Apple has presented during its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 2026) the most ambitious version of its virtual assistant: Siri AI, powered by generative artificial intelligence and Google Gemini models. The renewed assistant is capable of holding natural conversations, interpreting the context of applications such as mail and calendar, and answering complex queries with chain-of-thought reasoning. However, the company confirmed that Siri AI will not be available on iPhone and iPad devices within the European Union, arguing that the Digital Markets Act prevents it from meeting its privacy and security standards.
The decision has generated an intense debate about technological fragmentation and the right of European consumers to access the same innovations as the rest of the world. Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering, publicly regretted the exclusion and assured that the company continues to collaborate with regulators, although he offered no date for a possible unblocking. Siri AI will be available in the fall with iOS 27, iPadOS 27 and macOS 27 Golden Gate, initially only in English, and will also mark Tim Cook’s last WWDC as CEO before the handover to John Ternus next September.
