From Pymnts · PYMNTS · · 1m 30s
Apple ships its rebuilt Siri, minus two big markets
Apple's new Siri can read your messages, see your screen, and search the web, but not if you live in the EU or China.
In brief
Apple's new Siri can read your messages, see your screen, and search the web, but not if you live in the EU or China. Apple is betting that owning the phone, the OS, and your data makes it the best place for a personal assistant, and it would rather ship late in some regions than loosen its privacy terms. Originally…
Siri gets rebuilt
Apple released its AI-powered Siri on Monday, September 14. It launches in beta in English, with French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish due in October.
It knows your stuff
The new Siri pulls from your messages, emails and photos, answers general questions, and handles follow-ups instead of losing the thread after one exchange.
“Siri AI can help users find what they need in the moment, from answering questions on virtually any topic to surfacing relevant information from a user's messages, emails, photos and more”
It watches your screen
Onscreen awareness lets Siri act on whatever you are looking at. It can also answer questions about visual content and turn speech into clean text more accurately.
Apple Intelligence spreads out
The same layer powers new editing tools in Photos, smarter browsing in Safari, and an Image Playground that generates photorealistic images.
The full-stack argument
Apple says owning the hardware, the OS and the on-device data makes it best placed to deliver AI, with privacy protections as the differentiator rivals cannot match.
Not in the EU or China
Siri AI is missing at launch on iOS, iPadOS and WatchOS in the EU, where talks over privacy safeguards stalled back in June. China is on hold over regulatory requirements.
“Apple is working hard to find a path forward that preserves its users' privacy and security”
The main idea
Apple is betting that owning the phone, the OS, and your data makes it the best place for a personal assistant, and it would rather ship late in some regions than loosen its privacy terms.
