NEW DELHI: Apple has spent the past two years watching rivals race ahead in artificial intelligence, while its own AI ambitions stumbled amid delays and missed deadlines. At its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2026, the company attempted a reset, unveiling a rebuilt Siri powered by Google’s Gemini models and positioning the assistant at the centre of its next computing platform.The stakes are high. Apple’s original Apple Intelligence rollout failed to deliver several headline Siri features showcased in 2024, forcing delays to capabilities promoted alongside new iPhone launches.The setback dented confidence in Apple’s AI execution and reinforced perceptions that it was trailing rivals such as Google, OpenAI and Microsoft in the generative AI race.With Siri AI, Apple is betting on a more conversational assistant that can understand personal context, on-screen content and app activity. The company says Siri can draw on information across emails, messages, photos and apps while combining that with broader web knowledge through Gemini.Industry analysts say Apple’s goal is not to compete directly in the race to build the world’s most advanced AI models.“Apple’s moat is delivering privacy-led consumer AI experiences through its hardware-software differentiation — not the frontier model itself,” said Prabhu Ram, vice-president, Industry Research Group at CyberMedia Research (CMR). “Frontier model development requires a scale of investment that falls outside Apple’s core strategic priorities.”Ram said Apple is increasingly focused on controlling the user experience layer, while relying on partners such as Google for underlying model capabilities.Siri may use Gemini’s intelligence, but Apple will retain control over privacy, integration and overall ecosystem design.
