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Today's Siri lacks a chat-like feel and the conversational abilities of OpenAI's ChatGPT or Google's Gemini.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Published Jan 22, 2026, 08:05 AM
Updated Jan 22, 2026, 08:09 AM
CALIFORNIA – Apple plans to revamp Siri later in 2026 by turning the digital assistant into the company’s first artificial intelligence chatbot, thrusting the iPhone maker into a generative AI race dominated by OpenAI and Google.
The chatbot – code-named Campos – will be embedded deeply into the iPhone, iPad and Mac operating systems and replace the current Siri interface, according to people familiar with the plan.
Users will be able to summon the new service the same way they open Siri now: by speaking the “Siri” command or holding down the side button on their iPhone or iPad.
The new approach will go well beyond the abilities of the current Siri – or even a long-promised update that is coming earlier in 2026. Today’s Siri lacks a chat-like feel and the back-and-forth conversational abilities of OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini.
The feature is a central piece of Apple’s turnaround plan for the AI market, where it has lagged behind Silicon Valley peers. The Apple Intelligence platform had a rocky roll-out in 2024, with features that were underwhelming or slow to arrive.
The previously promised, non-chatbot update to Siri – retaining the current interface – is planned for iOS 26.4, due in the coming months. The idea behind that upgrade is to add features unveiled in 2024, including the ability to analyse on-screen content and tap personal data. It also will be better at searching the web.
The chatbot capabilities will come later in 2026, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans are private. The company aims to unveil that technology in June at its Worldwide Developers Conference and release it in September.
Campos, which will have both voice- and typing-based modes, will be the primary new addition to Apple’s upcoming operating systems. The company is integrating it into iOS 27 and iPadOS 27, both code-named Rave, as well as macOS 27, internally known as Fizz.
Other than the chatbot interface, the operating systems are not getting big changes in 2026. Apple is more focused on improving performance and fixing bugs. In 2025, it rolled out a major design overhaul, unifying the look and feel of its operating systems.
Internally, Apple is testing the chatbot technology as a standalone Siri app, similar to the ChatGPT and Gemini options available in the App Store. The company does not plan to offer that version to customers, though. Instead, it will integrate the software across its operating systems, like the Siri of today.
A spokesperson for Cupertino, California-based Apple declined to comment.
Embracing the chatbot approach represents a strategic shift for Apple, which has long downplayed the conversational AI tools popularised by OpenAI, Alphabet’s Google and Microsoft.
Executives have argued that users prefer having AI woven directly into features – something Apple has done with its writing tools, Genmoji emoji generator and notification summaries – rather than standalone chat experiences.
Mr Craig Federighi, senior vice-president of software engineering, said in a June interview with Tom’s Guide that releasing a chatbot was never the company’s goal.
Apple did not want to send users “off into some chat experience in order to get things done”, he said.
But Apple risked falling further behind rivals without its own chatbot.
Samsung Electronics, Google and several Chinese smartphone makers have already embedded conversational AI deeply into their operating systems. Such tools have become increasingly essential, with ChatGPT surpassing 800 million weekly active users in October 2025.
OpenAI is poised to become more of an Apple competitor, adding further pressure. The maker of ChatGPT looks to evolve its software into an AI operating system. It is also working on new devices under the direction of former Apple design chief Jony Ive.
The AI company has poached several dozen Apple engineers in recent months, a move that rankled the iPhone maker’s executives and stoked concerns about OpenAI becoming a threat to its underlying business.
Like ChatGPT and Google Gemini, Apple’s chatbot will allow users to search the web for information, create content, generate images, summarise information and analyse uploaded files.
It also will draw on personal data to complete tasks, being able to more easily locate specific files, songs, calendar events and text messages.
Unlike third-party chatbots running on Apple devices, the planned offering is designed to analyse open windows and on-screen content in order to take actions and suggest commands. It will also be able to control device features and settings, allowing it to make phone calls, set timers and launch the camera.
More significantly, Siri will be integrated into all of the company’s core apps, including ones for mail, music, podcasts, TV, Xcode programming software and photos. That will allow users to do much more with just their voice.
For instance, they could ask Siri to find a photo based on a description of its contents and edit it with specific preferences – like cropping and colour changes. Or a user could ask Siri within the e-mail app to write a message to a friend about upcoming calendar plans.
Campos may let Apple jettison its Spotlight function as well. That feature lets users search for content on their devices and look up a limited array of information, like sports scores and weather details.
One issue under discussion is how much the chatbot will be allowed to remember about its users.
ChatGPT and other conversational AI tools can retain an extensive memory of past interactions, allowing them to draw on conversations and personal details when fulfilling requests. Apple is considering sharply limiting this capability in the interest of privacy.
The chatbot will feature an Apple-designed user interface but rely heavily on a custom AI model developed by the Google Gemini team – an arrangement first reported by Bloomberg News in 2025.
The iOS 26.4 update of Siri, the one before the true chatbot, will rely on a Google-developed system internally known as Apple Foundation Models version 10. That software will operate at 1.2 trillion parameters, a measure of AI complexity.
Campos, however, will significantly surpass those capabilities. The chatbot will run a higher-end version of the custom Google model, comparable to Gemini 3, that is known internally as Apple Foundation Models version 11.
In a potential policy shift for Apple, the two partners are discussing hosting the chatbot directly on Google servers running powerful chips known as TPUs, or tensor processing units. The more immediate Siri update, in contrast, will operate on Apple’s own Private Cloud Compute servers, which rely on high-end Mac chips for processing.
Apple is paying Google roughly US$1 billion (S$1.3 billion) annually for access to the models. The company also may turn to Google technology to enhance existing Apple Intelligence features. Bloomberg first reported last June that Apple was mulling the use of outside models to fix its AI woes.
Apple is designing Campos so that its underlying models can be swapped out over time. That means the company will have the flexibility to move away from Google-powered systems in the future if it so chooses.
Apple has also tested the chatbot with Chinese AI models, signalling plans to eventually deploy the feature in that country, where Apple Intelligence is not yet available.
The next Siri upgrade and Campos will both include a feature called World Knowledge Answers, first reported by Bloomberg in September 2025. It will provide web-summarised responses – similar to Perplexity and ChatGPT – along with citations.
Hints of Apple’s shift toward chatbots surfaced in recent months. In 2025, the company internally developed an app dubbed Veritas that turned the new Siri engine into a text-based chatbot interface. The app was strictly for testing and is not planned for public release.
The strategic pivot follows Apple leadership changes.
Long-time AI chief John Giannandrea was relieved of his role in December 2025, with Mr Federighi consolidating control over Apple’s AI efforts. The company has also hired Mr Amar Subramanya as a vice-president of AI reporting to Mr Federighi. He previously helped lead engineering for Gemini at Google. BLOOMBERG
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