Apple made its strongest push yet into the AI assistant market on Monday at its Worldwide Developers Conference, unveiling Siri AI — a revamped version of the company’s digital assistant — while Chief Executive Tim Cook said farewell in what is expected to be his last keynote before stepping down in September.
The new Siri AI will work across Apple products and apps and accompany a new standalone app similar to those offered by OpenAI and Anthropic, the company said. Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering, said during the keynote that the redesigned assistant would draw from a user’s past interactions, an understanding of images, and “broad-world knowledge” to serve as a more capable and conversational tool.
“We believe that truly helpful AI must be centered around you and your needs,” Federighi said, adding that the new experience was designed with privacy in mind “at every step.”
Federighi leveled an unusual public critique of industry approaches to AI, saying the company rejected “AI for the sake of AI without considering the people it’s supposed to be able to serve.”
Apple has faced criticism that it lags behind technology rivals including Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI in the AI race. Earlier this year, the company partnered with Google to build Apple Foundation Models based on Google’s Gemini models and cloud technology, as MSI previously reported. A beta version of Siri AI will be released later this year for supported devices set to English, though Apple said it will not be available in the European Union.
“Over the past several months, EU regulators did not accept any of Apple’s proposed solutions to bring Siri AI to the EU while safely supporting other virtual assistants,” Apple said in a news release Monday.
“Apple had to address its shortcomings in AI, and WWDC provided some answers,” said Ben Wood, chief analyst at the industry analyst firm FDM CCS Insight. “The company must now prove that its privacy-led, integration-first approach can translate into a meaningfully better everyday experience, not just parity with rivals.”
“Whether it has succeeded or not will come down to user reaction when new capabilities are in their hands,” Wood added.
Apple also detailed changes to its trust and safety initiatives as part of iOS 27. The company said it will expand its parental “ask” feature, requiring approval before a child can converse with an unknown person. Apple also said it will automatically censor any image sent to a known child’s device if the system flags it as potentially inappropriate for sexual or violent content.
Federighi said Apple was providing “powerful, easy to use tools to manage what kids can see, who they talk to and when they have access.”
A small group of protesters gathered outside Apple Park early Monday before the keynote to criticize Apple’s approach to child safety in its App Store. Sarah Gardner of the HEAT Initiative, an advocacy group, chained herself to a tree in front of the Apple visitors center as she demanded Apple remove all “nudification” technology from its App Store. Gardner also asked that Apple take down all child sexual abuse material from iCloud, saying the company has made at least $177 million from sexually explicit AI deepfake apps.
Earlier Monday, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a speech that he was demanding tech companies including Apple and Google block access to naked images on smartphones and other devices for anyone under 18.
Cook’s appearance at WWDC marked his last as CEO — a role he took over after Apple co-founder Steve Jobs stepped down for health reasons shortly before his death in 2011. Cook has held the job for 15 years. Thousands of Apple employees and developers in the audience at Apple Park greeted him with a standing ovation.
“I’ve never seen so many iPhones before!” Cook joked.
Cook appeared to get emotional at various points as he bid farewell. “I’ve loved hearing your stories and hearing how you’re enriching the lives of so many people around the world,” he told developers in the audience before thanking members of Apple staff. “Your imagination and ingenuity have inspired me for the last 15 years and I’m deeply grateful to have been on this journey with you.”
Cook called it the “honour of a lifetime” to serve as head of the company.
His replacement, John Ternus — whose appointment as next CEO was previously covered by MSI — did not speak during the main keynote but was seated in the front row next to Cook at a media briefing on the new Siri AI features. On Sunday evening, Ternus greeted attendees at a welcome reception that analysts described as effectively his coming-out party.
“WWDC 2026 gives Ternus a clear strategic runway: more personal devices, more contextual software, more intelligent services and a tighter link between silicon, hardware and AI,” said Francisco Jeronimo, VP for data and analytics at the market intelligence firm IDC EMEA. “If Apple delivers the experience with the reliability, elegance and trust users expect, this could be remembered as the moment Siri and Apple Intelligence moved from the background of Apple’s ecosystem to the centre of its future.”