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Siri AI Helped Me Avoid Eating Diarrhea Lettuce

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Why This Matters

The evolution of Siri AI demonstrates significant advancements in digital assistant capabilities, offering more personalized and context-aware assistance that can impact daily decision-making and productivity. This progress highlights the increasing integration of AI into consumer devices, shaping how users interact with technology and access information. As Siri becomes more intelligent and helpful, it underscores the importance of privacy and data access considerations for both consumers and the industry.

Key Takeaways

Siri AI is good.

I've been hesitant to say as much over the past weeks of testing because, for 15 years, I've had Siri disabled on my iPhone. When the digital assistant debuted on the iPhone 4S, I was working at an Apple retail store in Chicago and remember seeing Siri's potential. I envisioned being like Spock from Star Trek and asking my iPhone questions, ordering it to do tasks or finding creative shortcuts to make my life easier.

Year after year, basic functions worked, to a point, but Siri's full potential never materialized. Every so often, when Apple would make an improvement or add more capabilities, I'd turn Siri back on, only to be disappointed, then disable it again.

Siri AI is different.

It's a lot more like that computer from Star Trek, but in 2026, that's not nearly as impressive as it would have been in 2011, because other AI assistants like Gemini already have similar abilities. Siri AI's special sauce is that it has access (once you opt-in) to your iPhone's email, photos, calendars, texts, notes and more. It's also able to answer questions that you'd normally search for on the internet or ask about with another AI service.

I'm just here to help you get things done. Siri AI (on my iPhone)

In my testing, Siri AI excels at finding info, whether it's buried in a text thread or in a food pic (it can tell me a food's nutritional value from a photo). It's gifted at taking action on my behalf, like rescheduling an event without opening my calendar, or pulling up one of the 13,742 pictures in my Photos app (don't judge me) when I ask. And whereas the old version of Siri would show web results for a topic, the new Siri explains and offers insight.

When I asked Siri whether lettuce was safe to eat, it said yes, but warned of a parasitic outbreak linked to lettuce in the US. I asked what happens if I got sick. "While I'm not a doctor," started Siri's reply, "the most common sign is frequent, watery diarrhea." So yeah, I'm not planning to buy lettuce anytime soon.

These very personal touches make Siri AI shine, especially compared with its prior obtuseness. I should note that I've been using an early version of Apple's improved assistant as part of the iOS 27 beta software preview. Siri AI will be released this fall, along with iOS 27.

Read more: Win a New Apple Watch in CNET Big Guessing Game Contest

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