More Advanced AI Siri Functionality Not Coming to iOS 18 Until 2025

Thursday May 30, 2024 1:29 pm PDT by Juli Clover

Apple is planning a major AI overhaul for Siri in iOS 18, and Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says that the update will let ‌Siri‌ control all individual features in apps for the first time, expanding the range of functions the personal assistant can perform.

iOS 18 Siri Integrated Feature
‌Siri‌ will be able to do things like open specific documents, move a note from one folder to another, delete an email, summarize an article, email a web link, and open a particular news site in Apple News. Apple plans to use AI to analyze what people are doing on their devices, automatically enabling ‌Siri‌ features.

To make this happen, Apple engineers had to rearchitect ‌Siri‌'s underlying software with large language models or LLMs, which is also the technology that's been used for chatbots like ChatGPT. Apple has been working on a deal with OpenAI to integrate OpenAI's ChatGPT technology into iOS 18, and it is also in talks with Google about incorporating Gemini, but ‌Siri‌ functionality likely relies on Apple's own LLM work.

At launch, the new ‌Siri‌ functionality will be limited to Apple apps, and ‌Siri‌ will only be able to respond to one command at a time. Eventually, Apple wants ‌Siri‌ to be able to respond to multiple commands, such as capturing a photo and then sending it to someone in a message.

While the ‌Siri‌ features will be introduced at WWDC 2024, Apple reportedly does not plan to launch them in September when iOS 18 sees an initial release. Instead, ‌Siri‌ will be overhauled in a future iOS 18 update that's set to be introduced in 2025.

Basic AI tasks in iOS 18 will be processed on device, but more advanced capabilities will rely on Apple's cloud servers. Gurman previously said that Apple would power all of the initial iOS 18 features on-device without relying on cloud technology in order to preserve privacy, but rumors have shifted in recent weeks. Part of Apple's new ‌Siri‌ technology will include code for determining whether a request can be processed on device or requires Apple's servers. On-device iOS 18 AI capabilities will largely require an iPhone 15 Pro or later to work, and an M1 or later for iPadOS 18 and macOS 15.

According to The Information, Apple's AI servers will be powered by M2 Ultra and M4 chips, with Apple planning to use the Secure Enclave to "to help isolate the data being processed on its servers so that it can't be seen by the wider system or Apple." Gurman says that Apple will also provide customers with an "intelligent report" that explains how information is kept safe.

We'll hear all about the AI functionality coming to ‌Siri‌ in just over 10 days. WWDC 2024 is set to begin on Monday, June 10.

Tags: Bloomberg, Mark Gurman, Siri Guide

Related Forums: iOS 18, iPadOS 18

Top Rated Comments

ipedro

32 months ago

The AI Agent feature I've been commenting about:

A recent machine learning model Apple published with the capability to recognize apps' UI and how to use them, gives us a good indication of how this will work. Siri (offline) will be able to act on your behalf to use apps (online).

[HR][/HR]

User:
Siri, I'd like to have dinner with my girlfriend tonight at that place I walked by last week with the red umbrella. I took a photo of it.

Siri:
Looks at your Photos (offline), finds the red umbrella, geotagged,
locates the restaurant in Apple Maps (online),
brings up OpenTable (online) cues up a reservation after looking at your Calendar (offline).

That was Sandro's on College St. I've found you a reservation for 2 at 8pm. You get off work at 5, that should give you enough time to get home, get ready and head over to Sandro's. Ana's schedule also shows her free. Would you like me to book it?

User:
Yes... no, wait, can we do 8:30 instead? I'd like to get a bottle of wine, does Sandro's have a corking fee?

Siri:
Looks up OpenTable (online) to see if there's an 8:30pm reservation.
Looks up Sandro's website (online) and searches for a corking fee.
Looks up Apple Maps for nearby wine stores,
finds one that's on the Ritual app (online) so they can can bag your wine for pickup,
finds that you've ordered 2 different wines via Ritual.

Sandro's has a $6 corking fee. I found you an 8:30 reservation. Would you like Mateus Rose or Wolf Blass - Yellow Label Sauvignon? I can reserve it at the Wine Cellar, a short walk from Sandro's.

User:
Let's do Mateus. Go ahead and book the reservation please.

Siri:
Goes to OpenTable, places the reservation on your behalf.
Goes to Ritual, orders a bottle of Mateus Rose for pickup at 8pm.
Adds an event in your calendar with directions to the Wine Cellar
and another at 8:30pm with directions from there to Sandro's.
Creates a calendar invite for your girlfriend.

All set! Your Mateus Rose will be ready for pickup at 8pm, Sandro's at 8:30 on College St. and I've sent an invite to Ana.

[HR][/HR]

Local Siri processing without having to access the internet will enable free flowing conversations without a delay. Having the ability to recognize how to use apps on your phone will be the online component. You already use those apps online. I suspect Google will be one of them, to allow Siri to get current information from the internet, using Gemini and returning those answers the same way it can return search results today, but with the capability to make use of them to get you an answer and read them back to you.

Apple's advantage beyond building silicon custom made for its native Siri, is that it has the largest App Store with virtually unlimited potential (there's an app for everything). Give Siri the capability to understand how to use apps (like the model Apple just published) and you can imagine how far this can go.

A scenario:

User:
Siri, I'd like to have dinner with my girlfriend tonight at that place I walked by last week with the red umbrella. I took a photo of it.

Siri:
Looks at your Photos (offline), finds the red umbrella, geotagged,
locates the restaurant in Apple Maps (online),
brings up OpenTable (online) cues up a reservation after looking at your Calendar (offline).

That was Sandro's on College St. I've found you a reservation for 2 at 8pm. You get off work at 5, that should give you enough time to get home, get ready and head over to Sandro's. Ana's schedule also shows her free. Would you like me to book it?

User:
Yes... no, wait, can we do 8:30 instead? I'd like to get a bottle of wine, does Sandro's have a corking fee?

Siri:
Looks up OpenTable (online) to see if there's an 8:30pm reservation.
Looks up Sandro's website (online) and searches for a corking fee.
Looks up Apple Maps for nearby wine stores,
finds one that's on the Ritual app (online) so they can can bag your wine for pickup,
finds that you've ordered 2 different wines via Ritual.

Sandro's has a $6 corking fee. I found you an 8:30 reservation. Would you like Mateus Rose or Wolf Blass - Yellow Label Sauvignon? I can reserve it at the Wine Cellar, a short walk from Sandro's.

User:
Let's do Mateus. Go ahead and book the reservation please.

Siri:
Goes to OpenTable, places the reservation on your behalf.
Goes to Ritual, orders a bottle of Mateus Rose for pickup at 8pm.
Adds an event in your calendar with directions to the Wine Cellar
and another at 8:30pm with directions from there to Sandro's.
Creates a calendar invite for your girlfriend.

All set! Your Mateus Rose will be ready for pickup at 8pm, Sandro's at 8:30 on College St. and I've sent an invite to Ana.

[HR][/HR]

Apple's advantage in AI is the App Store, far larger than any other platform. If Siri can operate those apps for you (and their published papers show us that's where they're headed) then it'll be far more capable than anything openAI has done.

Score: 51 Votes (Like | Disagree)

cjsuk

32 months ago

"Hey Siri, add Salt and Mushrooms to the shopping list"

Later in the supermarket...

If I subcontract everything out to interpretation, this is my life.

Score: 46 Votes (Like | Disagree)

macduke

32 months ago

Eventually, Apple wants Siri to be able to respond to multiple commands, such as capturing a photo and then sending it to someone in a message.

I don't even want to do this kinda crap. I just want Siri to be able to quickly do basic math:

Or be able to answer simple questions about the most popular sports league in the US, the NFL:

It has gotten dumber over the years. Sometimes it just straight up gives me the wrong answer to a math question. Like here, it clearly received the decimal point in the query, shown at the bottom, but the result, shown above, is WAY off because it decided to remove the decimal for no good reason.

And don't even get me started on how many times it forgets what my lights are called in my house and gaslights me about how there is nothing with that name in HomeKit. Then I try again a moment later and it works fine!

Or that you can't even ask it basic questions, like what is the speed of light...because it gets confused.

Apple, just fix Siri before you go gumming it up with all of this BS!!

Score: 43 Votes (Like | Disagree)

foobarbaz

32 months ago

I don't care when, at least they've finally started rebuilding Siri.

Score: 42 Votes (Like | Disagree)

antiprotest

32 months ago

Weak and pathetic, but not surprising. But here comes the people who gaslight themselves and say "I'd rather Apple be late and do it right." Not when they are VERY VERY late, and still don't do it right.

Millions of people are already enjoying AI features by other companies. They are imperfect but usable, and ever improving. Meanwhile, Apple has nothing, and seemingly plans to have almost nothing.

Score: 37 Votes (Like | Disagree)