Apple released Siri AI in 2026: a digital assistant that works with voice recognition and typing, and represents a major expansion of the previous Apple Intelligence system woven throughout their operating systems. Siri AI marks the biggest step forward in this area the company has ever taken.
Siri listens or lets you type requests, and then tries to respond by executing a task or providing an answer. Apple Intelligence is more subtle, using artificial intelligence algorithms for analysis, synthesis, or generation, like summarizing notifications, transcribing audio, rewriting text, or creating images from prompts.
What each term actually means
Throughout Apple’s updated operating systems you’ll see the terms Siri AI, Apple Intelligence, Visual Intelligence, and Spotlight. They are four different things:
- Siri AI appears as just “Siri” in all interfaces, and it’s a digital assistant you can address by voice or typing. It processes requests and general questions.
- Apple Intelligence is the company’s catch-all term for anything that requires advanced processing capability to analyze, synthesize, or generate something, like allowing for Live Translation or creating images from your description in Image Playground.
- Visual Intelligence refers to the analysis that can be performed against static images and via the Camera app to describe what’s in them. It can also extract details, like event information from a poster, and transform it into something else, like a calendar event.
- Spotlight is what Apple calls the search feature in iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, though it often appears just as an icon or a field with Search in it. Spotlight searches local files, data in apps (like people’s cards in Contacts), the web, and more. Starting with Siri AI, Spotlight and Siri are combined into one entity that, when triggered, appears as Search or Ask, where you can type.
All devices that support Apple Intelligence can use Siri AI and Visual Intelligence. However, for two advanced features, expressive voices and advanced dictation, you need a recent iPhone, iPad, or Mac model that must also meet minimum memory requirements.
Siri on an unsupported device
If you don’t have a device that supports Apple Intelligence but can use the 27 update, your Siri will be akin to the “old” Siri. To find out whether your device qualifies, see which iPhones, iPads, and Macs support Siri AI.
Where Siri AI came from
Siri AI is the latest evolution of Apple’s original voice-only assistant. On supported devices, you can trigger Siri AI by voice, through a button press, or by swiping and typing, among other methods. Then you can ask it questions, or just search stuff that’s on your device.
