Has Apple actually delivered, or is it too little too late?

We’ve got a brand new Siri – Siri AI, and by all accounts, it is rather good.

But here’s the odd thing, I’m still not all that excited by it! It could be I’m simply an old-fashioned fart, but, as clever as I’m sure new Siri is, I still don’t get why I should be jumping up and down with unbridled joy.

Are the improvements they’re bragging about going to improve the quality of my life?

The jury is still out on that for me.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m delighted that Apple has licked their wounds, has come back fighting and has apparently delivered, but I think we all need to draw breath for just a moment and consider if this is the future we actually want?

Apple gave us two distinct messages at the recent keynote speech. We had the new and long-awaited Siri AI app and then the revitalised Apple Intelligence side of iOS27.

I want to take a look at both and give you my thoughts.

Apple Intelligence 2026 style

Apple knew they at least needed to be seen to have a foot in the AI space, if for no other reason than to prove they could get the job done.

In essence, Apple Intelligence is the kind of backroom engine that gets things done. It’s the glue that will pull everything together for the Siri AI app.

I think I have this right: the new Siri is really a glorified indexing model. iOS worked well enough over the years, but as AI took its grasp, the pitfalls in Apple’s OS were highlighted. Simply put, it wasn’t up to the task. It was based on decades-old technology and data and was found to be creaking at the joints under the demands that AI was putting on it.

Much of what will be shouted about over the next couple of weeks is that Siri can now pull data more reliably from your photos, mail, calendar, or messages app. You see what I mean, doesn’t that just sound like better index searching and not AI?

I stand to be corrected.

I may be one of the few who have only ever used the native Mac Mail and Apple Calendar apps, so I’m well aware of the shortfalls that both those apps have had in a decent, meaningful search facility. So if a working version of Apple Intelligence means that we finally get a search action that is comparable to Gmail, then I’ll be a happy man.

But of course, with the new, improved indexing ability working in the background, it means that the Siri AI app can flex and show off.

Although Siri AI is waiting to show off, I think we’re going to have to be patient to see the benefits of this new toy in action.

After we install iOS27, Apple Intelligence will have to index per device. In other words, I think it means that when we first install the new OS, it will have to run through years of data on our iPhones, Macs and iPads independently.

I have wondered what happens if you don’t use an app on a particular device – for example, photos on the iPad? Will that throw a curveball?

Your guess is as good as mine as to how long that will take – but I’d imagine it could be a tidy moment!

The other point that comes to my mind with this whole procedure is that Apple will very cleverly be tying you into staying a loyal Apple user, more than ever before.

The success of Siri AI depends on data that only Apple has access to, such as Photos, iMessage and Mail. That’s surely going to make you think twice before switching camps and moving to Android, isn’t it?

Apple may have been slow in coming to the AI party, but now that they have, they’ve been extremely clever in how they’ve gone about it. The Apple ecosystem just got even more real!

It may not be the best AI assistant out there, but I bet that it’ll be good enough for most people, and it will be simple and intuitive to use.

The uptake on iOS27 will be massive, I’m sure.

Siri flexing

So with Apple Intelligence having done all the hard work, the shiny new Siri AI app can stand up and dazzle.

The stand-alone app will be part of iOS27, and come September, everyone will have access to it, and I’m sure the columns will fill up again once the general public gets their hands on it for the first time.

After every keynote, I find myself thinking and wondering if I’m the odd one out! Some of the scenarios that they show us would never be of any realistic use to me, or possibly you, too.

For instance, let’s look at Shortcuts.

Sure, for too long now, Shortcuts have been clouded in mystery. I’ve dabbled with them, but without much joy and as such, I’ve never really bought into using them, even though I think that they may have their uses.

Now, though we can use natural speech to ask Siri to create a Shortcut. I’m sure a lot more of us will be more inclined to give them a go. But to highlight this great new feature, they showed us an example of a Shortcut that can message your partner to say you’re leaving work, give them an ETA and start to play a podcast or playlist.

Not in a million years would I ever be interested in that. And if I thought that little of my other half that I couldn’t be bothered to message her in the first place, that I was leaving work, then I think there would be other issues I need to fix in my life first!

You want what?

Then there’s this clamour to show how Siri can effortlessly organise our lives for us.

We can tell Siri we want pizza, and as if by magic, pizza will appear at our door. That may all be very clever, but I’d rather choose where the pizza came from for myself, thank you ever so much.

Take this situation as an example. I was in London with my daughter last week, and we fancied grabbing lunch. In this new era, we could have asked Siri to find us a place to eat, but the fun and some of the memories were from AJ and me walking through Maida Vale, looking at menus and popping our heads through the doors of various restaurants.

Do we really want Siri making decisions like that for us? If that’s AI, then you can keep it.

I want to control my life – I want to make the choices.

Virtually intelligent

I’m old enough to remember when calculators first became a thing, and the older folks back then warned that if we used them all the time, then we’d soon lose the ability to think for ourselves.

You know, maybe they were on to something, but this AI behemoth has raised the bar of that threat a fair few notches – and all at one go.

Some of the tweaks they’ve made in the latest OS make great sense. Take, for example, that the Visual Intelligence app is now part of the Camera app – I like that, that’s a logical move for good.

But now that Siri has Apple Intelligence running meaningfully in the background, it means that Visual Intelligence can look at a plate of food and tell you what you’re about to eat.

Stop me if I’ve got this wrong, but isn’t that what a menu is for? And please god no, don’t ever let it give me a calorie or nutrient breakdown on my meal. I’d actually like to enjoy my food rather than feeling guilty about every mouthful I’m about to eat.

Where Apple Intelligence and Siri play well together is with the smaller, non-headline features, like fixing compromised passwords in the background for you in the Passwords app, for example.

Now that’s the understated, useful side of AI that I like the sound of.

If you can get excited about grouping tabs in Safari, then you’re a better person than me. I come back to the point I made earlier, that I sometimes think it must just be me! I pretty much know what tabs I have open and just as importantly, why they’re open. Do I really need AI to group them for me?

Sometimes I think we’re creating solutions for problems that don’t exist.

The good and the bad

Two extremes for me highlighted the good and the bad of AI and iOS27.

Firstly, the bad. The AI-enhanced photo manipulation tools in the new Photo app look horrible – they’ve gone too far.

If you just want a snapshot of your kids, take the picture and be happy with the memory that you made. You were there; that moment will forever be yours. You’ll always be able to imagine where you were standing, the smells, the weather, and the atmosphere when you took that picture.

That’s what makes it priceless.

On the other hand, if you are trying to take a carefully framed and crafted photo, then take the time to do just that. Take the picture from a few angles, look back at what you’ve shot and adjust the shot you are about to take. Don’t make a bad picture good – take a good picture in the first place. That’s the art, challenge and fun of photography.

I’m not saying I’m anything special as a photographer, but what I can tell you is that the fun comes in finding the shot, setting it up right and then finding out how well, or badly, you did when you get back home and take the card out of the camera.

Every single photo I’ve shot and posted this year has a memory attached to it. I don’t want AI fixing my shortcomings – that’s down to me to get better.

Arms length

I know I’m not alone in seeing and feeling a pushback against the rapid march of an AI future.

Of course, we can’t put the genie back in the bottle, I realise that, but please let’s all just be a little bit more realistic about what help we need and how much we want our entire lives to be digitally dissected. If AI can take care of some truly mundane tasks, great – but after that, I’m happy to pick up the slack.

The memories I have from choosing that restaurant with my daughter and the pictures I’ve taken are priceless and ones I don’t want simplified, improved on or to be robbed of.

Our emotions, our memories and our feelings are what make us unique. How bloody boring would it be if we all ended up as digital clones following the advice of our chosen AI assistant?

I realise that AI can be a force for good, but recently it has seemed to me that there’s a swell of expectation for AI that I’m not a fan of.

It’s no surprise that the pushback I mentioned is stemming from the younger generations. They have the sense to be able to realise that their futures are at stake here. And what a sad future it would be if all they had to look forward to was asking Siri to do everything.

I’m glad, super happy in fact, that Apple is back on track, with its hardware, OS and AI, but forgive me if I don’t get too excited about what the AI part of it has to offer.

Every word you’ve read here has been thought of by me and then written and proofread by me. Would you rather that or that I ask an assistant to write a story for me in my style?

I love tech as much as the next person, but I also love thinking and the art of creating.

You may not agree with everything I’ve written, and in some respects, I hope you don’t, but here’s the thing: at least it’s me you’ll be disagreeing with!