I compared Siri AI to Gemini on Android — and Apple actually understands what most people want from AI

Since 2011, journalist Lance Ulanoff has had a love-hate relationship with Siri, Apple's digital assistant that debuted alongside the iPhone 4S. At first, Ulanoff found Siri useful, asking it for facts, jokes, weather updates and even sending messages. However, as time passed, the novelty wore off and Ulanoff found himself using Siri less and less.

Apple's latest update to Siri AI, unveiled in June, touts the assistant as smarter and with new features, but Ulanoff was initially skeptical, remembering Apple's previous promises of an enhanced Siri that never materialized. After installing Siri AI on various Apple devices, Ulanoff began using it via the Spotlight shortcut and a dedicated Siri chatbot app.

He compared Siri's responses with those from Gemini, Google's AI, and found the results lacking in comparison. Initially, Siri AI didn't offer an option to choose an AI model, which frustrated Ulanoff, who was accustomed to selecting between Gemini's various models for different purposes. However, after using the iOS 27 update on an iPhone 17 Pro Max, Ulanoff found himself using Siri AI more frequently, appreciating the simplicity of the app and not having to worry about model selection.

Apple routes Siri AI queries through multiple on-device and cloud models without revealing the specific ones, allowing users to simply ask a question and receive an answer. Ulanoff notes that while Google's Gemini on Android is more customizable, Apple's approach of integrating Siri AI across all iOS devices provides a seamless experience for the majority of users.