macOS 27 Golden Gate is in beta ahead of a fall release, and we thought we'd go over what's new for those who don't want to risk beta software on their Mac. macOS Golden Gate adds Siri AI, Liquid Glass updates, and multiple new Apple Intelligence features.
Siri on the Mac lives in Spotlight. Command + Space brings up a new Search or Ask interface for searching for files on the Mac or asking Siri a question. Siri is able to access data on the Mac, and it can answer the same general questions any chatbot can answer. The combination of personal context and world knowledge lets Siri do some things that are unavailable to other AI services like ChatGPT or Claude.
Siri answers appear in Spotlight with an option to ask follow-up questions, but there's also a standalone Siri app where you can find all of your past Siri interactions. Siri is also integrated into the system for features like Write with Siri. Siri can compose emails and messages for you in your own writing style, check your grammar, or just give you general feedback on what you've written.
Apple brought Visual Intelligence to the Mac, and it's available through the screenshot interface. When activated, you can select an area of your display that has something you want to know more about, and Siri can answer questions you have. In apps like Safari, you can select text or images, then ask Siri about your selection. Many of the same Visual Intelligence features that are on iPhone have carried over to the Mac, so Siri can identify plants and animals or even tell you the nutritional value of food in an image, which is a new feature this year.
Apple Intelligence makes many of the built-in Mac apps better. Safari can group similar tabs together by subject, Passwords can automatically change weak passwords for you, Photos has new AI editing tools for changing framing and perspective, and Image Playground can generate photorealistic images.
Shortcuts uses AI to build shortcuts for you based on natural language requests, Calendar supports natural language event input, Mail search is better than before with quick action suggestions, and the Messages app also supports AI suggestions for actions you might want to take, like inserting a photo to send to a friend.
Apple updated Liquid Glass in macOS Golden Gate. There's a slider for adjusting overall system opacity, refraction and contrast have been improved, sidebars are unified with less wasted space, and Apple has removed many of the unnecessary icons from menu bars.
If you have a Mac that can run Golden Gate, you're going to get Siri AI and the Apple Intelligence features. Apple Intelligence works on all Apple silicon Macs, and Golden Gate doesn't run on devices with an Intel chip.
EU users can't use Siri AI on the iPhone and the iPad because Apple isn't making it available yet, but Siri AI is available on macOS in the European Union.
