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ZDNET's key takeaways
- Siri AI is available by waitlist on supported beta device.
- It's more useful than old Siri, but still makes mistakes.
- Apple needs to improve accuracy and conversation flow.
As an iPhone and Mac user, I've often complained about the many faults and flaws of Siri. That's why I've been anxious to check out the new Siri AI that Apple touted at WWDC 2026 earlier this month.
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Available by waitlist for supported devices with the 27 developer beta, the new Siri promises to be more conversational, more responsive, and less error-prone. Is that the case? That's what I wanted to find out.
To try the new Siri, you need to surmount a few barriers.
How to join the new Siri waitlist on a Mac
First, your iPhone, iPad, or Mac not only needs to support version 27 of its respective OS, but also must support Apple Intelligence. To see which devices fit the bill, check out my story "Will your iPhone support Siri AI? The answer is complicated."
Second, you need to install the developer beta. Since these types of betas can be unstable, I strongly advise installing it on a spare device, not your main or go-to one. I have a spare iPhone 15 Pro and a spare MacBook Air M1 that I use for this kind of testing.
Also: How to try the new Siri AI - join the waitlist today
Third, you'll have to join a waitlist. For that, go to Settings (System Settings on a Mac), select the setting for Siri, and then tap the button for Turn Siri On. A message will tell you that you'll be notified when the new Siri is available for your device. And then be prepared to wait.
I joined the waitlist on my iPhone last week and am still waiting. On my Mac, though, I was able to get access without waiting too long. And that's where I've been trying out Siri AI to see how it performs.
If your Mac meets all the criteria, you can access Siri AI a few different ways, including the new dedicated Siri AI app.
How to use the new Siri on a Mac
If voice activation is enabled, just say "Hey Siri" or "Siri" and start speaking your request. Alternatively, click the Siri AI app icon on the Dock. The Siri AI app then pops up, letting you type or speak your request.
Also: Everything announced at Apple WWDC 2026 - including Siri, iOS 27 dev beta, and more
Press the Command key twice, and a small text window appears in which you can type your question to Siri. Press the Command key and the spacebar to launch the familiar Spotlight search window, only now you can search by asking Siri to find something. Right-click on a window or other item, and the pop-up menu includes an option to Ask Siri.
To put Siri AI through its paces, I posed general and specific questions, told it to find certain files on my computer, and tried to engage it in back-and-forth conversations.
How I tested the new Siri on a Mac
Along the way, I wanted to see if the new Siri could avoid the pitfalls of the old Siri. Keep in mind that this is an early flavor of Siri AI courtesy of the first developer beta, so there are bound to be bugs in it. But Apple still has several months to fine-tune it in time for its expected public release in September.
Also: The two biggest iOS 27 features at WWDC for me had nothing to do with Siri AI
Here are the questions I asked, the conversations I kicked off, and how Siri AI responded.
First up, the new Siri does work like ChatGPT, Gemini, and other chatbots in many ways. But in contrast, it's less chatty and more direct. Here I started off by asking Siri what's new. Instead of engaging in personal chit-chat, it gave me a rundown of the latest news stories. Clearly, Apple is treating Siri AI more as an intelligent assistant and less like a chat buddy.
Next, I gave Siri a general question: Why did the Roman Empire fall? Here, it provided a short explanation that it read to me, followed by a series of bullet-point causes. The response was short, about the same length as I'd get with another AI. Siri also cited the sources it consulted, with links I could open to check them.
Also: Can Google save Apple AI? Gemini to power a new, personalized Siri
Here, I told Siri that I had $2,000 to spend on a laptop and that I value keyboard quality and battery life more than performance. I asked what I should buy. In response, Siri linked me to a few articles and social media posts about laptops but didn't give me its own opinion or even summarize the information it found. I then asked it to summarize the info and give me its own opinion, which it did. Disappointing at first, but my follow-up question coaxed Siri to serve up a better response.
Next up, I wanted to see if the new Siri could locate specific information. I asked it to find all photos of the statue of Abraham Lincoln in my Photos library. Here, Siri found only three photos, while my library actually contained six photos that matched. I'm not sure what criteria it used to find them or why it missed three of them. I also asked it to find several other photos based on specific details. The problem was the same. It found some but not all.
Like most AIs, Siri is able to analyze files that you upload. For this test, I uploaded a photo of a painting by Toulouse-Lautrec and asked it to identify the name and artist and give me some background on it. But here, Siri dropped the ball. It provided the wrong name both for the painting and the artist. I tried again with a different painting. This time, Siri got the correct artist but misidentified the name of the painting. I tried one more time with a different painting, a popular one by Van Gogh. Siri finally got it right.
Next, I told Siri that my cat Mr. Giggles sometimes won't eat his usual food and I'm not sure what else to try. I asked it to offer suggestions, to which it provided some clear and helpful advice. Siri also asked me whether my cat typically eats wet or dry food. After I responded to that question, Siri provided more information.
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The info provided was solid, but this type of conversation mode was awkward to use. Instead of Siri keeping the communication open, the AI seemed to stop listening after each response. I had to click the microphone icon each time I wanted to speak. Overall, the chat lacked the back-and-forth fluidity that I've experienced with other AIs.
I next wanted to see how Siri would deal with content on the screen. I right-clicked on one of my ZDNET stories, chose the Ask Siri option, and asked it to summarize the story on the screen. Here, the phrasing of my request was key.
Initially, I asked it to summarize the story, which it didn't seem to understand. Then I asked it to summarize what it saw on the screen, but for that, it summarized only the text visible on the screen. By finally telling it to summarize the story on the screen, Siri AI was able to provide a concise but helpful summary of all the key points throughout the entire story. Clearly, how you phrase your request makes a difference.
Finally, Siri AI works like other AI apps in that it keeps track of your conversations and syncs them across all your Apple devices. To test this, I right-clicked a previous chat, triggering a pop-up menu. From there, I could rename the conversation, pin it, open it in a new window, or delete it.
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I also tried resuming a past chat. Specifically, I told Siri that it was wrong when it gave me the name and artist for a Toulouse-Lautrec painting. The AI tried again to identify it but was still mistaken. I had to tell it that the painting was by Toulouse-Lautrec. Only then was it able to identify the name of the painting and provide background on it.
Overall, I certainly found the new Siri AI an improvement over the old Siri. But I was disappointed by the incorrect or inaccurate answers it gave me. Plus, engaging in a back-and-forth conversation was clumsier than it should be.
But again, this is just the initial version of Siri AI in the first developer beta. Clearly, Apple has much more work to do before Siri AI is ready for the public. And, despite the hiccups, I think it's off to a promising start.
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