Apple is working on an AI-powered search feature for Siri – but it might need Google’s help to make it happen, according to a report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. As noted by Gurman, Google is currently in the lead to help Apple revamp its voice assistant, which could involve using a custom Gemini model running on the iPhone maker’s servers.
The new feature, reportedly called “World Knowledge Answers” internally, will allow users to search for information and receive AI-generated summaries based on results from the web. Its interface will also incorporate text, photos, videos, and points of interest, allowing it to challenge the AI-powered search features from companies like OpenAI and Perplexity.
Putting AI search into Siri is part of Apple’s delayed plans to upgrade the voice assistant with new features that will let it tap into your personal data and perform actions based on the content on your screen. The new Siri will reportedly work by leveraging a planner, which helps interpret voice or text prompts, a search system to scan user data or the internet, and a summarizer to package all of this information for users.
This week, Apple and Google reached a “formal agreement” for Apple to test a Google-designed AI model for Siri’s summaries, according to Bloomberg. Apple reportedly plans to use its own AI models to search user data, but it’s still evaluating Anthropic’s Claude and Gemini for Siri’s planning function.
Even though Apple’s set to take the wraps off its iPhone 17 lineup next week, the company is expected to launch the AI-upgraded Siri alongside iOS 26.4 as early as next March.
