Apple to revamp Siri as a built-in iPhone, Mac AI chatbot to fend off OpenAI

Apple Inc. plans to revamp Siri later this year by turning the digital assistant into the company’s first AI chatbot, thrusting the iPhone maker into a Gen AI race dominated by OpenAI and Google.

Apple and Google are discussing hosting the AI chatbot directly on Google servers running tensor processing units. (Reuters)

The chatbot, code-named Campos, will be embedded deeply into the iPhone, iPad and Mac OS and replace the current Siri interface, according to people familiar with the plan. Users will be able to summon the new service the same way they open Siri now, by speaking the “Siri” command or holding down the side button on their iPhone or iPad.

The new approach will go well beyond the abilities of the current Siri—or even a long-promised update that’s coming earlier in 2026. Today’s Siri lacks a chat-like feel and the back-and-forth conversational abilities of OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini.

The feature is a central piece of Apple’s turnaround plan for the AI market, where it has lagged Silicon Valley peers. The Apple Intelligence platform had a rocky rollout in 2024, with features that were underwhelming or slow to arrive.

Shares of Apple gained on the AI chatbot news, as Google parent Alphabet Inc., which is supplying the underlying technology for the project.

The chatbot capabilities will come later in the year, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans are private. The company aims to unveil that technology in June at its Worldwide Developers Conference and release it in September.

Campos, which will have both voice- and typing-based modes, will be the primary new addition to Apple’s upcoming operating systems. The company is integrating it into iOS 27 and iPadOS 27, both code-named Rave, as well as macOS 27, internally known as Fizz.

Other than the chatbot interface, the operating systems aren’t getting big changes this year. Apple is more focused on improving performance and fixing bugs. Last year, it rolled out a major design overhaul, unifying the look and feel of its operating systems.

Internally, Apple is testing the chatbot technology as a standalone Siri app, similar to the ChatGPT and Gemini options available in the App Store. The company doesn’t plan to offer that version to customers, though. Instead, it will integrate the software across its operating systems, like the Siri of today.

A spokesperson for Cupertino, California-based Apple declined to comment.

Craig Federighi, senior vice president of software engineering, said in a June interview with Tom’s Guide that releasing a chatbot was never the company’s goal. Apple didn’t want to send users “off into some chat experience in order to get things done”, he said.

But Apple risked falling further behind rivals without its own chatbot. Samsung Electronics Co., Google and several Chinese smartphone makers have already embedded conversational AI deeply into their operating systems. Such tools have become increasingly essential, with ChatGPT surpassing 800 million weekly active users in October.

The AI company has poached several dozen Apple engineers in recent months, a move that rankled the iPhone maker’s executives and stoked concerns about OpenAI becoming a threat to its underlying business.

Unlike third-party chatbots running on Apple devices, the planned offering is designed to analyse open windows and on-screen content in order to take actions and suggest commands. It will also be able to control device features and settings, allowing it to make phone calls, set timers and launch the camera.

More significantly, Siri will be integrated into all of the company’s core apps, including ones for mail, music, podcasts, TV, Xcode programming software and photos. That will allow users to do much more with just their voice.

For instance, users will be able ask Siri to find a photo based on a description of its contents and edit it with specific preferences—like cropping and colour changes. Or a user could ask Siri within the email app to write a message to a friend about upcoming calendar plans.

One issue under discussion is how much the AI chatbot will be allowed to remember about its users. ChatGPT and other conversational AI tools can retain an extensive memory of past interactions, allowing them to draw on conversations and personal details when fulfilling requests. Apple is considering sharply limiting this capability in the interest of privacy.

The chatbot will feature an Apple-designed user interface but rely heavily on a custom AI model developed by the Google Gemini team—an arrangement first reported by Bloomberg News last year.

The iOS 26.4 update of Siri, the one before the true chatbot, will rely on a Google-developed system internally known as Apple Foundation Models V10. That software will operate at 1.2 trillion parameters—a measure of AI complexity.

In a potential policy shift for Apple, the two partners are discussing hosting the chatbot directly on Google servers running tensor processing units. The more immediate Siri update, in contrast, will operate on Apple’s own Private Cloud Compute servers, which rely on high-end Mac chips for processing.

Apple is paying Google roughly $1 billion annually for access to the models. The company also may turn to Google technology to enhance existing Apple Intelligence features.

Apple is designing Campos so that its underlying models can be swapped out over time. That means the company will have the flexibility to move away from Google-powered systems in the future if it so chooses. Apple has also tested the chatbot with Chinese AI models, signaling plans to eventually deploy the feature in that country, where Apple Intelligence isn’t yet available.

Hints of Apple’s shift toward chatbots surfaced in recent months. Last year, the company internally developed an app dubbed Veritas that turned the new Siri engine into a text-based chatbot interface. The app was strictly for testing and isn’t planned for public release.

The strategic pivot follows Apple leadership changes. Longtime AI chief John Giannandrea was relieved of his role in December, with Federighi consolidating control over Apple’s AI efforts. The company has also hired Amar Subramanya as a vice president of AI reporting to Federighi. He previously helped lead engineering for Gemini at Google.