Apple ecosystem, the new Siri is a significant step forward. For those who expected to immediately get a ready-made competitor to GPT agents on Mac, the wait continues — but Apple has chosen the right direction.