Texas · GA Daily PostZDNET’s key takeaways Your iPhone’s glowing Siri interface could be fooling you. Updating to iOS 27 doesn’t mean you have Siri AI. The new Siri gives better answers, but it’s not perfect.
Apple’s hype machine has been telling 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. Also: Apple’s HomeView won’t replace my Echoes anytime soon: 6 reasons why After updating to iOS 27 (I’m running 27.0.1), Siri has pretty much been the same old Siri.
Sure, my phone glowed all around the screen when I made a Siri request. But I didn’t see any improvement in the quality of its responses. As best as I could tell, the new Siri AI was a swing and a miss.
More from ZDNET But here’s the hidden secret: I wasn’t running Siri AI on iOS 27. And you’re probably not. This morning, I wanted to update my phone’s wallpaper with yet another unbearably cute picture of my very good boy, Pixel.
Running on just half a cup of coffee, I accidentally tapped “Siri” in my iPhone settings instead of “Wallpaper.” Also: Meta Muse is the worst AI agent for privacy – and I’ve tried them all I haven’t had much reason to visit the Siri setting, but that’s where I’m pointing you. And today, I noticed this. Wanna try Siri AI?
Sure. I knew you would. Screenshot by David Gewirtz/ZDNET So, although a big part of Apple’s iOS 27 hype centered on Siri, it isn’t fully baked and wasn’t 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 got dropped into a little waitlist dance. The button didn’t say “Click to join waitlist.” It said, “Try Siri”.
But still, I jumped through the hoops. No Siri AI for you. At least not yet.
Screenshot by David Gewirtz/ZDNET I wasn’t thrilled signing off to “Help improve foundation models and Siri by allowing Apple to collect and use your text and audio interactions with Siri, Dictation, and Translate.” But heck, I’m using ChatGPT, Meta AI , and Gemini . Plus, I’ve lived my life on the internet. It’s not like my bytes aren’t mostly public anyway.
Plus, Apple’s far less data-predatory than Google, and I run all my email through Gmail. So, fine. I said, “Yes.” Also: The best and worst AI for your privacy, ranked Then, figuring I wouldn’t see access anytime soon, I got myself that second cup of coffee my soul craved so viscerally.
I had left my phone on, still open to the Siri screen sitting next to my computer. By the time I got back with the sacred brew, I saw this. Yep.
Life doesn’t get better than this. Screenshot by David Gewirtz/ZDNET Hmm... That was quick.
It took all of 11 minutes. So, is Siri AI better? Well, here’s a bit of a bummer.
Instead of the pretty glow all around the phone, now when you say “Hey Siri,” you get a bubble that looks more like 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? Siri AI looks like a time bubble.
Screenshot by David Gewirtz/ZDNET In any case, the real question is whether Siri AI is any better? And yeah, it is. Mostly.
Also: Microsoft’s new Copilot app puts everything in one place – but the price is ‘evolving’ Having just finished watching the fourth season of Ted Lasso (which I really enjoyed), I asked, “Is there going to be a Season 5 of Ted Lasso?” Old Siri (on the left) didn’t seem to even know about Season 4 (which ran on, wait for it, Apple TV+ ). But Siri AI did, and it was correct about the currently known status. Maybe next year, but at least Siri AI knows there was a fourth season.
Screenshot by David Gewirtz/ZDNET Apparently, Siri AI has a long way to go to achieve sentience. When I asked Old Siri, “What devices are connected to this phone’s Bluetooth?” I was given the Bluetooth toggle. When I asked Siri AI the same question, it told me it couldn’t get Apple TV’s status.
So, yeah. Siri is missing the point here. Screenshot by David Gewirtz/ZDNET But then the AI redeemed itself with the last two answers.
Also: Nearly 70% of workers use AI regularly now – but many get no time to upskill When I asked Old Siri, “What’s the difference between VA and Watts?” it just plain didn’t understand and sent me to ChatGPT. The new Siri AI answered and gave me a short but accurate answer. Old Siri sent me to ChatGPT.
New Siri had an answer. Screenshot by David Gewirtz/ZDNET Finally, I gave Siri AI a typical tech-related question, like I ask Gemini or ChatGPT. In this case, it was this scintillating piece of prose.
In tree structures where the root is at the top or outlines, let’s discuss 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 the immediately lower set of branches of a node can be called?
Old Siri interrupted me after the first sentence and gave me a useless, misinterpreted answer. New Siri AI listened to the whole prompt and gave me another short but accurate answer. Branches mean different things to different people.
Siri AI figured out the context. Screenshot by David Gewirtz/ZDNET If Siri sucks for you... So, if Siri still sucks for you and you’re running iOS 27, you might not actually be using Siri AI.
Go ahead and click Settings > Siri and request the beta. The internet suggests users get beta access within anywhere from 15 minutes to four days. I got mine within a few minutes, so it’s certainly worth the click.
While Siri still can’t do some on-phone things I’d like (like listing my Bluetooth-connected devices), it’s clearly better at other queries. You can follow my day-to-day project updates on social media. Be sure to subscribe to my weekly update newsletter , and follow me on Twitter/X at @DavidGewirtz , on Facebook at Facebook.com/DavidGewirtz , on Instagram at Instagram.com/DavidGewirtz , on Bluesky at @DavidGewirtz.com , and on YouTube at YouTube.com/DavidGewirtzTV .
David Gewirtz Senior Contributing Editor Computer science professor turned AI innovator David Gewirtz has spent over thirty years driving advancements at the forefront of artificial intelligence and is the recipient of the Sigma Xi Research Award in Engineering. He wrote a pioneering analysis that helped shape the early conversation around AI ethics. He was also a pioneer in the commercializing of AI products, including AI languages and knowledge-based systems.
He is the designer of the Al Editor, an experimental artificial intelligence engine for parsing, classifying, and identifying news stories. David is a member of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence. He currently serves on the Artificial Intelligence Threat and Mitigation Cross-Sector Council (AI CSC) for InfraGard, a partnership between the FBI and industry leaders for the protection of U.S.
Critical Infrastructure. He is the author of Where Have All the Emails Gone?, as well as How To Save Jobs and The Flexible Enterprise. See full bio The Latest from David I thought I had the new Siri AI in iOS 27 – until I found it hidden in my settings How I used ChatGPT to talk me through fixing a corrupted gaming PC – literally Apple’s HomeView won’t replace my Echoes anytime soon: 6 reasons why
Source: ZDNET
