Apple has announced that major artificial intelligence (AI) enhancements to its Siri voice assistant, initially expected in 2025, will now be postponed until 2026. The delay affects key features aimed at making Siri more personalized and capable of performing complex tasks across different apps.
Siri’s AI-Powered Evolution Faces Setback
In a statement released on Friday, Apple acknowledged that it has been “working on a more personalized Siri, giving it more awareness of your personal context, as well as the ability to take action for you within and across your apps.” However, the company admitted that “it’s going to take us longer than we thought to deliver on these features and we anticipate rolling them out in the coming year.” Apple did not provide a reason for the delay.
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The enhancements were expected to make Siri more intuitive and proactive by integrating personal data stored on Apple devices. For example, the AI-driven Siri would be able to retrieve a podcast recommended by a friend or locate a flight tracking update from a relative—all without the user needing to manually input information. Additionally, Siri was set to assist with form-filling by extracting personal details from stored documents, such as driver’s licenses.
Apple Intelligence and Competition in AI
The delay comes as Apple faces increasing competition in the AI space. Last year, the company introduced Apple Intelligence, a suite of AI-driven features designed to improve Siri’s functionality alongside tools for rewriting emails, summarizing notifications, and generating text or images. While some of these features have already been rolled out to newer iPhones, the more advanced Siri capabilities remain incomplete.
Apple’s rivals have been making significant advancements in AI-powered voice assistants. Alphabet’s Google has integrated its Gemini model into Google Assistant, while Amazon recently introduced an upgraded version of Alexa. Amazon has announced that the AI-enhanced Alexa will be free for Prime subscribers but will cost $19.99 per month for other users.
Challenges in AI Development
The setback highlights the difficulties Apple faces in developing a next-generation voice assistant that seamlessly integrates AI. The company has been working on a massive cloud computing infrastructure powered by its own chips to support AI advancements while maintaining user privacy. Siri currently handles approximately 1.5 billion user requests daily, underscoring the importance of these upgrades.
This is not the first challenge Apple has encountered while incorporating AI into its services. Earlier this year, Apple Intelligence faced scrutiny when its AI-generated news summaries misrepresented facts from sources such as The New York Times and BBC, leading the company to disable the feature for certain news apps.
Apple’s Developer Strategy and Future Plans
To support its AI-driven Siri improvements, Apple has been encouraging developers to create “app intents,” small chunks of code that would allow Siri to interact with third-party applications more effectively. While developers can currently build and test these functions, they will not be able to integrate them with Siri until Apple releases a beta version of the upgraded assistant.
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Apple typically unveils major software updates during its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June, and it remains to be seen whether any Siri-related updates will be announced at this year’s event. For now, Apple users will have to wait longer to experience a truly AI-powered Siri, while the company works to refine its next-generation voice assistant.