The biggest takeaway from Apple’s splashy WWDC event earlier this year was the next evolution of Siri in the age of AI. Unfortunately, many of those promising upgrades are yet to arrive for the masses, and whatever’s already available isn’t really groundbreaking.
The road ahead doesn’t look too gloomy, even though salvation still seems far away.
According to Bloomberg, Apple is internally working on LLM Siri based on an advanced AI stack that allows the assistant to carry back-and-forth conversations and handle more complex queries.
LLM, short for Large Language Model, is the secret sauce that powers conversation products like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini. Apple’s intention with LLM Siri doesn’t stray too far, as the company wants it to behave in roughly the same fashion as Gemini.
“The revamped Siri will rely on new Apple AI models to interact more like a human,” claims the report, adding that an announcement will happen at some point in 2025, followed by a spring 2026 release.
Now, that’s not catching up with the competition. You can already experience those perks on iPhones to a large extent. The Siri-ChatGPT integration, which is now live for iOS test builds, can pull that off.
Google recently released the standalone Gemini app for iPhones, which also brings the Gemini Live conversation mode to Apple smartphones. That begs an important question: Why wait for over a year when rival products already offer the convenience?
It is also worth noting here that Apple will officially add support for more third-party language models, like ChatGPT, as part of the Apple Intelligence bundle. As per Bloomberg, Google’s Gemini integration is already in the waiting line.
At this point in time, Apple’s attempts to catch up with the virtual assistant competition are alarmingly sluggish. Google has already offloaded a lot of Google Assistant responsibilities to Gemini, and its integration with tools like Gmail and Docs is already quite rewarding.
OpenAI has also launched ChatGPT Search, making it easier for users to find information on the web, but in a lot more conversational fashion than Google Search. But that’s not all. The next move for the Microsoft-backed company is a web browser. Perplexity has also launched its own search and shopping products.
The most notable upgrade for LLM Siri will reportedly be its ability to interact with apps. “It also will make expanded use of App Intents, which allow for more precise control of third-party apps,” says the Bloomberg report.
Having Siri execute tasks across different apps has long been the moonshot from a user perspective. That future now seems imminent, although still over a year away. But once again, Apple won’t be the lone warrior in this quest.
Android Authority reports that in Android 16 (which already has a Developer Preview out in the wild), Gemini could gain the ability to execute tasks across third-party apps. So far, Gemini’s activity has been limited to Workspace tools like Gmail, Docs, and Calendar, among others.
It seems Apple is definitely making the right strides with plans for LLM Siri. But by the time all those prophecies materialize, the competition would have raced far ahead with a proven track record of solid conversational AI chops.
