Apple is reportedly testing an AI-powered chatbot that can perform many tasks that the promised Siri upgrade will be able to handle. The app supposedly gives Apple employees a way to test future Siri capabilities, but also to explore whether Siri needs a chatbot functionality.
ChatGPT, Google Gemini and others made AI chatbots mainstream, so not having one in the long-promised Siri revamp would be a glaring omission. One that would draw considerable criticism.
Apple tests an AI chatbot for Siri
Say “Hey Siri” to a HomePod or iPhone, then ask it a question, and the voice system will respond. Maybe. Siri’s not very smart, especially when compared to OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Thanks to artificial intelligence breakthroughs via large language models, ChatGPT, Gemini, xAI’s Grok and others can answer user questions to the point where they are starting to replace web search engines.
Apple’s head of AI development, John Giannandrea, doesn’t see much value in AI-powered chatbots … but in March he became the former head of development, with Mike Rockwell taking over the top spot.
With that change in leadership, Apple has reportedly been testing an AI chatbot at least since May. And an unconfirmed report on Friday indicates Apple built the chatbot into an experimental iPhone app. The software includes “the ability to search through personal data, such as songs and emails, and perform in-app actions like editing photos,” Bloomberg reported.
Siri needs this!
One of the goals of the app is reportedly to “gather feedback on whether the chatbot format has value.”
That question shouldn’t need to be asked. ChatGPT receives more than 2.5 billion prompts from users around the world every day. Google Gemini reports between 40 million and 45 million daily active users. Chatbots are mainstream.
A version of Siri without one would seem painfully limited. Even if it could handle the sort of very advanced tasks Apple is promising — like, “Email all the pictures from Saturday’s picnic to Andrea” — a too narrow a focus on iPhone functionality would be a serious misstep.
People turn to AI chatbots with a wide array of questions. Whether it’s restaurant recommendations or why the Holy Roman Empire ended, a chatbot has an answer. A Siri that must apologetically display ignorance is a failure.
So it’s good news that Apple is testing a chatbot iPhone app. Here’s hoping that chatbot becomes part of Apple Intelligence and Siri.
We won’t know for months, though. Development of the AI-enhanced version of Siri supposedly will continue until a spring 2026 launch.
