Apple unveils Siri AI, moves to reclaim its AI edge

[Financial News, New York = Reporter Lee Byung-chul] Apple has overhauled its artificial intelligence assistant Siri and moved decisively into the generative AI race. Although the Siri upgrade first promised in 2024 was delayed several times, leaving Apple seen as lagging behind in AI, the company is now mounting a comeback in the AI agent market, where systems understand context from personal information and carry out real tasks.
Apple unveiled Siri AI at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) held on the 8th at its headquarters in Cupertino, California. The new Siri goes beyond simple voice commands. It can recognize what is on the user's screen, search the web for information, and even remember past conversations.
For example, even if a friend sends an address by message and it is not saved separately, Siri can find it. It can also continue the context of earlier conversations and answer questions naturally. Apple described it as an AI that understands "personal context."
Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, said, "Truly useful AI must be designed with the user at the center." He added, "It should work based on personal data and the apps people use every day, while placing the highest priority on privacy."
The announcement is being seen as a bold move to ease market concerns that Apple had fallen behind in the AI race. While Microsoft, Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic have led the competition for AI agents, Apple has yet to produce a clear breakthrough. In particular, Siri, which drew attention in 2011 as the first widely used voice assistant in the smartphone era, has recently been viewed as losing relevance to ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude.
Apple also significantly improved Siri's voice in this overhaul. The new Siri can hold more natural and emotionally expressive conversations, and it works the same way on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. However, initial service will be limited in the European Union (EU) and China because of regulatory issues.
Apple also hinted at the possibility of increasing investment to strengthen its AI services. Kevan Parekh, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), suggested in a recent earnings report that the company could revise its long-standing policy of returning excess cash to shareholders. The market is interpreting this as a sign that investment in AI infrastructure and data centers could expand.
Still, Apple has strengths that its rivals do not. Hundreds of millions of iPhones and Macs already come with its custom high-performance AI chips, meaning users have effectively already paid for the computing power when they bought the devices. On top of that, the vast amount of personal data accumulated through the Apple ecosystem is seen as Apple's strongest weapon in the AI agent race.



pride@fnnews.com Reporter Lee Byung-chul Reporter