CUPERTINO, Calif. — Apple began rolling out iOS 27 to compatible iPhones on Monday, delivering the long-delayed overhaul of Siri that the company first promised more than two years ago, alongside companion updates to watchOS, iPadOS and visionOS that extend the same artificial intelligence push across Apple's broader device lineup.

The update arrives just ahead of this week's release of the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, and marks the first major software launch under Apple's new chief executive, John Ternus, who formally took over from Tim Cook on September 1. Cook, who led Apple for just over 15 years, has moved into the role of executive chairman of the company's board.

The headline feature across all four operating systems is Siri AI, a rebuilt version of Apple's voice assistant that the company first announced at its Worldwide Developers Conference in 2024 before delaying the release in early 2025. Built using Apple's own foundation models developed in collaboration with Google's Gemini technology, Siri AI is designed to hold actual conversations rather than respond to isolated commands, allowing users to ask natural follow-up questions without needing to rephrase earlier requests. The new assistant draws on a person's own device data, including text messages, emails and calendar appointments, to answer more specific questions, such as locating an address buried in a group chat or pulling up a recipe shared over email months earlier.

Siri AI is being released as a beta, and Apple says users must opt in........

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