Apple’s iOS 18.1 brings noticeable Siri improvements on supported devices, but the changes are not yet revolutionary enough to compete with other AI chatbots.
Apple Intelligence debuted this week with iOS 18.1, adding a slew of generative AI smarts to long-standing features, like Siri.
Apple’s digital assistant is no longer a pulsing ball at the base of the screen. Instead, it’s a multi-colored, neon glow around the edges, which you can interact with in two new ways: Pressing the lock button or a new text-to-Siri option.
How do responses from an Apple Intelligence Siri differ from the standard Siri? Apple says it can now understand you even if you stumble over your words. It can also field follow-up questions without you needing to repeat the premise of the conversation.
Did Apple succeed? We tested the Siri’s new features on an iPhone 15 Pro equipped with Apple Intelligence, and compared the performance to the old Siri on an iPhone 13, which lacks the advanced chip required to run the latest AI. 1. Apple-Specific Knowledge
Apple trained the new Siri on a trove of device-specific questions, and delivered on that promise. Here’s how the new and old Siri responded to the following questions:
How do I use Apple CarPlay?
How do I stop seeing messages from unknown senders?
The new Siri surfaced a concise summary of the directions, which we preferred over the list of links the old Siri provided. The new Siri also surfaced the information without speaking out loud, whereas the old one added an unnecessary voiceover: “Here’s what I found on the web about Apple CarPlay.” Both devices are set to have Siri decide when to speak and when to hold back, and the new Siri seems to prioritize silence. 2. Stumbling Over Your Words
The new Siri should not get thrown off course when you backtrack on a sentence, or throw in an “um”, “like”, or, “no wait, not that one.” It seemed to perform much better in this regard than the old Siri on the following questions.
“What’s the weather like, or actually, what’s the average age in New York City?”
“What’s the longest river, I mean highway, in the US?”
On both questions, the new Siri adjusted to my mid-sentence correction, while the old one did not.
