Apple unveiled a revamped version of its virtual assistant, now called Siri AI, during its WWDC 2026 keynote. The new assistant is designed to perform system-wide actions, read on-screen content, and pull personal context from messages, emails, and photos, according to Apple. A dedicated Siri app will sync conversations across all devices via iCloud. The system routes queries between local processing and Nvidia-powered cloud servers, but the best on-device features require newer hardware with at least 12 GB of RAM. The most capable on-device model requires an iPhone 17 Pro or iPhone Air, an iPad with M4 and at least 12 GB of RAM, or a Mac with M3 and 12 GB of RAM. The standard iPhone 17 doesn't qualify with its 8 GB. Neither does the iPhone 16 Pro Max. Without the right hardware, many features are only available through Private Cloud Compute with higher latency.
Apple developed its 'Apple Foundation Models' in close collaboration with Google, building on Gemini technology. During a Tech Talk after the keynote, Craig Federighi clarified just how far the partnership actually goes: 'The amount of the Google Assistant we use is none.' Apple doesn't use the Gemini app, the models Google ships to its own customers, or Google Search as a knowledge base. For world knowledge, Apple relies on its own 'World Knowledge Service,' which the company says it built over several years. The third generation of AFM consists of five models: The four smaller ones - AFM Core, AFM Core Advanced, AFM Cloud, and AFM Cloud Image - were trained entirely for Apple Silicon and only 'refined using outputs from Gemini frontier models,' said Apple's AI lead Amar Subramanya. Only the top-tier model, AFM Cloud Pro, actually runs on Nvidia GPUs inside Apple's Private Cloud Compute infrastructure, which has been expanded into Google Cloud for that purpose. Subramanya told CNBC that AFM Cloud Pro is comparable in quality to Google's Gemini frontier models. No benchmarks have been released yet.
Apple's Siri AI will not launch on iPhones and iPads in the EU, though it will be available on macOS and visionOS. Apple blames the Digital Markets Act in a dedicated Newsroom post. The company argues that the regulation would require it to grant any third-party virtual assistant the same access Siri AI has, like reading and sending messages, making purchases, accessing files, and triggering actions across all apps. Security researchers have already shown that AI systems like these can be hijacked to steal passwords and photos or change account and file settings without consent. As a compromise, Apple proposed a 'Trusted System Agent' - a middleware layer that would securely give third-party assistants the same capabilities, paired with an 18-month phased rollout. The European Commission rejected that proposal, along with every other one Apple put forward. Apple hasn't given a timeline for bringing the feature to iPhone and iPad in the EU. macOS 27 and visionOS 27 will get Siri AI in the EU, though. That's because the DMA's scope only designates iOS and iPadOS as core platform services of a gatekeeper. macOS and visionOS aren't designated, so they aren't subject to the interoperability rules that would force Apple to open up to rival assistants. The Apple Watch is collateral damage: watchOS 27 requires a paired iPhone with Siri AI active, which EU users won't have. EU developers can't test or integrate the new Siri AI features on iOS, iPadOS, or watchOS either.
Source: thedecoder
