After a two-year development period and a notable $250 million lawsuit, Apple is poised to roll out its revitalized AI Siri across its ecosystem, encompassing iPhones, laptops, and even the niche Apple Vision Pro mixed reality headset. The extensive array of anticipated, AI-powered enhancements was unveiled during Monday’s WWDC keynote, with Apple emphasizing that its existing hardware is inherently “built for Apple Intelligence.”
Frankly, it's challenging for artificial intelligence to sufficiently impress me to integrate it into my daily routine. I remain cautious about the consistent accuracy of large language models, find the use of AI for writing ethically questionable, and feel no compelling desire to visualize myself as a Studio Ghibli character. Yet, every so often, the sheer promise of AI manages to capture my imagination.
This was precisely my sentiment while observing Apple’s Siri AI demonstrations. They painted a picture of a world where one's phone hosts an ever-present, continuously active assistant, intimately aware of personal data and adept at managing conversations across a multitude of applications simultaneously.
To borrow from Katy Perry, it felt so wrong due to the inherent privacy implications, yet simultaneously so right, given the overwhelming nature of modern smartphone interaction and my yearning for assistance in navigating it all.
My ideal Siri would function as a personal "second brain," akin to Emily from “The Devil Wears Prada,” anticipating my needs before I even recognize them. I envision Siri reading my messages and automatically creating calendar events when friends and I finalize dinner plans, or reminding me to pick up a prescription as I pass a CVS. Should I inadvertently overlook an important work email, I’d want Siri to prompt me about the unaddressed communication.
While the initial iteration of Siri AI won't deliver all these capabilities immediately, it is progressing in the right direction. A WWDC demonstration featured Justin Titi, an Apple Senior Director in AI engineering, asking the assistant to recall a dessert his daughter had recently mentioned. Siri efficiently scanned Titi’s phone, locating a text from approximately a month prior where his daughter expressed a desire to make coconut cookies. This seemingly simple act underscores Siri's potential to save users significant time by negating the need to manually scroll through extensive message histories.
The re-engineered Siri is designed to harness "personal context," which encompasses all information stored within Apple-native applications such as iMessage, Notes, Calendar, Mail, and Photos. Furthermore, Siri will possess screen awareness; for instance, if you scroll past an appealing park image on Instagram, you can directly ask Siri for its location. The extent of Siri’s integration with non-native Apple applications is currently unconfirmed, suggesting it may depend on third-party developer enablement.
Existing applications like Poppy and Poke already endeavor to provide this form of mobile, agentic AI. However, the inherent paradox of these personal assistant tools is the prerequisite for users to surrender substantial personal data and privacy for optimal functionality, which can, in turn, introduce new complications. A notable example involved a Meta researcher who, while using OpenClaw, inadvertently deleted her entire inbox.
While I am generally reluctant to entrust my personal data to any technology giant, Apple appears to exhibit a stronger commitment to security compared to other FAANG (or MANGO, as some suggest) companies. On-device AI processing inherently offers enhanced security and reduced energy consumption, as data is processed directly on the user's device. This localized processing is already utilized for current Apple Intelligence features, including email summaries and AI-generated emojis. For more complex tasks, Apple has pioneered Private Cloud Compute (PCC), an innovative method enabling devices to process intricate data via the cloud without ever exposing user data to Apple itself. To date, PCC has remained uncompromised, despite Apple’s standing $1 million bug bounty for any successful hack.
In a recent conversation with writer Calvin Kasulke, whose profound internet fluency led him to author a novel exclusively set within Slack, I confessed what felt like a somewhat taboo desire: to offload all my "life admin" tasks to an AI.
Kasulke challenged this perspective, stating, “When you talk about the nonsense of the tech detritus in your life… I think the question is, ‘Is all that you have necessary?’ If it is necessary, isn’t it worth cultivating the skill and spending the time to do it?” He further advised, “I don’t think that those are skills that one should allow to atrophy.”
He raises a valid point: perhaps instead of relying on Siri to remind me of a TV show recommended by a friend, I should cultivate greater attentiveness during my conversations. I am wary of developing a habit of forgetting more significant details from my interactions.
“I’m sorry, but all of the commercials that are like, ‘What if I had the computer buy my kid a birthday gift?’ I’m like, ‘What if you learned what your kid likes?’ … Like, I don’t know man, it sounds like [they] don’t want to do the fundamental act of being a person,” he remarked.
Perhaps when I express a desire for Siri to be like Emily from “The Devil Wears Prada,” I should recall that Emily’s character was on the precipice of a breakdown. While I cannot inflict psychological damage on Siri as Miranda Priestly did on Emily, I must consider if I wish to become a person incapable of functioning without the comforting robotic voice in my phone. Is that the person I aspire to be?
Fortunately, should I decide to opt out entirely, Apple has ensured that this choice remains available. Unlike Google’s controversial Search overhaul, the new AI Siri can be toggled on and off, granting users full control over its utilization. Until then, I face the decision of whether to partake in the potentially transformative, yet perhaps "forbidden," experience of Siri AI.
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