- Apple will unveil an AI-powered Siri update at its WWDC show in June
- The company will push privacy as its AI differentiator, a new report claims
- But the new features can be labeled “beta” despite arriving two years late
As Apple struggles to catch up in the AI race, the company may have finally found a way to make Siri stand out from rivals like ChatGPT and Gemini — by making it more private, not more powerful.
With Apple gearing up for its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 8, the tech world is wondering how the Cupertino giant plans to close the gap between itself and its artificial intelligence (AI) rivals. One way, according to a new report, is to stick with something that’s always helped Apple stand out from the crowd — but there’s a notable catch to the plans.
Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman writes in his latest Power On newsletter that Apple will push privacy as the biggest differentiator between itself and companies like OpenAI and Google, which also maintain AI-infused products. And it could allow Apple to argue that its pro-privacy approach — one it has long adopted — is a “fundamentally different” path to AI.
One way Apple could do this, Gurman believes, is by building disappearing messages into its revamped Siri virtual assistant. The iOS 27 update, set to debut at WWDC, will put Siri in a standalone app for the first time, and that app can automatically delete any messages you send to Siri. The options will be to keep messages for 30 days, a year or forever; if you choose one of the first two choices, Siri will remove your conversations without you having to lift a finger. It can protect you from data leaks and your private information being used to train an AI model.
Apple will also “put tighter limits on how [Siri’s] memory works,” says Gurman, “including limitations on what information can persist and how long it can be stored.” Apple’s position is that settings like this should be “built into the system itself,” according to Gurman, rather than being an optional extra like with competing AI systems from the likes of Meta and OpenAI.
The new Siri may appear with ‘unfinished’ features
Auto-deleting messages isn’t the only new AI feature coming to WWDC. There’s a whole Siri revamp coming, which should see features announced way back in 2024 finally make it to users’ iPhones. But even the two-year delay may not be enough, warns Gurman.
Writing in Power On, Gurman explains that Apple may frame the updated Siri as a beta from WWDC. The reporter adds that “there is a high chance that this approach will be used in developer betas and even when iOS 27 ships this fall.” That’s because Gurman has been informed by his sources that test versions of iOS 27 contain the beta labels for Siri. Since we’re less than a month away from WWDC, these flags may remain when the operating system is revealed in June.
Proclaiming the upgraded Siri to be in its beta phase would signal to users that the new features are still “unfinished,” says Gurman, and it’s hard to argue with that assessment. With Apple’s competitors pushing further and further into the world of AI, this year’s WWDC will be crucial for Apple to show that it has what it takes to hold its own. If the new AI Siri spends too long as a beta, it will become increasingly difficult for the company to do so.
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