Apple is rethinking Siri as a chatbot

• Apple is turning Siri into a chatbot after years of resisting conversational AI.
• Prioritising relevance in attempt to close generative AI gap.

Apple’s long hesitation around chat-style artificial intelligence is starting to give way to a more pragmatic reality: without a conversational interface, it risks falling behind rivals shaping how people interact with software.

According to a report by BloombergApple plans to transform Siri into a full chatbot later this year, marking the company’s first direct move into the kind of generative AI experience popularised by OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini. Internally, the project is known as Campos, and it reflects a broader shift in how Apple now views AI’s role in its devices.

Rather than treating chatbots as a side feature, Apple appears to be positioning the new Siri as a core layer of its operating systems. The assistant is expected to be built deeply into iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, replacing the current Siri interface and keep the same activation methods users already know.

The approach represents a notable change for a company that has long argued users do not want to be sent “off into some chat experience” to get things done. Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, made that view clear in a June interview with Tom’s Guidesaying Apple preferred weaving AI directly into features rather than offering a standalone chat tool.

Yet market momentum appears to have forced Apple’s hand. Competitors including Google, Samsung, and several Chinese smartphone makers have already embedded conversational AI into their operating systems. At the same time, ChatGPT has grown to more than 800 million weekly active users, setting expectations for what digital assistants can do.

Apple’s slow AI roll-out put pressure on Siri

The move also comes after a difficult period for Apple’s broader AI efforts. Apple Intelligence, the company’s AI platform introduced in 2024, arrived unevenly, with some features delayed and others failing to impress users and developers. Bloomberg reports that this slower roll-out has contributed to internal pressure to rethink how Siri works and what role it should play.

Before Campos arrives, Apple is still planning a separate Siri update that keeps the existing interface intact. That version, expected in iOS 26.4, would add features first shown in 2024, like the ability to analyse on-screen content, search the web more effectively, and use personal data to answer questions. The update is expected to arrive in the coming months.

The chatbot version of Siri would follow later in the year. Bloomberg reports that Apple aims to introduce the technology at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June, with a public release targeted for September.

Internally, Campos is expected to be the main new addition in Apple’s next operating system releases, including iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27. Other than this change, Apple is reportedly focusing on performance improvements and bug fixes rather than major design updates, after last year’s visual overhaul unified the look of its platforms.

What the chatbot will be able to do

Functionally, Apple’s chatbot is expected to cover much of what users already associate with generative AI tools. According to Bloombergit will support voice and text input, search the web, create and summarise content, generate images, and analyse uploaded files.

Where Apple is aiming to differentiate is through deeper system access. Unlike third-party chatbots that run on Apple devices today, Campos is designed to understand what is happening on screen and in open apps. That would allow it to suggest actions, adjust settings, place calls, set timers, or open the camera without users switching contexts.

The assistant is also expected to work directly inside Apple’s core apps, including Mail, Photos, Music, Podcasts, TV, and Xcode. In practice, this could mean asking Siri to find a photo based on its contents and edit it, or to draft an email based on upcoming calendar events without leaving the app.

Bloomberg reports that Apple is even considering whether this new Siri could eventually replace Spotlight, the system-wide search tool that has long served as a way to find files, apps, and limited web information.

Privacy and memory limits

One open question is how much the chatbot will remember about its users. Many conversational AI tools rely on long-term memory to improve responses over time. Apple, however, is said to be weighing tighter limits on memory to align with its privacy stance.

The trade-off could shape how useful the chatbot becomes. Restricting memory may reduce the risk of sensitive data being stored or reused, but it could also limit the assistant’s ability to handle complex or ongoing tasks that depend on past context.

Apple’s Siri chatbot depends heavily on Google’s AI

Perhaps the most striking detail in Bloomberg’s report is how dependent Apple’s chatbot plans are on Google’s technology. While the user interface will be designed by Apple, the underlying AI models are expected to come from Google’s Gemini team.

The earlier Siri update planned for iOS 26.4 is expected to rely on a Google-developed system known internally as Apple Foundation Models version 10, which Bloomberg says operates at around 1.2 trillion parameters.

Campos would go further. The chatbot is expected to run on a more advanced model, internally referred to as Apple Foundation Models version 11, which is described as comparable to Gemini 3.

In another shift, Apple and Google are reportedly discussing hosting the chatbot on Google’s servers, using specialised tensor processing unit chips. These would differ from Apple’s Private Cloud Compute system, which relies on Apple’s own high-end Mac chips.

Apple pays Google roughly $1 billion a year for access to its AI models. The company is also designing Campos so the underlying models can be swapped out over time, giving Apple the option to move away from Google if it develops or adopts alternatives later.

Apple has also tested the chatbot with Chinese AI models, signalling plans to bring the feature to China, where Apple Intelligence is not yet available.

Rising pressure from OpenAI

The urgency behind Apple’s chatbot push is heightened by OpenAI’s growing ambitions. Bloomberg notes that OpenAI is working toward turning its software into something closer to an AI operating system, while also developing new devices under former Apple design chief Jony Ive.

OpenAI has also hired dozens of former Apple engineers in recent months, a move that has reportedly unsettled Apple executives. Combined with OpenAI’s scale and pace, this has raised concerns inside Apple about a future competitor encroaching on its core business.

Leadership changes behind the shift

The chatbot effort follows changes at the top of Apple’s AI organisation. Bloomberg reports that longtime AI chief John Giannandrea was removed from his role in December, with Federighi taking tighter control over AI development.

Apple has also hired Amar Subramanya as a vice president of AI reporting to Federighi. Subramanya previously worked on Gemini at Google, reinforcing the sense that Apple is drawing more directly from external AI expertise as it reworks Siri.

Apple’s Siri chatbot is a re-calibration

Taken together, Apple’s chatbot plans suggest less of a sudden leap forward and more of a re-calibration. The company is moving toward the interface users now expect, while still trying to preserve its focus on system integration and privacy.

The result is a hybrid approach: a chat-style assistant built into the operating system, powered largely by external models, and shaped by Apple’s constraints rather than Silicon Valley hype.

Whether that balance is enough to close the gap with rivals remains an open question. What is clear is that Apple no longer sees avoiding chatbots as a viable option.

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