Apple’s new AI-powered Siri can use apps for you

As expected, Apple’s assistant is about to get much more helpful thanks to a load of new AI-powered capabilities. During WWDC, the company previewed a new version of Siri that can take actions on your behalf and understand a wide range of new queries.

The new version of Siri has a better understanding of the apps on your phone and will be able to take more than 100 actions based on your activity and device. For example, you could ask Siri to show you specific photos or memories in your Photos app or to find tracking details for an expected delivery from an email in the Mail app.

Siri will also be able to perform some tasks for you, like adding an address to a contact card, tweak a photo, or share a summary of your notes in an email. Third-party developers will also be able to take advantage of these new capabilities with a new “app intents framework” that will allow them to tap into Apple Intelligence and make certain actions compatible with Siri.

Another major change is that Siri will no longer be only a voice-activated assistant. Apple is adding a “type to Siri” that makes it a bit closer to the experience of other generative AI chatbots.

Apple didn’t specify when all of the new Siri capabilities will launch, but said the new version of its assistant will be coming to iPhone, iPad and the Mac. The revamped Siri is part of Apple’s push into “personal intelligence,” which Tim Cook described as the “next big step” for the company.

Developing…

Catch up here for all the news out of Apple’s WWDC 2024.