Tim Cook’s farewell tour began on Monday with an announcement that may define his legacy: a complete overhaul of Siri, the digital assistant that has long lagged behind its rivals. Speaking at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference – his last as CEO before stepping down in September after 15 years – the company unveiled Siri AI, a more conversational and capable assistant that promises to draw from a user’s past interactions, an understanding of images, and broad-world knowledge.
The overhaul comes amid mounting criticism that Apple has fallen behind technology giants like OpenAI and Anthropic. The new Siri will work across Apple products and apps, and will feature a dedicated app similar to those offered by its competitors. But Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering, Craig Federighi, took an unusual swipe at the industry, levelling a public critique of “AI for the sake of AI without considering the people it’s supposed to be able to serve.”
“Apple unveiled Siri AI at Tim Cook's final WWDC, promising a privacy-focused assistant as he steps down in September.”
“We believe that truly helpful AI must be centered around you and your needs,” Federighi said, adding that the new experience was designed with privacy in mind “at every step.” Apple Intelligence already offers writing tools and image editing, but the company has been slow to roll out the improved Siri.
“Apple had to address its shortcomings in AI, and WWDC provided some answers,” said Ben Wood, chief analyst at the industry analyst firm FDM CCS Insight. “The company must now prove that its privacy-led, integration-first approach can translate into a meaningfully better everyday experience, not just parity with rivals. Whether it has succeeded or not will come down to user reaction when new capabilities are in their hands.”
A beta version of Siri AI will be available later this year to supported devices set to English – but not in the European Union. “Over the past several months, EU regulators did not accept any of Apple's proposed solutions to bring Siri AI to the EU while safely supporting other virtual assistants,” the company said in a news release. Earlier this year, Apple partnered with Google to roll out Apple Foundation Models based on Google’s Gemini models and cloud technology.
Alongside the AI news, Apple announced a suite of changes to its trust and safety features, designed to keep children safer when using Apple products, amid widespread scrutiny over so-called “nudification” apps. Cook will be replaced by John Ternus, who was a major presence at WWDC but did not speak at the main keynote address on Monday morning. Whether Siri AI can finally close the gap with rivals – and whether regulators will allow it to reach all markets – remains to be seen.