Apple's big bet for 2026 isn't the new iPhones: it's this mix of Wikipedia, ChatGPT and Siri

Siri, Apple's voice assistant, has gone from being a household name to being exposed in just a few years with the emergence of alternatives like ChatGPT and Gemini. But what if Siri were to stop being an assistant and become a conversational encyclopedia?

That may ultimately be Apple's big plan for the coming years, even if it continues to introduce new iPhones like the 17 model.

Apple hasn't thrown in the towel on AI. Quite the opposite: it's preparing to turn Siri into something very different. Not just an assistant, but a search engine with voice, context, and judgment. A sort of fusion of ChatGPT and Wikipedia , but with the signature of the bitten apple.

Apple has quietly been building an infrastructure that aims to change the way we interact with digital information. If Google has dominated the web with links, and OpenAI with generative answers , what place does Apple want to occupy? The place of trust, privacy, and integrated experience. And that place begins with a curious name: World Knowledge Answers .

Since its launch in 2011, Siri has been one of Apple's most paradoxical products. A pioneer in its time, it was soon overtaken by faster, more flexible assistants. While Google Assistant and Alexa offered more useful answers, Siri became limited, slow, and dependent on external sources. Now, Apple is looking to break away from that image.

Siri's transformation includes three technical pillars:

• A planner , which interprets the user's language and defines the best way to respond.
• A search engine that scans both the web and device content.
• A summary system , capable of condensing complex answers into simple, actionable paragraphs.

Behind this structure lies something more ambitious: turning Siri into a natural interface for accessing global knowledge. It's no longer about answering "what's the weather like today," but rather "what were the causes of the conflict in Ukraine?" or "how is climate change affecting wine production in Spain?" Questions that require context, nuance, and sources.

World Knowledge Answers isn't just an improvement on Siri. It's Apple's most serious attempt to redefine search. According to Bloomberg, this system relies on trained language models (LLMs) to understand and summarize information, similar to ChatGPT or Perplexity. But with one fundamental difference: deep integration into the Apple ecosystem.

This means that the user will be able to:

• Search for information from Siri with detailed, verified answers.
• Receive summaries of websites, articles, or videos directly in the interface.
• See enriched results with photos, videos, or nearby places of interest.

And all of this comes with Apple's promise not to compromise privacy. To that end, some data processing will be done locally or on servers under its own control ( Private Cloud Computing ). Unlike other platforms, Apple assures that it will not cross-reference personal data with external models.

One of the most striking elements of this move is the collaboration with Google. Despite being historical rivals, Apple has decided to test the Gemini model as the core of its summary system. This choice has a practical undertone: Anthropic, the company behind Claude, was asking more than $1.5 billion annually to license its technology. Google, on the other hand, offered more flexible terms.

This shift reveals the maturity of the language model market. It's no longer just about having a good system, but about building long-term strategic relationships. Apple doesn't rule out using Claude or its own models for other functions, but for now, Gemini seems to be the winning horse.

The deal with Google also highlights a paradox: Apple earns more than $20 billion a year thanks to its pact to use Google as its default search engine… and at the same time is creating a system to compete with it. A move that balances current revenues with future ambitions.

Over the past few months, Apple has been testing the market with the intention of acquiring startups like Perplexity and Mistral . The former, known for its "conversational Wikipedia"-style interface, could have accelerated the development of the new Siri. However, the talks fell through.

The reason? Apple may have decided to forge its own path. Unlike Meta or Microsoft, which buy talent and technology with a checkbook, Apple tends to grow from within. It prefers to tap into strategic deals, hire key talents (although it also loses them, as seen recently), and control the entire technology stack.

That doesn't mean he's giving up on acquisitions. It just means he sees them as a tactical tool, not the core of his strategy.

Apple's urgency also has a silent enemy: time. With each passing month, ChatGPT gains more ground as an alternative search engine. Google has already integrated similar features into its classic search engine. And Perplexity is positioning itself as the go-to platform for those seeking clear and reliable answers.

Apple knows it can't be late to this party. The iPhone 17 launch won't include any major AI updates, but iOS 26.4, scheduled for March 2026, could be the turning point. That will be the moment to show the world that Siri can stop being a forgotten tool... and become the most sensible search engine of all.

Because, if you think about it, where would you look for information if your phone already knew what you needed, who you were talking to, what you saw on your screen, and your preferences? That's the promise of World Knowledge Answers : not just to give you an answer, but the one most relevant to you.