Siri AI is the rebuilt version of Siri that Apple released on September 14, 2026 with iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, watchOS 27 and visionOS 27. It is powered by the next generation of Apple Intelligence (Apple Foundation Models 3) and adds personal-context understanding across Messages, Mail, Photos and Calendar, broad world knowledge, onscreen awareness, systemwide app actions, a dedicated Siri app with synced conversation history, Visual Intelligence through a new Siri mode in the Camera app, and a systemwide Write with Siri tool. It launched in beta in English, with French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish scheduled for October 2026.

Which AI models power Siri AI?

Siri AI runs on Apple's third-generation Apple Foundation Models. On device: AFM 3 Core (a ~3-billion-parameter dense model) and AFM 3 Core Advanced (natively multimodal, needs 12GB of unified memory). On Private Cloud Compute: AFM 3 Cloud, ADM 3 Cloud for image generation and editing, and AFM 3 Cloud Pro for agentic tool use and complex reasoning. For AFM 3 Cloud Pro, Apple extended Private Cloud Compute to NVIDIA GPUs running in Google Cloud under Apple's privacy guarantees; Apple's multi-year deal with Google also lets the Foundation Models draw on Gemini technology, though Apple ships them under its own AFM names.

Is Siri AI free, and are there usage limits?

Siri AI is included with a compatible device and iOS 27 at no extra charge as of September 2026. Apple states that features relying on server-side models, including Siri AI and intelligent photo editing, are subject to daily usage limits that may vary, and that expanded access will be offered for a fee in the future. Apple has not published the exact limits or the price of the paid tier.

Why is Siri AI not available in the EU?

As of September 14, 2026 Siri AI is not available on iOS 27, iPadOS 27 or watchOS 27 in the European Union because of regulatory requirements, and it does not work if the Apple Account region is mainland China. EU users can still get Siri AI on macOS 27 and visionOS 27 if their device and Siri language are set to English. Apple has not given a date for EU iPhone availability.

Quick Answer

What Is Siri AI? Apple's iOS 27 Assistant Explained (2026)

Published: September 15, 2026

The short answer

Siri AI is Apple’s ground-up rebuild of Siri, released September 14, 2026 as part of iOS 27 and the “next generation of Apple Intelligence.” After two years of delays, it is the version of Siri that finally does what the 2024 WWDC demo promised: it knows what is in your messages, mail and photos, sees what is on your screen, takes multi-step actions across apps, and answers general-knowledge questions like a chatbot. It ships in beta, in English only, on Apple Intelligence-capable devices.

What Siri AI can do (as of September 2026)

Apple’s launch announcement lists seven headline capabilities:

Capability	What it means in practice
Personal context	”When does my flight land?” pulls the answer from Mail; “add the appointment from Sarah’s text to my calendar” creates the event
World knowledge	General Q&A on virtually any topic, answered by Apple’s server models instead of a web hand-off
Onscreen awareness	Ask about, summarize or act on whatever is on screen on iPhone, iPad and Mac; on Vision Pro, look at an app window or a physical object and ask
Systemwide app actions	Draft an email, edit and share a photo, find a document — across Apple and third-party apps that adopt App Intents
Siri app	A dedicated app with conversation history, privately synced over iCloud, so a chat started on iPhone continues on Mac
Visual Intelligence	A new Siri mode in the iPhone Camera app (point at a festival poster, ask for set times, have Siri create calendar events); screenshot gesture on iPad; keyboard shortcut on Mac
Write with Siri	Systemwide drafting, editing and feedback in almost any text field; Smart Reply in Mail and Messages can mimic your writing style

Beyond Siri itself, the same release adds Spatial Reframing, Extend and an upgraded Clean Up tool in Photos, a photorealistic Image Playground (with upcoming SynthID watermark support), Safari tab grouping and “Notify Me” change alerts, Call Context in Phone, natural-language Shortcuts creation, and Home app video summaries. Audio Intelligence features for Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 (Sound Recognition, Live Rewind, Siri Recap) are scheduled for later in 2026.

The models behind it: Apple Foundation Models 3

Siri AI is the first product built on Apple’s third-generation foundation models, which Apple describes in a September 2026 machine-learning research post:

AFM 3 Core — the on-device ~3-billion-parameter dense model, upgraded for quality.
AFM 3 Core Advanced — Apple’s most capable on-device model, natively multimodal; it powers Expressive Voices and higher-accuracy dictation and requires at least 12GB of unified memory.
AFM 3 Cloud — the Private Cloud Compute (PCC) model tuned for speed and efficiency.
ADM 3 Cloud — the image model for Image Playground and the new Photos tools.
AFM 3 Cloud Pro — the largest server model, for agentic tool use and complex reasoning.

The notable infrastructure change: for AFM 3 Cloud Pro, Apple extended Private Cloud Compute to NVIDIA GPUs in Google Cloud, the first time PCC has run outside Apple’s own data centers. Apple says the same PCC guarantees apply (stateless computation, verifiable transparency, confidential computing on NVIDIA Blackwell hardware). This sits on top of the multi-year Apple–Google agreement announced at WWDC in June 2026, under which Apple Foundation Models draw on Gemini models and cloud technology. Apple does not brand any Siri AI feature as “Gemini”; the models ship as AFM.

Cost and limits

Siri AI is free with a compatible device. Two caveats from Apple’s own footnotes:

Daily usage limits. Features that rely on server-side models — Siri AI and intelligent photo editing are named explicitly — are subject to daily limits that “may vary.”
A paid tier is coming. Apple says expanded access to these features “will be available for a fee in the future.” No price or date has been announced as of September 15, 2026.

Availability and languages

Launch: September 14, 2026, in beta, English only.
Next languages: French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish “next month” (October 2026).
EU: not available on iOS 27, iPadOS 27 or watchOS 27 for EU-region Apple Accounts due to regulatory requirements; available on macOS 27 and visionOS 27 in the EU if device and Siri language are English.
Mainland China: does not work with a mainland-China Apple Account region.
Devices: iPhone 15 Pro and later, iPhone 16 and later, iPhone Air, iPhone Duo; M1-or-later iPads and Macs; iPad mini (A17 Pro); MacBook Neo (A18 Pro); all Vision Pro models. Advanced features (Expressive Voices, advanced dictation) need 12GB of memory — iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro/Pro Max, iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone Duo, M4+ iPads, M3+ Macs, Vision Pro (M5). Full list: Which devices support Siri AI.

How Siri AI relates to ChatGPT on iPhone

The ChatGPT extension that has lived in Settings → Apple Intelligence & Siri since iOS 18 remains. Siri AI now answers most general questions itself; the extension is still there for users who want ChatGPT specifically, and Siri can still suggest handing off when it judges ChatGPT would help. For a head-to-head on which assistant to reach for after iOS 27, see Siri AI vs ChatGPT vs Gemini on iPhone (September 2026).

What changed versus the June 2026 announcement

Apple previewed Siri AI at WWDC on June 8, 2026 and promised a fall release. The shipped version matches the preview closely; the details that were not public in June are the AFM 3 model names, the Google Cloud/NVIDIA extension of PCC, the explicit daily usage limits and the future paid tier, and the EU exclusion for iPhone and iPad.