Apple is set to make a major AI strategic shift at WWDC 2026, with a comprehensive upgrade of AI Siri and the launch of an independent AI assistant app that can compete with ChatGPT. As the final major product unveiling before CEO Tim Cook's official retirement, this event marks Apple's full commitment to moving past its previous AI challenges.
Cook previously admitted that the failure of Apple Intelligence 1.0 exceeded even the Apple Maps incident, and after a secret executive meeting in early 2025, he personally took deep involvement in AI planning and initiated a comprehensive overhaul.
To reverse the criticism it once jokingly called "AIMLess," Apple has recently completed a series of management restructuring. Vision Pro founder Mike Rockwell has taken over Siri, software head Craig Federighi is fully leading the AI strategy, former Google and Microsoft engineering executives Amar Subramanya has joined to lead model research, while former AI head John Giannandrea left this year.
In upcoming system updates such as iOS 27, macOS 27, watchOS 27, and visionOS 27, the new AI Siri will support chatbot-like interactions and introduce generative AI image editing features. In terms of underlying technology, Apple has reached a deep collaboration with Google, using the Gemini model and Google Cloud infrastructure to completely replace the original technical solutions of Siri. This move indicates that, facing technological iteration pressure, a strong ecosystem giant that excels in hardware-software integration is accelerating the reconstruction of its core AI competitiveness by introducing top external large models.
