Siri AI Hands-On: A Smarter, More Helpful Assistant
Apple's revamped Siri, powered by Google Gemini, is more conversational and personalized but still has rough edges in its beta form.
A Wired journalist tested the developer beta of Siri AI, Apple's overhauled voice assistant coming with iOS 27. Unlike its predecessor, the new Siri is integrated into the iPhone's search bar and supports back-and-forth conversations. It uses Google's Gemini model, and its answers are concise.
Siri AI can pull information from the user's messages, photos, and emails to offer personalized recommendations. For example, asking "What should I do today" prompted Siri to scan recent conversations and highlight unfulfilled plans. It can also recognize images — taking a photo of a foggy trail, Siri identified the cypress trees but incorrectly located the spot.
During the test, Siri found photos from a past trip to Costa Rica, recommended brunch spots, and attempted to send a text message, though it sometimes added extra words or suggested sending to a wrong contact.
Apple emphasizes privacy: data is not stored and is only accessed when Siri answers a query. Users can disable Siri AI in settings. Full features will be available on newer iPhone models, while iPhone 16 series and iPhone 15 Pro will get partial support.
Overall, Siri AI is still in beta but feels significantly different from the old Siri — it's more straightforward and functional, not trying to be a synthetic friend.
