Apple Plans to Make Siri an AI Chatbot

Apple plans to make Siri an AI chatbot, a report says, marking a strategic shift in the company’s artificial intelligence approach as it seeks to compete with ChatGPT and Gemini in the generative AI space.

Key Points

• Apple is developing an AI chatbot codenamed “Campos” to replace the current Siri interface across iPhone, iPad, and Mac devices (ℹ️ BloombergYahoo Finance)
• The new chatbot will be powered by Google’s Gemini technology and integrated into iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27 (ℹ️ Yahoo Finance )
• Apple plans to unveil the technology at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June, with a public release targeted for September 2026 (ℹ️MacRumors )
• The chatbot will feature voice and text-based interaction modes, supporting natural language conversations similar to ChatGPT (ℹ️ Engadget )
• A limited Siri upgrade is planned for iOS 26.4 before the full chatbot experience arrives later in 2026 (ℹ️ Yahoo Finance )

Background

Apple’s digital assistant Siri has remained relatively unchanged since its introduction, lacking the chat-like feel and conversational abilities that have made OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini popular (ℹ️ Yahoo Finance ). For years, Apple executives insisted chatbots weren’t the right approach, with software chief Craig Federighi stating in 2025 that the company never wanted to send users “off into some chat experience in order to get things done” (ℹ️ Inc.com ).

However, the popularity of chatbots forced Apple executives to reconsider their position (ℹ️ MacRumors ). The company’s Apple Intelligence platform experienced a rocky rollout in 2024, with features that were underwhelming or slow to arrive (ℹ️ Yahoo Finance ), putting pressure on Apple to respond more aggressively in the AI market.

What Happened

According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple is planning to revamp Siri by turning it into the company’s first artificial intelligence chatbot (ℹ️ Bloomberg ). The project, internally codenamed Campos, represents a fundamental redesign of how users interact with Siri.

The chatbot will be embedded deeply into operating systems and replace the current Siri interface (ℹ️ Yahoo Finance ). Users will still summon it using the familiar “Siri” wake word or by holding the side button on their devices, but the experience will transform into a full conversational AI similar to competing chatbots.

While Apple has tested Campos as a standalone app internally, the company doesn’t plan to release it to customers as a separate application (ℹ️ Engadget ). Instead, the chatbot will be integrated across iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 (codenamed Rave), as well as macOS 27 (internally known as Fizz) (ℹ️ Yahoo Finance ).

Why It Matters

This strategic pivot acknowledges the reality that conversational AI has become the preferred interface for many users. ChatGPT became the fastest-growing app ever (ℹ️ Inc.com ), demonstrating consumer appetite for chatbot interactions.

The revamped Siri is expected to handle tasks such as web searches, content creation, image generation, and file analysis (ℹ️ Nasdaq ). It will also draw on personal data to locate files, messages, music, and calendar events. Siri will integrate into all Apple apps, including Photos, Mail, Messages, Music, and TV (ℹ️ MacRumors ), enabling more complex actions through voice or text commands.

The new capabilities could reduce the need for Spotlight, Apple’s long-standing search tool, by allowing users to find and act on information more naturally through Siri (ℹ️ Nasdaq ).

One key consideration is privacy. While Claude and ChatGPT can glean information from past conversations for personalization, Apple may limit Siri’s memory capabilities for privacy purposes (ℹ️ MacRumors ).

What’s Next

Apple aims to unveil the chatbot technology in June at its Worldwide Developers Conference and release it in September (ℹ️ Yahoo Finance ). Before that, a non-chatbot update to Siri is planned for iOS 26.4 in the coming months, which will add features like analyzing on-screen content, tapping into personal data, and improved web search (ℹ️ Yahoo Finance ).

Apple originally planned to ship the new Siri features during the iOS 18 update cycle, but software chief Craig Federighi confirmed they wouldn’t arrive until 2026 because the technology didn’t reach Apple’s desired reliability level (ℹ️ Business Standard ).

The Siri chatbot will be the key new feature in iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27, with Apple otherwise focusing on fixing bugs and improving performance (ℹ️ MacRumors ) following last year’s major design overhaul.

Deep Details

The transformation of Siri into an AI chatbot represents more than just a feature upgrade—it’s a fundamental shift in Apple’s AI strategy. The company is using Google’s Gemini model as the underlying technology, referred to internally as Apple Foundation Models version 11 (ℹ️ Yahoo Finance ).

The chatbot will be able to understand what’s on a user’s screen, control device settings, and operate across Apple’s core apps (ℹ️ Nasdaq ). This level of integration goes beyond what standalone chatbot apps can offer, giving Apple a potential competitive advantage by weaving AI deeply into the user experience.

Market reaction to the news was positive, with Apple shares climbing as much as 1.7% to a session high of $250.83, while Google parent Alphabet gained 2.6% to $330.32 (ℹ️ Yahoo Finance ).

The timeline is ambitious but necessary for Apple to remain competitive. With ChatGPT’s usage surging and OpenAI positioning itself as a broader platform and aggressively hiring from Apple (ℹ️ Nasdaq ), the pressure has mounted for Apple to deliver a compelling AI assistant that can match or exceed competitor capabilities.

Source: Bloomberg, MacRumors, Engadget, Business Standard—Published on January 21-22, 2026
Original articles:

• https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-21/ios-27-apple-to-revamp-siri-as-built-in-iphone-mac-chatbot-to-fend-off-openai
• https://www.macrumors.com/2026/01/21/siri-chatbot-ios-27/
• https://www.engadget.com/ai/apple-is-reportedly-overhauling-siri-to-be-an-ai-chatbot-205303818.html

Frequently Asked Questions

When will the new Siri chatbot be available?
Apple plans to unveil the Siri chatbot at WWDC in June 2026, with a public release expected in September 2026 as part of iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27.

Will Siri still work the same way?
You’ll summon Siri using the same methods (saying “Siri” or holding the side button), but the interaction will be more conversational, similar to ChatGPT or Gemini.

What technology powers the new Siri?
The new Siri chatbot will be powered by a custom model based on Google’s Gemini technology, referred to internally as Apple Foundation Models version 11.

Will there be a standalone Siri chatbot app?
No. While Apple is testing it as a standalone app internally, the company plans to integrate it directly into device operating systems rather than offering it as a separate app.

What about privacy?
Apple is considering limiting how much the Siri chatbot remembers from past conversations to maintain privacy protections, unlike some competing chatbots that store conversation history for personalization.