Nearly two decades after creating Siri, its original founders believe Apple’s latest artificial intelligence upgrade is bringing the assistant closer to what they originally imagined.
Dag Kittlaus and Adam Cheyer, who founded Siri with Tom Gruber in 2007, initially wanted to build something much more capable than a tool that simply answered questions or set alarms. Their idea was to create what they called a “do engine,” an assistant that could help people actually accomplish tasks.
Apple’s latest Siri AI is moving in that direction by combining conversational abilities with deeper access to apps, personal information and what’s displayed on a user’s screen.
From Search Engine to “Do Engine”
When Siri was being developed, Kittlaus and Cheyer were thinking about how people might interact with computers beyond traditional web searches.
Their concept was straightforward. Search engines helped people find information, while Siri was intended to help them get things done.
The startup they created in 2007 grew from work connected to the Stanford Research Institute. Apple later acquired the company for more than $200 million, according to reports at the time, and introduced Siri with the iPhone 4S in 2011.
Yet the original vision remained difficult to achieve with the technology available at the time.
Apple Gives Siri a Major AI Upgrade
Apple’s new Siri AI, introduced alongside its 2027 software releases, has been rebuilt around Apple Intelligence.
The updated assistant can understand personal context, respond to questions using broader knowledge and interact with information displayed on a user’s screen. It can also perform actions across Apple’s apps and services.
For example, users can ask Siri to find information from messages, emails or photos, draft an email, edit photos or find information and add it to their calendar.
These capabilities bring the Siri AI vision closer to the type of assistant its creators had originally imagined.
Why the Change Took So Long
Kittlaus, who remained at Apple for a period after the acquisition, said Apple has traditionally concentrated heavily on its own products and launch cycles.
Meanwhile, the AI landscape changed dramatically after the arrival of modern generative AI systems. ChatGPT and competing assistants demonstrated how conversational AI could handle increasingly complicated requests.
Apple had also delayed its revamped Siri after previously announced features required more development time.
The Business Problem AI Assistants Could Create
Kittlaus and Cheyer see another challenge beyond the technology itself.
If AI assistants become capable of completing tasks directly, users may have less reason to open individual apps. Instead of opening a travel, shopping or restaurant application, for example, a person could eventually ask an AI assistant to complete the task on their behalf.
That could change how companies attract customers and how developers make money from their applications.
The founders therefore see the technology as only part of the larger transformation.
A More Personal Siri
Apple is also emphasizing privacy as it expands Siri’s capabilities. The company says its new AI architecture combines on-device processing with Private Cloud Compute, allowing certain requests to use cloud-based processing without storing users’ personal data.
The new Siri AI vision is therefore broader than simply making the assistant sound more conversational. Apple is trying to turn Siri into a system that understands context and takes action across the devices people already use.
Kittlaus and Cheyer believe Apple is well positioned to pursue that original idea. Whether Siri eventually becomes the fully capable “do engine” they imagined remains an open question.
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