When it comes to AI, it feels like Apple has fumbled things every step of the way. Not only was it late to market with its own AI features, but the promised AI upgrades to Siri are also almost two years overdue. Needless to say, what was an uphill battle now feels like trying to scale El Capitan without adequate gear, with arrows being pelted at you, in the middle of the worst storm you've ever seen.
But seemingly undeterred, Apple will apparently be falling back on the things its AI can offer, and which the rest of the tech industry apparently has no interest in: privacy.
This information comes from Mark Gurman at Bloomberg, who also notes that Apple's respect for user privacy is a major reason why its AI offerings have been so lackluster. When you deliberately restrict yourself from collecting and analyzing user data, training your AI models suddenly becomes much harder. At least compared to AI firms that don't give two hoots about exploiting the data users hand over.
Still, Apple believes that users shouldn't have to compromise on privacy to enjoy state-of-the-art AI features. Gurman believes this could work to Apple's advantage, especially now that the general public is realizing just how many privacy trade-offs are involved in using AI products.
With that in mind, Gurman claims that Apple will make the privacy factor the centerpiece of its presentation at WWDC 2026 next month. By making itself — and its approach to AI — stand out from the data-hungry rivals, Apple could differentiate its offering from an ever-increasing number of AI companies.
Auto-delete in new Siri app
That approach could include an auto-delete feature in the new Siri app, restricting the amount of information the AI can retain in the long term. Other chatbots offer this, but unlike what Apple is reportedly planning, they are not switched on by default and rely on the user to know about them first.
The lack of historical data will limit Siri's ability to offer personalized responses, but that may be a small price to pay for better privacy right out of the box. However, the new Siri will apparently include the option to store conversations for 30 days, one year or forever, if you choose.
We also know that Siri will utilize Apple's Private Cloud Compute, which Apple previously claimed would be an extension of iPhone's existing security protections in the cloud. That means iPhone owners wouldn't miss out on the benefits of cloud processing, but also wouldn't have to compromise privacy in the process. Though it's unclear how Google's role in powering Siri will be, and how that might affect the privacy aspects of the new app.
Sadly, despite all the delays, it seems the new version of Siri won't be totally complete by the time it launches later this year. Gurman notes that the app will still be in beta, even if it's available to the masses. This means it may not operate correctly 100% of the time, and Apple may limit access to a wait list — as it did with Apple Intelligence features in the months after they first launched.
