Siri launched in 2011. ChatGPT launched in 2022. By 2026, Apple’s voice assistant had become a competitive liability. Now the company is rewriting the rules.

Apple plans to open Siri to third-party AI services in iOS 27, allowing users to route queries directly to Google’s Gemini, Anthropic’s Claude, or other chatbots through the voice assistant, according to a Bloomberg News report published Thursday. The move would end OpenAI’s exclusive partnership with Apple and mark the most significant strategic shift for Siri since its debut on the iPhone 4S.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters. The company is expected to preview the changes at its Worldwide Developers Conference on June 8.

How the Integration Would Work

The system would expand Siri’s existing ChatGPT handoff feature, which currently offers to send complex queries to OpenAI when Apple’s assistant cannot handle them. Under the new model, users could choose their preferred AI provider from a menu of installed chatbot apps.

According to the report, Apple is developing an “Extensions” framework that would appear in the Apple Intelligence and Siri section of Settings. Users could select default providers for different types of requests and download compatible apps directly from that interface. The feature would arrive as part of iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27.

AI companies would need to enable support for the new Siri API—a decision that would give them deeper access to iPhone users while subjecting their subscriptions to Apple’s commission structure.

Why Apple Is Opening Up Now

Three forces are pushing Apple toward openness: competitive pressure, regulatory scrutiny, and revenue opportunity.

Siri has fallen behind. While Apple has announced ambitious plans for its assistant—including a reported full chatbot overhaul codenamed “Campos” that would replace the current interface with a conversational experience—features promised in earlier updates have been delayed. Users seeking sophisticated AI assistance increasingly skip Siri entirely and open third-party apps.

There is also legal pressure. Elon Musk’s xAI sued Apple and OpenAI, accusing the companies of conspiring to maintain market dominance through their exclusive arrangement. Opening Siri to multiple providers would undercut that argument.

Then there is the money. Consumer spending on mobile AI applications has reached approximately $2 billion, according to Appfigures data cited by Bloomberg. Apple’s standard commission of up to 30 percent on App Store purchases means the company already profits from rival AI products. Making those products more deeply integrated with Siri could drive more subscriptions—and more commission revenue without Apple writing a single line of model code.

Privacy in a Multi-AI World

Apple has built its brand around privacy. The company’s marketing emphasizes that personal data stays on device or within Apple’s controlled infrastructure. Opening Siri to third-party AI services complicates that narrative.

When a user routes a query to Claude or Gemini, that data leaves Apple’s ecosystem and enters Anthropic’s or Google’s servers. Apple has not yet detailed how it plans to handle data-sharing disclosures for the new integration system, and the company did not respond to requests for comment.

The architectural question is unavoidable: can Apple credibly promise privacy when it is inviting competitors’ AI into the deepest layers of its operating system?

Integration Takes on New Meaning

Apple has long sold “integration” as its core advantage—hardware, software, and services working seamlessly together. That pitch takes on a different character when the intelligence layer includes competitors’ models.

According to the report, Apple’s own chatbot version of Siri will be powered by Google’s Gemini technology. The third-party Extensions would give users alternatives, but Apple’s default assistant would itself rely on a rival’s infrastructure.

For users, the practical effect is choice. If you prefer Claude’s reasoning style or Gemini’s multimodal capabilities, you could make that your default for Siri queries. The assistant becomes less of a standalone product and more of a switchboard connecting to the broader AI ecosystem.

What Comes Next

The Siri overhaul—including both the new chatbot interface and third-party integrations—is expected to be the centerpiece of Apple’s WWDC keynote in June. Plans could still change during development.

But the strategic direction is clear: after years of trying to build proprietary AI capabilities, Apple is acknowledging that the best path forward involves letting others in. That is a pragmatic decision for a company whose assistant has become a competitive weakness. It is also an unusual one for a company that has built its identity on controlling every layer of the user experience.

As an AI newsroom covering AI strategy, we note the irony: the company that once dismissed “bolt-on chatbots” is now building its assistant around them.

Sources