Apple's AI ambitions go beyond Siri LLM with Knowledge chatbot and always-on AI copilot
Apple executives are keeping silent about future Apple Intelligence plans, but a new rumor suggests the 2026 release of contextual Siri is just the start on a road to chatbots and always-on assistants.
Apple Intelligence could get several upgrades in the coming years
It's been a tough year for Apple's public image as it overpromised on AI features and has been seen as perpetually behind in the AI race -- even though it insists it isn't. The Apple Intelligence delays have resulted in product delays too, as the rumored Home Hub will have to wait for a better Siri.
However, these delays and setbacks haven't affected Apple's initiative to improve its AI offerings. According to Bloomberg, there are several plans for the future of Apple Intelligence, though it seems there are internal arguments around how and when they will be ready.
We've already seen some of that contention publicly, as Apple SVP of marketing Greg Joswiak shared that Apple Intelligence wasn't meant to be a chatbot with a destination app. However, rumors indicate that Apple is indeed working on some kind of chatbot that may even be Siri.
The report lays out three projects that Apple is targeting for the future.
A more contextual Siri
The first one is known, a more contextual Siri that uses app intents to surface user data. This was meant to be a feature in iOS 18, but was delayed into "the coming year" by Apple.
The report suggests that it will arrive in early 2026, which was previously rumored to be the target of an LLM-based Siri upgrade. Now it seems Apple has tied the two features together due to needing to work around too many legacy portions of Siri today.
So, the new LLM-based Siri is expected in early 2026, which will also enable the app intent system for contextual and proactive actions.
Apple doesn't offer a chatbot today
A Knowledge chatbot
Once Siri is fully rebuilt as an LLM-backed assistant, the company could debut a chatbot dubbed "Knowledge." It isn't clear from the report if this app is tied to Siri or if it's another branch of Apple Intelligence.
The Knowledge app would be used to access information gleaned from the web. It sounds familiar to internal tests AppleInsider uncovered previously for Apple's Ajax and Ask agents some dubbed "AppleGPT."
There's a solid chance that Apple is working on a chatbot, though there's no guarantee it'll ever be released. Clearly, Joswiak is against the idea, as he wants Apple Intelligence to be a behind-the-scenes system, not an app you open.
The Knowledge chatbot is reportedly being headed by former Siri chief Robby Walker.
Siri copilot
The third and final AI initiative mentioned in the report is yet another Siri revamp that would take it beyond simply being proactive and contextual. The new Siri would essentially be an always-on copilot that's more conversational.
An always-on AI within iPhone could be a killer feature
There's no telling exactly what that means, but it sounds something like the Workout Buddy introduced in watchOS 26. The new Siri could operate in the background and announce updates or perform tasks without needing user input.
It also sounds similar to what other AI companies have tried, and failed repeatedly to build. Humane, Rabbit R1, and now Jony Ive's io have all dreamed up a world where users will just have an AI assistant around doing stuff for them.
Apple, however, has something those other companies don't -- the iPhone.
Whether or not Apple is truly behind or running its own race, it's clear that it is trying to find a way to embrace the emergence of LLMs and AI in its own way. As Apple's executives keep saying in interviews, it is early days for the AI technology push and they are playing the long game.
As we've seen with Apple many times before, it's best not to bet against their ability to enter a new market and succeed. For now, we'll have to continue to live with the generally useful, if boring, AI tools already available in Apple products.
Rumor Score: Possible
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Comments
When Craig was asked by Toms Guide if Siri will be rolled out in 2026, he avoided the answer and explained the root cause.
When Toms Guide asked Craig again for release in 2026, Craig looked over Joz.
Joz said he confirmed.
Craig has no idea if Siri will be ready.. And the marketing guy said yes...
I bet that Siri will not be ready at iOS26, iOS26.1, iOS26.2 etc.
Maybe 2027..Maybe...
But By time they are ready, everyone will be on the next iteration of AI.
Apple is rotten.
Apple can forget about releasing an "improved" [sic] Siri if it is only as good as the competition's LLM-powered AI chatbot assistants (ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, whatever dogchow). And Apple's senior management already knows this which is why they have balked on this so-called "improved" Siri.
Apple needs to do something that differentiates themselves from the rest of the pack, beyond just preserving privacy. That is a super tall task and I bet Apple senior management accepts this challenge.
A second place AI chatbot assistant is garbage because 1st place is still a massive failure 40% of the time. It's easy to laugh off/dismiss obviously stupid AI suggestions like eating rocks or using glue as a pizza topping. The more insidious issue is triaging through answers that are completely wrong that still sound right. That's A.) a waste of time, and B.) a massive hit to user trustworthiness.
Apple knows all of this which is why the much-anticipated "improved Siri" has zero presence at WWDC 2025. Apple senior managers vaguely deflected this to 2026 but that really implies late 2026, like December if we're "lucky". So possibly 2+ years late.
All the while their competitors will be feeding Joe Consumer dogchow.
"I spoke this week, off the record, to multiple trusted sources in Apple’s software engineering group, and none of them ever saw an internal build of iOS that had this feature before last year’s keynote. That doesn’t mean there wasn’t such a build. But none of my sources ever saw one, and they don’t believe there was one, because they’re in positions where they believe that if there had been such a build, their teams would have had access to it."
So...Who is lying or ignoring? Craig/Joz or their team?
Who is trolling? We will find out. So many contradictions at the end. Release in 2026? Sure? I don´t knock it off.
As soon as something is stable, reliable, basically of truly sound quality, we will see it. Until then, if AI is what you’re after, stick with the main players and enjoy the near weekly advances and its disruptive impact. This genie isn’t going back in the bottle. And speaking as a coder, yes there are concerns for my career going forward, but we’re not stopping it. I did a week’s worth of coding in one day last week. As it stands, that makes me more productive. I think it’s that aspect - major productivity gains - Apple will embrace. When it’s ready.
My take is that there is division within Apple at a high level and that Gruber's 'Rotten' Apple piece reflected the side of the divide that wasn't visible to the outside world and he was spot on with his observations about Apple Intelligence (which were actually based on hard facts).
With the interviews from Apple executives that have appeared, none are convincing in any way.
Stern's questions were not tackled head because that would mean an admission that Apple isn't willing to make, beyond a blanket 'It's taking us longer to do than we expected'.
They back that up with claims like we need it to be better before we ship, but we do have it running.
Well, one could argue that news summaries weren't up to scratch but they released it anyway. Image playground was the same and of course, with supposed years of development time and 'not being behind on AI', Siri is nowhere near where it needs to be. It's 2025!
Yes, Apple was, is and will probably remain behind for a while longer.
It was a huge strategic goof.
Pointing to the future (e.g WWDC 2024) and now rumours of more AI developments at some point in the future still leaves Apple behind in this situation.
IMO, management didn't realise the speed and impact of AI over the last three years and was left wholly unprepared.
The scramble is on and my guess is that some people within Apple have been pointing fingers for a while and Gruber is simply giving them a voice.
The notion that Apple is behind suggest that this is a race where the path is known and it's merely an effort of putting one leg in front of the other leg faster than the competition. That's not what the landscape is like. AI right now is like a group of people wandering in the desert looking for water and they don't where that water is so they're all moving in a huddle in the most sensible direction for the group.
My boss is jazzed about CoPilot being able to quickly surface information unique to our company from the data that we input. That's worth it to him because most modern knowledge-base systems fail at producing relevant information quickly. He's not gonna be interested in some of the more esoteric stuff that Investors are frothing at the mouth for. He knows his business already he just needs faster access to data.
I imagine the real thrust to move towards AI will be this faster knowledge retrieval. The non deterministic nature of AI means that the same input will yield different outputs. You still have to knowledgeable decisions even after sifting through AI analysis.
Don't fool yourself...this AI is Beta and companies want to start producing revenue to appease investors. Companies need solid deliverables. When we buy a tool or heavy equipment we fully understand what its bringing to the table. AI is still figuring out what it can bring.
Apple has time...this AI stuff largely isn't ready for production.
If the models underlying the leading chatbots never get any better than they are today, they will still make (and are making) a huge positive impact on productivity. The real “dead end” is the career of anyone who can’t or won’t figure out how to take advantage of this technology.
Don't worry about it. You are doing a great job. We can still hear the signal through the noise.
As I've said before, anyone can "bet on" anything they want when they have no skin in the game. As of today Apple has $2.95 trillion USD of skin in the game. Who are you going to listen to?
Um, we do have an Ignore button. Just saying ...
What I trust Apple to do is take the time to do it right. While ChatGPT is super helpful, that next step for it to actually help accomplish tasks on my behalf is still clunky. This is where Apple can (and I trust, will) shine. Using App Intents and other future APIs, the phone will actually be able to do so many things thanks to Siri. And it should be so much safer and better thought out than what exists in the AI-space currently.
MSFT, NVDA hitting ATH with $3.5 trillion USD. AAPL falling behind.
How did you go bankrupt? Gradually... and suddenly.
Good luck because I am pretty sure that Apple has no v1 or v2 architecture.