Apple rebuilds Siri AI using Google Gemini models, introduces daily usage limits at WWDC

Siri's big Apple Intelligence upgrades sound a whole lot like Gemini

The new Siri will be available on iPhone 16 or newer, as well as iPhone 15 Pro models. Apple held its annual WWDC keynote today. A lot of the presentation was dedicated to AI: There were some novel applications of the tech, like a new Reframe feature that lets you simulate repositioning your iPhone camera after taking a photo, creating an image that looks like the same moment shot from a different perspective. Then there's Siri AI, which sounds more or less like Gemini built for iOS. The new version of Siri can do a lot of the same things Google likes to talk about Gemini doing. It can answer questions conversationally across Apple's different platforms, react to content on your screen, and access information both from the internet and across your personal Apple account. There's also a new, dedicated Siri app where your interactions are saved so you can revisit them later. Apple's added new writing tools to Siri that let it generate text from a prompt in just about any field. Siri will be able to access information in your Apple-linked email, texts, photos, so it should be able to answer questions and generate text grounded in your own personal context. This new AI-powered version of Siri does seem more customizable than Gemini, at least, allowing users to personalize the synthesized voice the assistant responds with using sliders that change both the pace and level of expressiveness of speech output. Siri AI will be out in beta later this year. Older iPhones won't be able to take advantage, however: the newest version of Siri will be compatible with iPhone 16 or newer, as well as iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max.

Apple Rebuilds Siri AI With Models Distilled From Google's Gemini, But Daily Usage Limits Are Coming

The undisputed star of the show is finally here. Apple has just unveiled the all-new Siri AI, which is powered by the much-improved Apple Foundation Models. Siri AI has world knowledge as well as your personal information on its fingertips, and is fundamentally on-screen aware Apple is now debuting a fundamentally improved Apple Intelligence architecture, which consists of new Apple Foundation Models that have been distilled from the very capable Google Gemini models, all coordinated by an orchestrator. Critically, Apple is NOT using Gemini models on your devices. Of course, depending on the capability of your existing Apple device, you might get higher-power Apple Foundation Models, with the ability to generate speech, high-fidelity dictation, natural language understanding, and more. Privacy is at the core of this new architecture, which leverages only on-device processing and Private Cloud Compute. Apple says third-party experts can verify the privacy-related credentials of this architecture. Now, let's move to the all-new Siri AI, which is built into the Dynamic Island, has access to personalized context, and remains on-screen aware. For instance, you can now ask Siri AI about an upcoming concert and add the corresponding date to your Reminders with simple voice commands. It can also tell you what a particular image is about, surface personalized context related to that image - a friend who lives near a park, for instance - and give directions to that friend's residence. Now, you can activate Siri AI with a simple swipe-down from the Dynamic Island. What's more, you can conduct seamless back-and-forth conversations with the new voice assistant in natural language. On Macs, Siri AI is integrated within Spotlight. Users can simply right-click any window or item to activate the voice assistant. What's more, the Siri app now stores your complete conversation history, one that can be deleted at your discretion. Interestingly, in visionOS, you can place Siri AI anywhere in your field of vision, and activate it by simply looking at it. Siri AI is also integrated within the Camera app, where it can recognize items, and give feedback, or allow you to take actions. For instance, you can aim the camera at a restaurant bill, and then immediately start dividing it up to split it with friends via Apple Cash. When you write with Siri AI in Mail and Messages apps, it can now customize to your typical style and how you usually communicate with different people. Siri AI public beta is coming next month, with general availability scheduled with the new OS release, replete with some daily restrictions on usage (and additional usage available with iCloud+). Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.