Apple's AI Journey: From Siri's Overhaul to the AI Phone Race

Updated: June 09 2024 22:25

Apple, the tech giant known for its innovative products and seamless integration of hardware and software, has been on a unique journey when it comes to AI. The company's early efforts with Siri, one of the first AI assistants, showcased its willingness to take risks. However, as the AI landscape has rapidly evolved, Apple finds itself playing catch-up in the AI arms race.

As Apple took a cautious approach to AI development, its rivals surged ahead. Microsoft, Google, Samsung, Meta and others began integrating generative AI into their core products, leaving Apple scrambling to keep up. The company's characteristic secrecy and perfectionism, which have served it well in the past, now threaten to hold it back in the rapidly evolving AI landscape.



In the early 2010s, Apple had grand plans for Siri, the famed assistant that was one of the last projects co-founder Steve Jobs worked on before his death. Project Blackbird, a total overhaul of Siri, aimed to create a powerful AI voice assistant capable of running on an iPhone without an internet connection. The revamped Siri impressed people with its speed, conversational capabilities, and accuracy in understanding user commands. It even imagined a Siri with capabilities built by third-party app developers.

However, a competing project called Siri X won out in an internal contest. This more modest upgrade focused on moving existing Siri software onto iPhones to improve speed and privacy. While Siri X was unveiled in 2021, it left many wondering what could have been if Project Blackbird had come to fruition.


One of Apple's key challenges in the AI space is balancing innovation with its commitment to user privacy. The company is working to develop AI features that maximize privacy while still delivering impressive capabilities. This focus on privacy could be a differentiating factor for Apple as it competes with other AI developers.

To accelerate its AI efforts, Apple is exploring partnerships with major AI developers like OpenAI, Google, and Cohere. These collaborations could help Apple quickly integrate advanced AI capabilities into its products. Additionally, the company is considering allowing users to choose third-party AI providers to power or augment Siri, although the specifics of this plan remain unclear.

Apple's pursuit of perfection in its product rollouts may prove challenging in the world of AI, where models are prone to occasional errors or "hallucinations." The company will need to adapt its approach to accommodate the inherent uncertainties of AI technology while still maintaining its high standards of user experience.


Apple's virtual assistant, Siri, is set to receive a significant upgrade with the release of iOS 18 and macOS 15. According to exclusive information obtained by AppleInsider, Siri will gain enhanced capabilities within core system apps, allowing users to perform complex actions using natural language commands. This article provides a detailed look at the new features and improvements that Siri will bring to various applications.

Siri's AI-powered upgrade will impact a wide range of Apple's core applications, including:

• Books
• Calendar
• Camera
• Contacts
• Files
• Freeform
• Keynote
• Mail
• Magnifier
• News
• Notes
• Photos
• Reminders
• Safari
• Stocks
• System Settings
• Voice Memos

In the Books app, Siri will be able to open specific books or sections, flip through pages, and change book themes. This will greatly assist users who may be unfamiliar with the app's user interface or have difficulty navigating through it.


Siri's ability to control device cameras will simplify the process of taking photos and videos. Users can instruct Siri to set the camera to a specific mode, set a timer, and switch between front-facing and rear cameras.


Siri's new Keynote-related features will benefit users in education, marketing, and business sectors. Users will be able to insert audio, images, and video into presentations, as well as see who edited a Keynote presentation and make changes of their own.


Apple's Mail application will receive a significant overhaul, with machine learning enhancements that allow for automatic email classification. Siri will be able to identify emails with promo codes, block email senders, and perform various actions to streamline email communication, such as replying to all senders or forwarding emails.

Siri's enhancements for Notes will make it easier to navigate between individual notes, tag them, and move them around. The Notes app will also feature in-app audio recording, transcription, and LLM-powered summarization, as well as Math Notes integration with the new GreyParrot Calculator.


Siri will have significantly enhanced functionality within the Photos app, allowing users to edit, move, and hide photos, albums, collections, and memories. Siri will also be able to identify specific objects, landscapes, or people within a photo through Visual Look Up.



Siri's functionality within Reminders will assist users in creating various types of lists, such as chores, errands, groceries, and travel arrangements. The virtual assistant will also be able to add or remove hashtags from specific reminders and generate overviews of reminders.


In Safari 18, Siri will be able to read or summarize article content within a webpage, create new tab groups, and open new tabs in the current or private tab group. Safari 18 will also introduce a new Intelligent Browsing feature and a built-in content blocker called "Web Eraser."


Siri will also gain new capabilities in other system applications, such as opening different areas of System Settings, creating new boards in Freeform, scanning documents with the Files app, and editing contact details in the Contacts application.


As part of Project Greymatter, Siri will receive the ability to generate summaries of articles, emails, messages, notifications, and posts. The Greymatter Catch-Up feature will provide users with a recap of their most recent notifications. Siri, Spotlight, and Mail will all receive advanced search functionality and greater contextual understanding through Apple's AI software.


In addition to the AI-powered upgrades, Apple will revamp the Calculator application on macOS 15, introducing a new design and features. The Maps application is also expected to receive an upgrade that allows users to add notes to specific locations.

The upcoming release of iOS 18 and macOS 15 promises to bring significant improvements to Siri and various core applications, enhancing user experience and productivity across Apple devices. While not all features may make it to the final release, the exclusive information obtained by AppleInsider provides an exciting glimpse into the future of Apple's AI-powered virtual assistant.

With the right partnerships, investments, and a focus on user experience and privacy, Apple could emerge as a leader in the AI revolution. As the company prepares to unveil its latest AI advancements at WWDC, the tech world eagerly awaits the next chapter in the story of Siri and Apple's AI journey.