Apple eyes AI boost with Anthropic or OpenAI as it rethinks Siri’s future

The iPhone maker has talked with both companies about using their large language models for Siri, according to people familiar with the discussions. It had asked them to train versions of their models that could run on Apple’s cloud infrastructure for testing, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations.

If Apple ultimately moves forward, it would represent a monumental reversal. The company currently powers most of its AI features with home-grown technology that it calls Apple Foundation Models and had been planning a new version of its voice assistant that runs on that technology for 2026.

A switch to Anthropic’s Claude or OpenAI’s ChatGPT models for Siri would be an acknowledgment that the company is struggling to compete in generative AI – the most important new technology in decades. Apple already allows ChatGPT to answer web-based search queries in Siri, but the assistant itself is powered by Apple.

Apple’s investigation into third-party models was at an early stage, and the company had not made a final decision on using them, the people said. A competing project internally dubbed LLM Siri that uses in-house models remains in active development.

Making a change – which is under discussion for next year – could allow Cupertino, California-based Apple to offer Siri features on par with AI assistants on Android phones, helping the company shed its reputation as an AI laggard.