I spent two months with Apple’s new Siri AI and it’s finally worth talking to

For years, I have watched Apple fans defend Siri. And, honestly, I never quite understood why.

Siri was mediocre when the competition was Google Assistant, Alexa and even Bixby. Somehow, it remained mediocre after the world moved on to ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude. Asking Siri anything beyond setting an alarm or calling someone often felt like taking a gamble.

That is finally changing.


I have been using the new Siri AI on iOS 27 beta for about two months now and, while it is nowhere close to replacing ChatGPT or Gemini, it is a massive improvement over the Siri we have known for years. For the first time, Siri feels like an actual AI assistant rather than a voice-controlled search box.

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It can hold a conversation, understand follow-up questions, use what is on your screen as context and perform certain tasks on your iPhone. It also looks completely different. Invoke it and Siri sits around the Dynamic Island as a glowing interface; pull the conversation down and it turns into a chat window where you can continue talking — or simply type.

I still catch myself getting annoyed at Siri. But the interesting thing is that most of those frustrations now feel like beta problems, rather than Siri being fundamentally incapable.

Apple finally delivers what it promised

Apple first showed off a much smarter Siri at WWDC 2024 as part of Apple Intelligence. The promise was big: Siri would understand personal context, remember what you were talking about, understand what was on your screen and eventually perform actions across apps.

Then came delay after delay.

At WWDC 2026, Apple finally unveiled Siri AI, describing it as a far more capable and conversational assistant. Two years after the original promise, much of that vision is finally visible.

And after using it for two months, I can see why Apple took its time — although I'm not sure the wait was entirely justified.

Also Read: Apple WWDC 2026: iOS 27, a smarter Siri and new AI features expected

Siri finally knows what's on my phone

The smartest thing about Siri AI isn't necessarily that it knows more about the world. ChatGPT and Gemini already do that extremely well.

Its real superpower is that it knows about my world.

Say my sister is planning to visit me and I can't remember when. Instead of searching through months of WhatsApp messages, texts and emails, I can ask Siri.

It can go through the information on my phone and surface relevant conversations or emails, helping me figure out whether we had actually discussed a date.

That sounds like a small feature until you use it. Then you realise how much time we spend searching our own phones for information we know is somewhere in there.

This is where Siri could eventually become much more useful than a standalone chatbot. But there is a catch: a lot will depend on third-party developers building deeper Siri integrations into their apps.

It understands your screen — sometimes

Siri AI can also understand what's happening on your screen. In iOS 27, it works alongside Visual Intelligence, including through the Camera app.

Point the camera at something and Siri can tell you what you're looking at or help answer questions about it.

I tried it with my pug, for instance, and Siri was able to identify the breed and provide relevant information.

If you come across something on your phone that you don’t understand, you no longer have to close the window, look it up online and then return to what you were reading. You can simply ask Siri about it, and it will explain it to you while you continue doing what you’re doing.

I have also found myself using Siri as a sort of travel companion on my way to or from work, just talking to it about random things. Sometimes it follows along surprisingly well.

And then there are moments when you remember this is still beta.

I once asked Siri whether Saavan, the Hindu lunar month that falls around the monsoon season in India, was over. It interpreted "Saavan" as the music streaming service Saavn, went down the wrong rabbit hole and then effectively ended the conversation instead of waiting for me to clarify.

That is exactly the sort of mistake Apple needs to iron out.

The language barrier is another big one, especially in a country like India, where we don't necessarily interact with people on our phones in English. Without support for regional languages, Siri can miss important context buried in our conversations and that undermines one of the biggest promises of a truly personal AI assistant.

The biggest problem: Siri is still Apple's assistant

The gap becomes much more obvious when you ask Siri to do things outside Apple's ecosystem.

For now, its strongest automation capabilities remain concentrated around Apple's own apps. Ask it to do something involving a third-party service and there is a good chance you'll get the dreaded, "Sorry, something's gone wrong. Please try again."

I have seen that message more times than I'd like, particularly when using Siri through CarPlay.

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This is understandable to an extent. Developers need to build the necessary Siri integrations, and Apple has said deeper third-party support is coming.

But Google has already set the bar here.

If Siri is eventually going to become the digital assistant Apple promised in 2024, it needs to do more than work beautifully inside Apple's walled garden.

Siri still isn't ChatGPT or Gemini

I wouldn't ditch ChatGPT or Gemini for Siri AI yet.

It can be slower at times, occasionally loses context and still struggles with some creative and generative tasks that rival assistants handle easily.

Apple doesn't need Siri to beat ChatGPT at writing an essay or Gemini at generating an infographic. Its opportunity is to make Siri the most useful AI inside the iPhone.

And it has one significant advantage — privacy.

Apple says Siri AI combines on-device processing with Private Cloud Compute, with personal data not stored or accessible to Apple when cloud processing is required.

For an assistant that needs access to your messages, emails, photos and other personal information, that matters.

The beta label is important

Even when iOS 27 launches publicly in September, Siri AI could still remain in beta and continue getting major improvements through subsequent updates.

Frankly, I hope it does.

Also Read: Apple cuts jobs in Siri, Vision Pro immersive video and gaming teams

Apple has already shown what happens when it promises an AI assistant before the technology is ready. The current Siri AI is promising but unfinished. Better follow-up conversations, deeper third-party app integration, smarter automation and fewer "Something went wrong" moments are exactly the things future updates should fix.

So, did Apple finally deliver on its promise?

Mostly.

Siri AI isn't the smartest AI assistant available today. It isn't as versatile as ChatGPT or Gemini. But it is a multifold improvement over the Siri we've been putting up with for years.

After all that waiting, Siri is finally worth talking to.

And if Apple keeps improving it instead of pretending the job is done, Siri could eventually become something more interesting than another AI chatbot — an assistant that doesn't just answer questions, but actually understands me, my phone and how I use it.