WWDC 2026 - Siri AI Impressions!

[00:00] Apple has just wrapped up possibly the

[00:01] most important WWDC they've ever had.

[00:04] It's Tim Cook's last dance before

[00:05] stepping down as CEO. So, we got our

[00:07] final

[00:08] >> good morning.

[00:09] >> And even more importantly, after 2 years

[00:11] of Apple convincing us that their phones

[00:13] are about to become supercharged with AI

[00:15] and then a $250 million lawsuit for

[00:18] underdelivering, today was the event

[00:20] where they had to prove that actually

[00:22] Apple Intelligence and their nextg Siri

[00:25] called Siri AI is the real deal. And

[00:27] they've definitely got the design right.

[00:29] It all looks beautiful, but there's also

[00:31] some question marks around functionality

[00:33] and a couple of bits that just felt

[00:35] straight up tonedeaf to me. We'll get to

[00:37] that. So, given the absolutely enormous

[00:39] stakes of this event, I found it pretty

[00:41] hilarious that Apple kicked things off

[00:43] by talking about the corner radius on

[00:45] their windows within your Mac. Every

[00:47] window on Mac OS now has the same

[00:49] tighter corner radius.

[00:50] >> Finally, they answered my prayers. The

[00:52] big picture though, aside from all the

[00:53] AI stuff, is this year's software is all

[00:56] about optimization across all of their

[00:59] products. Seems like Apple realized

[01:01] after a year of squinting at their icons

[01:03] that the transparency of liquid glass

[01:05] was probably set a bit high by default.

[01:07] So, they've toned it down. And since no

[01:09] one seems to agree on what the correct

[01:11] amount of transparency actually is,

[01:13] they've gone fine, we'll do it

[01:15] yourselves and given us a slider. So,

[01:17] depending on how brave you're feeling,

[01:18] you can decide to either dial it up from

[01:20] there or down. This is very clearly the

[01:22] year of Apple fixing their back end.

[01:24] They do this every now and again. And

[01:26] these are often the less exciting

[01:27] updates, but the ones that actually end

[01:29] up mattering more. Like for example,

[01:31] they're saying that now everything is

[01:33] just going to be faster. They threw out

[01:36] a whole load of numbers. Like for

[01:37] example, iPhone apps now load up to 30%

[01:40] faster. After shooting photos, those

[01:42] photos appear in your gallery up to 70%

[01:45] faster. Airdrops are up to 80% faster.

[01:47] And because your devices are also about

[01:49] to get much better at properly indexing

[01:51] files, you'll also be able to search

[01:53] through them quicker. Bear in mind those

[01:54] up twos, though. Nothing they've

[01:56] announced is actually going to feel as

[01:58] transformative as they're making it

[01:59] sound. But I do like the idea of things

[02:01] getting faster. There are also a ton of

[02:03] other smaller changes. You could just

[02:05] pause here if you fancy a very long

[02:07] read. And then just before the big new

[02:09] Apple Intelligence and Siri, Apple took

[02:11] a surprise segue into child protection

[02:13] features, which I now have extra reason

[02:16] to care about. Now, the idea is really

[02:18] to give parents complete control over

[02:20] what their kids can see and do. So,

[02:22] anytime your kid wants to download a new

[02:24] app, you get a ping. You can see it and

[02:26] you can decide to approve it. Anytime

[02:28] they visit a new website for the first

[02:29] time or even talk to a new contact, you

[02:32] can see it and approve it, which I guess

[02:33] is kind of a double-edged blade cuz it's

[02:36] got the safety benefits, making sure

[02:38] that they're not talking to people they

[02:39] shouldn't be, but also partly just the

[02:41] over stimulation stuff. It means that

[02:43] you can start your kids off with just a

[02:44] tiny number of apps when they're young

[02:46] and then let them unlock more as they

[02:48] get older. Or you can just let them use

[02:50] school related apps during the school

[02:52] day and then schedule the entertainment

[02:54] apps to only unlock in the evening. Now

[02:56] whether or not this is in response to

[02:58] governments demanding better child

[03:00] protection or just Apple seeing the

[03:02] massive potential upside in getting kids

[03:04] locked into their ecosystem before

[03:05] they're old enough to even make a

[03:07] choice. These are really good features

[03:09] that it's kind of sad to say, but

[03:11] they're needed now given how capable and

[03:13] open the tech has become. But now it's

[03:15] time to address the elephant. Siri AI.

[03:18] They opened this whole thing up by

[03:20] saying, "We know there are times when

[03:21] you expect more from Siri."

[03:23] >> Yeah, I think that's uh quite the

[03:25] understatement. The first time Apple

[03:26] announced a new Siri in 2024 with this

[03:29] brand new disco lights animation, which

[03:32] ended up as the main feature, Siri was

[03:34] so halfbaked that if you bought an

[03:37] iPhone because of it, Apple literally

[03:39] owes you up to $95. So, I'm relieved to

[03:42] say that the new Siri AI is a huge jump.

[03:46] So, it's got a fresh look. It's got this

[03:48] subtler, toned down, more liquid, glassy

[03:52] aesthetic. potentially a little

[03:53] personality lossless, but premium for

[03:55] sure, and it now lives inside your

[03:57] dynamic island. So, in terms of

[04:00] capability,

[04:01] this is not breaking any new ground.

[04:03] It's not a secret that Apple's paying

[04:05] Google a billion dollars a year to use

[04:07] Gemini as its foundation. So, it's not a

[04:10] surprise that pretty much everything

[04:11] this new Siri can do is something we've

[04:14] already seen Gemini do. But that still

[04:16] makes it a musive leap over the old

[04:19] series. So, they gave a bunch of

[04:20] real-time examples in their keynote like

[04:22] how you can have continued conversations

[04:24] with it. You can ask when a band is

[04:26] performing and then ask how you can get

[04:28] tickets. They showed how Siri now has

[04:30] screen awareness so you can just be

[04:32] looking at a photo and then ask where is

[04:34] this exactly without needing to spell

[04:36] out what you're looking at. It has

[04:38] personal context. So Siri has access to

[04:40] all your past messages, your photos, and

[04:43] because your files are now indexed more

[04:45] thoroughly, they're saying that Siri is

[04:46] really good at pulling those things up

[04:48] at just the right times when you ask

[04:50] Siri about things related to them. Bear

[04:52] in mind though, this isn't a live event.

[04:55] So while they are showing what appear to

[04:56] be realtime examples, how many times did

[04:59] they test those real-time examples till

[05:01] they worked out just perfectly? I would

[05:03] guess more than once. Here's the good

[05:05] news, though. While the capability of

[05:07] Siri AI is, I would say not surprising,

[05:10] I think the implementation kind of is.

[05:13] Best moment of the entire keynote was

[05:15] watching this guy having a full-on

[05:17] eargasm listening to Siri's improved

[05:19] voice quality.

[05:20] >> Why has no one told me? I'm telling you,

[05:22] man. I've been changed. Clear the

[05:24] fridge. No, clear all the fridges

[05:28] >> on it, Jaws.

[05:30] >> Which is also actually configurable.

[05:32] Now, this is a seriously cool user

[05:34] interface to be able to change the pace

[05:36] and expressivity of your assistant to

[05:39] your exact preferences. I love how

[05:41] they've made this software actually feel

[05:43] like part of the hardware. The way that

[05:45] all of these Siri pop-ups blend

[05:47] seamlessly into the physical camera

[05:49] cutout you have on your phone. Put it

[05:50] this way, I can't think of an assistant

[05:52] that looks as smoothly integrated as

[05:54] this. And I guess with all the time that

[05:56] Apple saved not having to worry about

[05:58] what it does, cuz that's kind of

[06:00] Google's problem now, they've instead

[06:02] spent it optimizing how to make it as

[06:04] intuitive as possible. It just makes

[06:06] sense how Siri lives at the top and then

[06:09] you pull down to talk to it and then

[06:11] pull down again to just fluidly enter

[06:13] the new dedicated Siri app. This is

[06:15] where you can full screen your current

[06:17] conversation, but also where the rest of

[06:18] your chats are stored and synced across

[06:21] all of your other Apple devices. But

[06:23] maybe the highlight of this entire

[06:24] section was shortcuts. You can now use

[06:26] your natural voice to describe a

[06:28] shortcut that you want to create. The

[06:30] example they gave was let my partner

[06:32] know automatically every time I leave

[06:34] work and give them an ETA based on real

[06:37] time map data. And that's it. All of the

[06:39] clunkiness and complexity of actually

[06:42] having to build the shortcut yourself is

[06:44] gone. which is such a good use of AI

[06:46] because it takes one of the best

[06:48] possible features of the iPhone and

[06:50] changes it from something that 10% of

[06:53] people at most will even dare to fiddle

[06:55] with to all of a sudden something that

[06:57] my grandma would happily use. Now, as

[06:59] part of this overhaul, Apple's also

[07:00] upgraded that weird visual intelligence

[07:03] feature that I'm sure all of you used

[07:06] because now it's powered by the new Siri

[07:08] AI and integrated into the camera app

[07:10] itself. There's some good ideas here,

[07:13] like you can scan a plate of food to get

[07:15] nutritional insights, or scan a bill and

[07:18] then your phone can automatically split

[07:19] that bill up and send people money

[07:21] requests using Apple Cash. Way to make

[07:23] your Android friends feel even more out

[07:25] of it. I like the integration. It makes

[07:27] sense to fuse visual intelligence with

[07:29] the camera app that everyone's already

[07:31] using. And it's great that each scan you

[07:33] do automatically saves to your Siri app

[07:36] so that you can come back to it. But

[07:37] whether or not I actually use this is

[07:39] going to rest entirely on how reliable

[07:42] it is. Like if I'm on holiday and I'm

[07:43] trying to translate the ingredients on a

[07:45] trail mix to check if it contains

[07:47] peanuts, which I am deathly allergic to,

[07:50] I'm not going to use this over Google

[07:51] Lens just because it has prettier

[07:53] animations. It's all about the result.

[07:56] Now, bear in mind this whole upgraded

[07:58] Siri AI, it's not just a phone thing.

[08:01] It's coming to all Apple product lines.

[08:03] So, the Apple Watch gets it, which is

[08:04] really useful because that's an even

[08:06] faster way to get to it than the phone.

[08:08] The Vision Pro gets it in the form of

[08:10] this floating 3D blob, which you can

[08:12] just look at and start speaking. And

[08:14] what I thought was pretty impressive is

[08:15] that it can understand not just the

[08:17] Safari tabs and the windows that you

[08:19] have open, but also the real objects in

[08:22] the real room in front of you at the

[08:24] same time. And the Mac gets it, but to

[08:26] me at least, that's the least useful

[08:28] one. They showed a bunch of things that

[08:29] you can do with this new Siri, like how

[08:31] it's integrated into the Mac's normal

[08:33] spotlight search, how you can highlight

[08:35] files and then ask Siri questions about

[08:37] them, like can you compare the contents

[08:39] of them, or how you can highlight text

[08:42] or even images and it can extract the

[08:44] data from them to add to your calendar

[08:46] really quickly. But honestly, nothing

[08:48] they showed for the Mac really excited

[08:49] me. I think the difference is unlike an

[08:52] Apple Watch, when I'm on my Mac, I

[08:54] already have access to all of the best

[08:56] tools that exist. And in that

[08:58] environment, I can't imagine using a lot

[09:00] of Siri, which feels caught up to some

[09:02] of the competition, but certainly not a

[09:05] bleeding edge tool. And then finally,

[09:07] for this event, Apple introduced the

[09:09] next generation of Apple Intelligence. I

[09:11] feel like this contained both the

[09:12] highlights of the entire event as well

[09:15] as the low points. So, Safari can now

[09:17] automatically organize your tabs into

[09:19] topics based on what it sees, which is

[09:21] an interesting idea, but personally to

[09:23] me looks just as confusing to navigate

[09:25] as leaving it as is and having a ton of

[09:27] tabs. But being able to describe an

[09:30] extension to Safari and just let it

[09:32] build it, that's cool. Like, for

[09:35] example, a tool that lets you save

[09:36] recipes easily. Your iPhone can now

[09:39] automatically upgrade your weak

[09:41] passwords. And that's wild cuz that's

[09:44] not your phone just telling you they're

[09:45] weak. It's essentially your phone

[09:47] logging into these sites on your behalf,

[09:49] deciding what that password should be,

[09:51] and then executing that entire process.

[09:53] It also strikes me as an extremely good

[09:55] way of locking people further into

[09:57] Apple. Like, what's my password for

[10:00] Spotify? I have no idea, but my iPhone

[10:03] knows. Apple's now got a very similar

[10:05] feature to Google's magic cue, where the

[10:07] AI is kind of trying to anticipate your

[10:10] needs. So, if someone messages you about

[10:12] your recent trip together, it can pull

[10:14] up all the photos related to that trip.

[10:16] Or if someone emails about an upcoming

[10:18] dinner reservation, you can get this

[10:19] little option to add it immediately to

[10:21] your calendar. If you're on a phone call

[10:23] to say an airline, your phone can

[10:25] retrieve any relevant confirmation codes

[10:27] from your mail app. And I do trust that

[10:29] Apple is going to integrate this

[10:31] seamlessly. But what isn't as clear is

[10:34] if it's all then going to fall apart if

[10:36] you use Gmail or Google Calendar. One of

[10:39] the standouts was in the Apple Home app.

[10:41] They're saying that if you use a

[10:42] compatible home security camera, then

[10:44] your phone can use its new AI to scan

[10:47] through the live feeds and summarize all

[10:49] the notable events while breaking up the

[10:51] clips into separated segments. There's a

[10:53] couple of instances where this feature

[10:55] alone would have saved me hours. And

[10:57] possibly the most important announcement

[10:59] of the entire event, a major boost in

[11:02] accuracy of spelling, punctuation, and

[11:05] dictation. So, Apple's saying that

[11:07] anything you now type or speak into your

[11:09] Apple devices when they get the new

[11:11] updates will be a lot more accurate.

[11:13] This is a billion times more useful than

[11:15] like AI features that try to write for

[11:18] you. I just want to write like me, but

[11:20] correct. It means Siri's going to better

[11:23] understand you. Your reminders will

[11:25] actually pick up what you mean. You can

[11:27] actually send intelligible messages when

[11:29] handsfree on CarPlay. But then they

[11:32] showed the new image editing tools and

[11:34] it just got very uncomfortable. So image

[11:37] playground got a big update too. You

[11:39] know that image generation tool that

[11:40] everyone used all the time to make to

[11:43] make

[11:45] I don't really know to be honest but it

[11:46] generates slop in higher quality now.

[11:48] They gave an example of how you can now

[11:49] use someone's face to make an invite for

[11:52] an event. But I was just so surprised

[11:54] for a company that's usually so

[11:55] deliberate that no one questioned how

[11:58] horrifying and soulless this end result

[12:00] was. Apple Intelligence can generate

[12:02] contact posters and lock screen

[12:04] wallpapers, but it still has that

[12:07] mid-tier AI creepy, not quite

[12:10] photorealistic feel to it. They've

[12:11] updated the photo cleanup to be able to

[12:13] better scrub out photo bombers from your

[12:15] images. And I will not complain about

[12:17] that. I mean, for the last 2 years,

[12:20] ironically, for a feature called

[12:22] cleanup, it sure has been quite the

[12:24] mess. There's an extend tool, so you can

[12:26] expand images beyond their original

[12:28] frame, and it'll use AI to fill in the

[12:31] blanks. And even spatial reframing,

[12:34] where using AI, you can touch and drag

[12:36] an image to change the angle that the

[12:38] photo was taken from. And on one hand,

[12:41] this was absolutely an impressive tech

[12:43] demo of what's possible. But on the

[12:44] other hand, I just kind of hate this

[12:46] whole idea of you've already got a

[12:48] perfectly fine photo there of your two

[12:51] real children. Why would you turn that

[12:53] into a fake AI image that never happened

[12:56] just to make the angle more aesthetic?

[12:58] Overall, I feel like Apple's AI has gone

[13:00] from very behind to good enough. This

[13:03] isn't class leading, but it will feel

[13:06] like a big jump in your experience if

[13:08] all you use is Apple products and you

[13:10] were happy before. Anyway, there's just

[13:12] a couple of important caveats. First,

[13:14] that while it's great that they're

[13:15] updating even phones as old as the

[13:17] iPhone 11 to the new iOS 27, they're

[13:20] also saying that the most powerful

[13:21] version of Siri that they showed us, and

[13:23] that's kind of the main upgrade they

[13:25] talked about, that's only coming to the

[13:27] very latest products. So for iPhone,

[13:29] that's literally only the Air and the 17

[13:33] Pros. Not even the base iPhone 17. And

[13:35] with the iPad and Max, you get a little

[13:37] more leeway, but not a lot. And then

[13:39] also the fact that Apple's being a bit

[13:41] ky here about what you actually get for

[13:43] free. They've said some Apple

[13:45] Intelligence features, including image

[13:47] generation, have daily usage limits

[13:49] because they rely on powerful server

[13:51] models. Increased access is available

[13:53] with most iCloud Plus subscription

[13:55] plans. Feels a bit like trying to sweep

[13:56] the biggest question mark people have

[13:58] under the rug as if it's some sort of

[14:00] footnote. But time will tell. If you've

[14:02] been thinking, by the way, since that

[14:04] last video, Aaron, your phone is looking

[14:06] mighty clean today. Yeah, since

[14:08] realizing that I am truly stuck on the

[14:09] iPhone, I decided to just get rid of

[14:11] every single icon I didn't need, every

[14:13] app I didn't need, every notification I

[14:15] didn't need. And one of the best ways of

[14:16] doing that is just getting everything

[14:18] about you off the internet. You could

[14:20] try and do that yourself. I've been

[14:21] using incogn sponsor because it does it

[14:24] all for you. It'll email data brokers,

[14:25] the ones who collect your addresses,

[14:27] phone numbers, and try to sell them, and

[14:29] then exercise your right to claim that

[14:31] data back. And you should be able to

[14:33] notice actually getting less spam and

[14:35] scam calls cuz criminals often use that

[14:38] sold data to target people. Oh, and you

[14:40] can use the code boss below to get

[14:41] literally 60% off an annual plan with

[14:43] the family plan being like silly good