Apple’s highly anticipated developer conference at its Cupertino, California headquarters on Monday is expected to showcase a major transformation of Siri, the AI voice assistant that the tech company pledged to enhance two years ago but has yet to deliver meaningful improvements.
Since launching in 2011, Siri has been available across Apple’s massive ecosystem of 2.5 billion devices. However, hundreds of millions of users have gravitated toward AI applications from OpenAI and Anthropic instead. Meanwhile, consumers in China and other regions are embracing AI agents – automated programs capable of handling complicated tasks for users – to organize daily activities and manage routine responsibilities.
Industry experts believe Apple possesses an untapped AI treasure trove through the personal information stored on each iPhone – including emails, text messages, calendar entries and other data spread throughout the device’s operating system and applications. This information could enhance Siri’s response quality and improve the assistant’s effectiveness in completing user tasks.
The company’s obstacle lies in the fact that this valuable data remains secured within its operating systems for privacy and security purposes. Third-party applications are intentionally prevented from accessing each other’s data, and Apple itself cannot reach much of this information without explicit user consent.
Apple’s mission involves unleashing this data’s potential for both the company and app developers.
“They have to make Siri not suck, but Apple also has to put the framework together of how their developers can take advantage of AI themselves,” said Patrick Moorhead, founder of tech consulting firm Moor Insights & Strategy. “It sounds kind of boring, but AI is all about data, because data is what creates context and what creates better results.”
Despite this, Wall Street hasn’t penalized Apple for its AI strategy. The company’s stock has climbed approximately 50% in the past year, trailing Google parent Alphabet’s roughly 120% increase driven by its successful Gemini model, but outperforming Microsoft’s 7% drop during the same period. Microsoft has faced criticism for appearing to lag behind competitors like Anthropic, partly due to its strong connections with OpenAI.
Monday’s most prominent announcements will likely include introducing a “chat” feature for Siri and a “personal context” setting allowing users to share their data with the assistant, according to Andrew Cornwall, a senior analyst with tech research firm Forrester.
Cornwall anticipates Apple will allow developers to integrate their applications with Siri through what the company terms “extensions” and enable those developers to select from AI models offered by OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google’s Gemini for their apps. Apple may also unveil a new approach for accessing the AI processing power of its specialized chips, Cornwall noted.
Analysts generally agree that Apple will likely present AI not as mere technology but as practical experiences or capabilities that customers will find valuable. Surveys indicate Americans remain skeptical about AI, and while Apple users in other significant markets like China view AI more favorably, Apple has traditionally avoided adopting technology simply for its own sake.
While Nvidia and Microsoft have recently focused on developing OpenClaw, a technology enabling multiple AI agents on personal computers to access user accounts and perform tasks for business customers, Ben Bajarin, CEO of tech consultancy Creative Strategies, doesn’t expect Apple to pursue this direction immediately.
Bajarin stated he doesn’t anticipate Apple emphasizing emerging technologies like OpenClaw, which continue to present potential security risks.
“It’s way too early for the consumer,” Bajarin said. “Honestly, I’m not even sure businesses are ready for this in an uncontrolled context.”
