Apple Might Turn Siri Into an AI Chatbot to Rival ChatGPT

Last week, Apple finally admitted that it will need to partner with Google to finally deliver on the contextual promise Siri made two years ago, which would have allowed the virtual assistant to integrate with content like your texts or emails to answer personal questions and take actions for you. Now, according to a new report, the iPhone company could go further and turn Siri into a full-fledged AI chatbot, comparable to ChatGPT, and perhaps even more sophisticated.

Currently, Siri has an implementation of AI, but only technically, and it’s certainly disappointing: you can use it to get technical support on Apple products or refer questions to ChatGPT, but otherwise Siri works essentially as it always has. But according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who has previously reliably reported inside information at Apple, the company is finally looking to not only make Siri smarter, but also change the way you interact with it. Currently planned for iOS and macOS 27 under the name “Campos”, Siri’s new chatbot interface will still be powered by Gemini, but will allow you to both type and talk to Siri, with full continuity between your conversations. This upgrade will add to the expected and already announced features.

In other words, it will look like the chatbot interface of the ChatGPT app or the standalone Gemini app. Yes, you can technically type on Siri right now, but it mostly works as a separate input method, rather than a full conversation. You can’t scroll through your previous questions to Siri or browse previous Assistant responses, and if you ask Siri to reference a message you sent it two weeks ago, it will have no idea what you mean. This is far behind what other AI chatbots currently offer.

The update will also apparently expand Siri’s capabilities, even beyond the contextual or customization upgrades already revealed. Gurman says that while the contextual upgrades will be able to pull information from other apps like Messages, the chatbot-style Siri will be “integrated into all of the company’s core apps, including those for Mail, Music, Podcasts, TV, Xcode programming software, and Photos.” Essentially, Siri will have more access to your iPhone than other AI chatbots, and these integrations will go beyond what was previously promised. This might make it more or less appealing to you, depending on your tastes in AI integration.

When the new Siri could arrive

With the chatbot interface planned for iOS 27, it will likely come after the contextual upgrades, rather than at the same time. Indeed, as Gurman previously said, these upgrades are planned for spring. He predicts we’ll learn more at this year’s WWDC, which, if it follows the standards set by previous years, will take place in June.

The decision to turn Siri into a chatbot might seem like a long-overdue modernization, since Google already did the same thing with Gemini on Android, but it’s also a bit of a surprise, as Apple previously said it had no plans to turn Siri into an “additional chatbot” for Apple Intelligence.

But Apple was likely talking about the quality of the experience rather than expressing any significant anti-chatbot bias within the development team, meaning Siri turning into a chatbot could mean the company is finally happy with the direction it’s taking. But it’s also possible that the stated skepticism about Siri becoming a chatbot was intended to appeal to AI skeptics in general. Unfortunately, if you’re still skeptical about AI, it currently looks like iOS 27 will be a boring update for you, as Gurman indicated the new chatbot Siri will be the “main new addition” to the operating system.

Regardless of your personal opinion, Siri, as a full-fledged AI chatbot, could seriously shake up ChatGPT’s market dominance – ironic, given its early integration with Apple Intelligence. Currently, OpenAI has reportedly admitted to being in a Code Red situation, as it loses market share to Google and introduces advertisements to boost its results. The new Gemini-powered Siri is unlikely to hurt Google (although it will have more access to your phone than the standalone Gemini app), but its ease of access could make it the new go-to for iPhone users, and that could hurt almost every AI company Apple isn’t directly in business with.