Since 2024, Apple has been slowly working on trying to build a revamped Siri 2.0 bolstered by Apple Intelligence. Those plans have already been delayed in 2026, but an overhaul is apparently coming soon.
The latest bulwark in that change comes from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who reports that Apple has plans to open Siri up to outside AI chatbots as part of iOS 27. Currently, Siri can tap into ChatGPT via an exclusive partnership with OpenAI, in place since 2024.
According to Gurman, Apple is developing new "Extension" tools that would allow any AI chatbot service installed from the App Store to integrate with Siri. The assistants would be able to take queries via Siri and other Apple Intelligence features in iOS.
As an example, if someone already had Google Gemini or Claude installed on their iPhone, they could send prompts to those chatbots within the Siri app, similar to how it works with ChatGPT. It's also possibly a revenue-generator as Apple takes a cut from subscriptions set up through the app store.
Apple already has a partnership to more deeply integrate Gemini models with Siri, but apparently, these new tools are separate from that arrangement. The Extension system would process queries using the actual Gemini service.
Once again, a massive overhaul of Siri has been rumored to arrive or be announced this year. At this point, seeing will be believing as Apple has continually struggled to even get a functioning AI-powered Siri out the door.
How Siri extensions would work
According to Gurman, under the new system you would need to specify which AI you want to use for prompts you put through Siri. Today, you explicitly request ChatGPT via Siri, so it would be somewhat similar.
There are several AI platforms as apps already in the App Store, including Amazon's Alexa, Meta's Meta AI, Microsoft Copilot Perplexity, and xAI's Grok. However, it's not clear if all of those apps would be applicable to the new Siri or if they need approval.
Release date at WWDC 2026?
Apple officially announced its annual Worldwide Developer Conference 2026 would take place between June 8 and 12 this summer. Presumably, the company could announce the Extensions system then, if it's ready.
Currently in testing, the Extensions system is meant to launch with iOS 27, iPadOS 27 and macOS 27. Since launching Apple Intelligence in 2024, Apple has staggered the release of features in each new iOS version. So it's no guarantee that iOS 27 would get the Extensions system immediately in October or if it will pop up in later versions between the fall and spring 2027.
