Siri - page 2

This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: Apple reportedly plans to pay a cool $1 billion a year to use Google Gemini to make Siri smarter. How do we feel about that? Honestly, anything that fixes Siri sooner rather than later would be a big win.

Anybody creeped out about iPhones and Macs with Google inside should rest easy, though. Apple plans to keep everything safe and secure. And Cupertino’s still scrambling to get its own AI up to speed.

Also on The CultCast:

• Apple plans to build a low-priced laptop that will bring Macs to the masses. We discuss why that has PC makers quaking in their boots.
• The iPhone Air is reportedly a bust. One big reason is that people love their iPhone cameras — and the Air skimped out on that. The next iPhone Air model might add a second lens, but really fix the problem?
• Some automakers plan to pull the plug on CarPlay. We’re already plotting our revolt!
• Griffin runs down the top five features in iOS 26.1 that you should try immediately, including one important toggle that will keep your iPhone from photographing the luxurious insides of your pocket.
• And finally, we wrap up with a new game — Apple Mad Libs!

Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.

The brains behind the upcoming AI-enhanced version of Siri will reportedly be provided by Google, not Apple’s own tech. For a hefty price.
Google’s software will supposedly run on Apple servers, so user data isn’t being handed over to Google.

Apple makes some of the best tech products in the world — beautifully designed, powerful and reliable. But even the best stumble sometimes.
Over the years, I’ve used plenty of Apple devices that looked great on paper but turned out to be frustrating in practice. Here are the ones that made me question Apple’s “it just works” mantra.

Apple’s long-delayed Siri upgrade will reportedly “lean on Google’s Gemini” model to power many of its features. It will also include an AI-powered web search.

However, this Gemini integration will supposedly function differently from how Apple currently integrates ChatGPT into Apple Intelligence.

Apple’s long-delayed AI-powered Siri upgrade remains on track for a 2026 debut, CEO Tim Cook said Thursday. That offers some reassurance to users after multiple setbacks pushed the originally planned 2024 release back by more than a year.
So, what can we expect from a smarter Siri voice assistant when it finally arrives? 

ChatGPT maker OpenAI has acquired Software Applications Inc., a company founded by former Apple employees who worked on Workflow, the software Apple acquired in 2017 and renamed “Shortcuts.”

At Software Applications, the team has been hard at work on Sky, an AI-powered assistant that can perform actions across any app on your Mac. The acquisition should give OpenAI a leg up when it comes to integrating ChatGPT into Macs.

Meta continues poaching high-profile executives from Apple’s AI team for its Superintelligence group. The latest hire is Ke Yang, who Apple recently appointed to lead its Answers, Knowledge and Information team.

Apple’s team is making an “answer engine” that will crawl the web to answer simple search queries. 

Apple will build its upcoming smart home products in Vietnam to diversify its manufacturing away from China. This includes indoor security cameras, a smart display and a tabletop robot. 

A $350 smart display will be the first to launch in spring 2026. 

October 7, 2011: Two days after the death of Steve Jobs, Apple opens preorders for its next-gen iPhone 4s.

The last iPhone that Jobs worked on directly, the 4s boasts a speedier A5 chip, improved 8-megapixel camera with 1080p HD video recording, and — most significantly — Apple’s new AI virtual assistant, Siri.

October 4, 2011: With the unveiling of the iPhone 4s, Apple introduces the world to Siri. A groundbreaking example of artificial intelligence in action, the Siri launch fulfills a long-term dream at Apple.

In fact, the company first predicted such a feature in the 1980s — with Siri’s debut coming at almost the exact month Apple envisioned.

You can have your iPhone read out loud any text on its screen with a useful accessibility feature called Accessibility Reader. Apple designed this feature for people who have trouble reading small text, but you will find it handy even if you don’t — in lots of situations.

For instance, your iPhone can read recipes aloud while your hands are busy cooking. Or you can quickly hear how to pronounce a word you don’t know — that’s what I use Accessibility Reader for most often. You can even hear what you’re typing as you write.

The potential applications for everyday use are incredibly broad. Here’s how to use Accessibility Reader and all of the iPhone’s Read & Speak features. 

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 will reportedly take on OpenAI and Perplexity with its own AI-powered web search. Known internally as the World Knowledge Answers, the feature should launch by next year.
The company will integrate it directly into Siri and may eventually bring it to Safari and Spotlight.

Say you’re in the kitchen and you hear an alarm going off on the iPad in your living room. Rather than walking across the house to deactivate it, you can use Siri on your iPhone or HomePod to shut off the alarm. This method also works with timers (and a variety of devices, too).

Here’s how to do a handy trick that everyone should know.

Add Google Gemini to the list of AIs that might go into the promised revamp of the Siri voice assistant if Apple can’t develop the tech itself.

Apple is working hard on its own large language models to provide Siri with a much-needed intelligence boost. But Cupertino is reportedly covering its bases by talking to other companies about using their AI instead. Google joined the list, according to an unconfirmed report published Friday.

Apple plans an ambitious return to artificial intelligence hardware with a slate of new devices, headlined by a tabletop robot designed to serve as an interactive AI companion, according to a new report. Cult of Mac reported on the “Pixar Lamp” robot and its physical motions before, but new information indicates a new version of Siri could make it surprisingly human-like in its interactions with people.

Apple’s long-delayed next-gen Siri won’t just be smarter. It will use App Intents to let you control iPhone apps with your voice.

However, due to reliability concerns, Apple may limit this feature’s rollout to select third-party apps.

Google’s newest teaser for its upcoming Pixel 10 lineup mocks Apple’s failed rollout of a new, smarter Siri. “If you buy a new phone because of a feature that’s coming soon, but it’s been coming soon for a full year, you could change your definition of soon,” says Google in the ad.

It recommends frustrated users to “just change your phone” and gives a glimpse of the Pixel 10 at the end.

Apple’s new internal team, “Answers, Knowledge and Information,” is apparently developing a ChatGPT-like search tool. It will reportedly use an “answer engine’ that will crawl the web to answer simple search queries.

The tool is still in the early stages of development, so it won’t go live anytime soon.

In an unusual all-hands meeting Friday, Apple CEO Tim Cook assured employees that Apple won’t drop the ball when it comes to artificial intelligence. Calling AI “as big or bigger” than the internet, Cook said the company will rise to the occasion.

“Apple must do this,” he said. “Apple will do this. This is sort of ours to grab. We will make the investment to do it.”

In addition to hyping the company’s AI efforts, Cook expressed excitement about all the “amazing” new Apple products in the pipeline. And Apple software chief Craig Federighi told his colleagues not to worry about the long-delayed smarter Siri — a key component of Apple’s AI-infused future.

Apple faces big challenges in its artificial intelligence efforts as another key researcher leaves the company to join Meta’s ambitious superintelligence project, according to a new report Tuesday. The departure marks the fourth AI expert to leave Apple’s foundation models team in just one month, raising questions about the future of Apple Intelligence and the company’s AI strategy.

Thanks to a settlement in a class-action lawsuit related to Siri and data privacy, most U.S. Apple users can receive up to $100. You just need to fill out an online form by July 2, 2025. (Spoiler alert: That’s today.)

You’re eligible for a settlement if you live in the United States and used Siri between September 17, 2014, (when Apple released “Hey Siri” in iOS 8) and December 31, 2024. You can receive up to $20 per device, for up to five devices, if you’ve ever accidentally triggered Siri in the middle of a private conversation or meeting.

Here’s how Apple got in this mess, how to find out if you’re eligible, and how to submit your claim.

Apple’s struggle to develop artificial intelligence might reach the point where the iPhone-maker will need to outsource one of its core technologies: Siri. A promised AI upgrade for the voice assistant may be powered by large language models created by Anthropic or OpenAI, not Apple itself, according to an unconfirmed report published Monday.

But this is only a possibility — no decision has been made.

Apple reportedly held internal discussions to acquire AI startup Perplexity AI. The latter is an AI-powered search engine. It uses a large language model (LLM) to process the answers and presents them in an easier-to-understand format.

The discussions inside Apple are seemingly at an early level, and it may not even officially provide an offer to the young startup.

The release date for the AI-enhanced version of the Siri voice assistant will likely come in spring 2026, according to information leaking out of Apple. That’s nine months from now, and a year after it was first expected.

The long delay in the launch of smarter Siri was a significant black eye for Apple, clearly demonstrating that it wasn’t keeping up with rivals in AI research.