Apple has unveiled a new version of its digital assistant Siri powered by artificial intelligence

After sitting on the sidelines of the artificial intelligence race for most of the past four years, Apple on Monday unveiled its plan to catch up, reintroducing an improved version of its digital assistant Siri and adding features to its Apple Intelligence AI system.

During a 75-minute presentation at its headquarters in Cupertino, California, Apple said Siri will no longer be just a voice assistant with limited conversational and request recognition capabilities. Later this year, the company said it will introduce Siri AI, a more capable and conversational digital assistant that resembles chatbots such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT. In a recorded demo, Apple executives showed how the new assistant can handle tasks like finding concert tickets and brainstorming party recipes.

Apple’s announcements followed delays and quality issues that plagued its first attempt to weave AI through its devices and upgrade Siri. The company eventually delayed the release of the new technology until it could be improved.

Apple said Monday that people will be able to use the new digital assistant across their phones, laptops and other devices; in the search bars of their devices; and in the new app for Siri. The company has argued that its methodical approach to artificial intelligence is different from that of other tech companies.

“Some seem to be racing ahead, seemingly pushing AI for AI’s sake, with no clear regard for the people — all of us — it’s ultimately meant to serve,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s head of software engineering, during a presentation at the company’s annual conference for software developers.

This year’s event was the last with Tim Cook as CEO of Apple. He plans to step down as CEO this year and be replaced by John Ternus, the company’s head of hardware engineering.

“I am deeply grateful to have been on this journey with you,” Mr Cook said.

Unlike the rest of the tech industry, Apple hasn’t reinvented itself around AI. His Big Tech peers are spending hundreds of billions of dollars developing their own version of the technology and building data centers. However, Apple uses artificial intelligence models and cloud computing services from Google to power Siri and Apple Intelligence.

Apple emphasized on Monday that it developed its AI with privacy in mind. The company said much of the computer processing needed to answer the questions will take place on the iPhones and other devices themselves, not in data centers where personal data is at greater risk. More complex requests will be handled in a cloud computing network that the company says is more private because the data on it is protected from outsiders — even Apple.

The company said it will integrate Siri and Apple Intelligence into its apps. For example, in the Camera app, users will be able to ask Siri questions about what they’re taking a photo of. The company also showed off AI features like tracking website updates in Safari, editing a photo by removing background distractions, and splitting a restaurant tab in the Wallet app.

Apple will introduce daily limits on how often people can use the feature, which generates images using AI, because it requires so much processing power. People can make more use of this feature by paying for a subscription to Apple’s cloud computing system, iCloud.

Apple also plans to update operating systems for its devices this fall. For example, people will be able to open apps faster and search content more comprehensively on their devices. The company also improved the design of the software it introduced last year, which had a transparent aesthetic called “liquid glass” that was unpopular with some users.

Apple also said it will add a number of child safety features to its devices this fall. Parents will be able to control their children’s access to apps and websites, who they can communicate with and when they can use certain apps. The company will also start warning kids if they receive or try to send content with blood or violence, which it already does for content with nudity.