Tested: Apple’s revamped Siri finally delivers on its AI promises

Apple has launched a significantly improved version of its Siri voice assistant, powered by AI and built on Google’s Gemini models. Allison Johnson reports for The Verge that the new Siri can handle practical, everyday tasks that earlier versions consistently failed to deliver.

What the new Siri can do

• Add multiple calendar events directly from an email or flyer
• Diagnose household problems, such as wilting plants, and suggest follow-up actions
• Create reminder lists and calendar entries from a single prompt
• Use personal context from emails and calendars to give relevant answers

Johnson tested these features herself and confirmed they worked as described. She notes, however, that this is a basic set of capabilities compared to what Google’s Gemini assistant has offered on Android for the past two years.

Apple handles personal data differently from Google. Siri indexes information from emails and messages directly on the device. When a task requires more processing power, only the relevant data is sent to Apple’s Private Cloud Compute. Gemini, by contrast, accesses Gmail and Google Calendar directly after users opt in.

In terms of tone, Johnson found Siri more direct and businesslike than Gemini. Where Gemini opened a response about wilting flowers with “That is incredibly frustrating,” Siri skipped the empathy and went straight to diagnosing the problem.

The new Siri is currently available in a developer beta only. Apple has also made the assistant more visible across iOS, including a new entry point from the Dynamic Island when holding the wake button.

After Apple’s earlier AI Siri announcements failed to materialise into working products, Johnson describes the new version as a modest but meaningful step toward regaining user trust. “It works” and “it will actually ship to customers” were the two targets Apple could not afford to miss, she writes.