ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Your iPhone’s glowing Siri interface could be deceiving you.
- Updating to iOS 27 doesn’t mean you’ll have Siri AI.
- The new Siri gives better answers, but it’s not perfect.
Apple’s hype machine has told us that the product it calls “Siri AI” is more helpful and intelligent than ever. So, a few weeks ago, I updated my iPhone 16 Pro Max to iOS 27, mostly because I wanted to try out the new Siri.
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After updating to iOS 27 (I’m running 27.0.1), Siri is pretty much the same old Siri. Sure, my phone glowed all over the screen when I made a Siri request. But I have not seen any improvement in the quality of his answers. As best as I could tell, the new Siri AI was a hit and miss.
But here’s the hidden secret: I don’t have Siri AI on iOS 27. And you probably don’t either.
This morning I wanted to update my phone’s wallpaper with another incredibly cute photo of my very good boy, Pixel. Running on just half a cup of coffee, I accidentally typed “Siri” into my iPhone’s settings instead of “Wallpaper.”
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I haven’t had much reason to visit the Siri setting, but this is where I’ll show you. And today I realized that.
So, although a large part of Apple’s iOS 27 hype is centered on Siri, it is not fully baked and was not installed on my machine. Go ahead and check your Siri settings. Are you running Siri AI? Let us know in the comments below.
Wait for it…
I fell into a little waiting list dance. The button didn’t say “Click to join the waiting list.” It said, “Try Siri”. But still, I jumped through the hoop.
I wasn’t thrilled to sign off on “Help improve the foundation models and Siri by allowing Apple to collect and use your text and audio interactions with Siri, dictation and translation.”
But heck, I use ChatGPT, Meta AI, and Gemini. Plus, I lived my life on the Internet. It’s not like my bytes aren’t mostly public. Plus, Apple is much less data-predatory than Google, and I run all my email through Gmail. So, good. I said, “Yes.”
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Then, finding out that I don’t see access anytime soon, I have myself the second cup of coffee that my soul so viscerally loves.
I had left my phone on, still open to the Siri screen sitting next to my computer. By the time I returned with the holy brew, I saw this.
Hmm… That was fast. It took all of 11 minutes.
So, is Siri AI better?
Well, here’s a bit of a bummer. Instead of the pretty glow around the phone, now when you say “Hey Siri” you get a bubble that looks more like a time travel distortion than an indicator that a helpful assistant is waiting for input. But, heck, one doesn’t question Apple’s design decisions, does one?
In any case, the real question is whether Siri AI is better? And yes, it is. Mostly.
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Having just finished the fourth season of Ted Lasso (which I really enjoyed), I asked, “Is there going to be a season 5 of Ted Lasso?” The old Siri (on the left) doesn’t even seem to know about Season 4 (which went on to run on, wait for it, Apple TV+). But Siri AI did it, and it was right about the current known status.
Apparently, Siri AI has a long way to catch up. When I asked old Siri, “What devices are connected to the phone’s Bluetooth?” I got the bluetooth toggle. When I asked Siri AI the same question, it told me it couldn’t get the Apple TV status. So, yes.
But then the AI redeemed itself with the last two answers.
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When I asked Old Siri, “What’s the difference between VA and Watts?” it just didn’t understand and sent me to ChatGPT. The new Siri AI responded and gave me a short but precise answer.
Finally, I gave Siri AI a typical tech-related question like asking Gemini or ChatGPT. In this case, it was this brilliant piece of prose.
In tree structures, where the root is at the top or concentrated, we talk about terms for the children and siblings of a parent. The siblings could be called a list and the children could also be called subordinates. What are other terms that can be called the immediate lower set of branches of a node?
The old Siri interrupted me after the first sentence and gave me a useless, misinterpreted answer. New Siri AI listened to the entire query and gave me another short but accurate answer.
If Siri is for you…
So, if Siri is still there for you and you’re running iOS 27, you might not actually be using Siri AI. Go ahead and click Settings > Siri and ask for the beta.
The Internet suggests users will get beta access within anywhere from 15 minutes to four days. I received mine within a few minutes, so it’s definitely worth the click.
While Siri still can’t do some things on the phone that I’d like (like listing my Bluetooth-connected devices), it’s clearly better at other requests.
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