Whether you're looking for an angel investor, a growth advisor, or just want to connect — I'm always open to great ideas.
Get in TouchApple is overhauling Siri in iOS 27 to support rival AI assistants including Claude, Gemini, Grok, and Perplexity via a new Extensions system, ending ChatGPT's exclusive role and turning iPhone into the ultimate AI battleground.
AI, startups & growth insights. No spam.
Apple is preparing the most significant Siri overhaul in the assistant's fifteen-year history, and the most consequential detail has nothing to do with a new voice or a prettier interface. According to a Bloomberg report by Mark Gurman published March 26, iOS 27 will introduce a new "Extensions" system that lets users route Siri queries to any supported AI assistant installed from the App Store — including Anthropic's Claude, Google's Gemini, xAI's Grok, Microsoft's Copilot, and Perplexity. The move ends OpenAI's exclusive position inside Apple's software stack, a privilege ChatGPT has held since iOS 18 in 2024. With roughly 1.5 billion active iPhones in the world, Apple is not just updating an assistant — it is opening a new front in the AI platform wars, and every major AI lab just became a competitor for the same real estate.
Apple's solution is architecturally elegant and strategically shrewd. Rather than building its own frontier model or betting on a single partner, the company is building a routing layer — a system it calls Extensions — that sits on top of whatever AI services a user has already installed.
Here is how it works in practice, based on Bloomberg's reporting and corroborating details from 9to5Mac and MacRumors:
The system will work across iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27, making it a platform-wide change rather than an iPhone-only feature. Apple plans to provide download links for supported chatbot apps directly within the Siri settings menu, giving the App Store a new discovery surface for AI products.
This is not an API that developers can tap on a whim. Apple will presumably vet which apps qualify as Extensions, maintaining quality control while appearing to regulators as an open platform. The specifics of that approval framework have not yet been disclosed.
The timing of this shift is not accidental. Several forces converged to make iOS 27 the right moment for Apple to open up.
Apple Intelligence underdelivered. The company's original AI push, unveiled at WWDC 2024, was met with skepticism almost immediately. Features shipped late, Siri's on-device reasoning capabilities lagged behind what Google and OpenAI were demonstrating publicly, and the ChatGPT integration — while functional — was a constant reminder that Apple's own models weren't good enough for the hard questions. Opening Siri to multiple providers is partly Apple acknowledging that no single external partner can cover every use case.
The competitive landscape shifted faster than Apple expected. When the OpenAI deal was signed, ChatGPT was the dominant consumer AI product with no obvious peer. By early 2026, Anthropic's Claude had become the preferred model for knowledge workers, Google's Gemini was deeply integrated across Android and Workspace, and xAI's Grok had amassed a large audience through X. Locking users into one assistant while rivals offered better options was becoming a liability.
Regulatory pressure from the EU and DOJ made exclusivity increasingly risky. As Bloomberg Law analysis noted, regulators have drawn direct parallels between Apple's AI arrangements and the Google default search deal — where Google paid Apple an estimated $20 billion annually for default placement. The Extensions system lets Apple argue that no single AI provider receives preferential treatment, a positioning that is far cleaner from a competition law standpoint.
And then came the Gemini deal. In January 2026, Apple and Google announced a multi-year partnership under which Apple's Foundation Models — the on-device AI layer underlying Apple Intelligence — would be built on top of Google's Gemini technology. That agreement complicated the narrative around OpenAI's exclusive role considerably.
The Apple-Google AI deal, first reported by CNBC in January 2026, is more foundational than the ChatGPT arrangement ever was. Where OpenAI's integration is a surface-level handoff — Siri routes a query to ChatGPT when it can't answer — the Gemini partnership shapes the underlying models Apple uses to power everything from writing tools to on-device reasoning.
Apple confirmed the deal in a joint statement with Google: "After careful evaluation, we determined that Google's technology provides the most capable foundation for Apple Foundation Models and we're excited about the innovative new experiences it will unlock for our users."
Key technical details from subsequent reporting by 9to5Mac:
This means that when iOS 27 ships, the on-device reasoning layer is Gemini-derived, while users can also route queries directly to Google's Gemini app via Extensions. Google effectively has both a structural advantage (its technology is in the foundation) and an equal-access advantage at the Extensions layer. It is a remarkable position for a company that runs the dominant competing mobile platform.
For more context on how this Gemini partnership came together, see our earlier piece: Apple and Google's Gemini Deal: A Dedicated Cloud for Siri's Overhaul.
According to Bloomberg and Tom's Guide, the five AI services reported to be supported at launch are:
Anthropic Claude — Perhaps the biggest beneficiary. Claude has a loyal base of professional users who currently have no native iOS integration. The ability to invoke Claude through Siri — without switching apps — removes the last friction point for power users. It also gives Anthropic distribution that money cannot easily buy elsewhere: placement inside the operating system used by over half the smartphone market in the United States.
Google Gemini — Already structurally embedded in iOS 27's foundation, the Gemini app gaining Extensions support means Google has an unprecedented dual-layer presence on Apple's platform. Users who want raw Gemini responses — rather than Apple's distilled version — will be able to get them without leaving the Siri interface.
xAI Grok — Elon Musk's AI getting a direct Siri pipeline is notable given the competitive dynamics between Apple and X. Grok's real-time web access and direct X integration make it a genuinely differentiated option for users who want current information and social context baked into responses.
Microsoft Copilot — Microsoft's enterprise focus means Copilot's Siri integration could be most valuable in professional settings — accessing Microsoft 365 documents, drafting emails, summarizing Teams threads — all via voice through Siri. For enterprise iPhone users this could be significant.
Perplexity — The AI-native search engine occupies a distinct niche from pure LLM chatbots, and its inclusion signals that Apple's Extensions system is broad enough to cover search-style products, not just generative chat. Users who prefer cited, sourced answers over confident-sounding generation have a strong reason to enable Perplexity.
OpenAI / ChatGPT — Still present, still supported, but now one option among five. The ChatGPT partnership that Apple highlighted prominently at WWDC 2024 becomes significantly less distinctive once every major rival is available in the same settings menu. OpenAI has the brand recognition advantage, but the differentiated treatment is gone. We explored the original ChatGPT-Siri integration and what it means for OpenAI's distribution strategy in our coverage of ChatGPT Agents and Operator.
Business Standard and MacObserver offer the clearest picture of day-to-day usage. The flow looks something like this:
The crucial UX question — whether users can set a non-Siri AI as their default for all queries, replacing Siri's own responses entirely — has not been confirmed. The current framing suggests Extensions augment Siri rather than replace it. Apple still controls the first-pass intent recognition; it decides when to handle a query itself and when to offer routing to an Extension.
This matters because it means Apple retains the role of orchestrator. Users interact with a Siri-branded surface; the underlying model is increasingly abstracted away. For AI companies, this is both an opportunity (distribution to hundreds of millions of users) and a constraint (Apple mediates the relationship).
The redesigned Siri app itself is also notable. Bloomberg's March 24 report describes it as a full chatbot-style interface with conversation history, a grid or list view of past chats, the ability to favorite and search conversations, and Dynamic Island integration showing a glowing icon while Siri processes requests. A new "Ask Siri" button will appear in third-party app context menus, and a "Write with Siri" option will surface in the keyboard. Siri is evolving from an ambient voice assistant into a persistent, memory-enabled AI hub — and the Extensions system is what makes that hub genuinely competitive.
The regulatory subtext here is impossible to ignore. Apple's AI arrangements have attracted scrutiny from competition regulators in the United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom, all of whom are increasingly alert to exclusive arrangements that lock third-party AI providers off the world's most-used devices.
The Google search default deal — where Google reportedly pays Apple up to $20 billion annually to be the default search engine in Safari — is currently under examination in ongoing DOJ antitrust proceedings. Regulators have explicitly asked whether Apple's AI partnerships follow a similar pattern: paying for or receiving payment for exclusive default placement in a high-traffic surface.
By building a system where multiple AI services compete on equal terms through Extensions, Apple can argue it is actively promoting competition rather than suppressing it. The framing is not subtle: "Extensions allow agents from installed apps to work with Siri" positions every AI provider as an equal participant in an open ecosystem, rather than a gatekeeper arrangement with a favored partner.
Whether regulators accept this framing depends on implementation details that Apple has not yet disclosed — specifically, whether the Extensions approval process, the default-routing behavior, and the discoverability within Settings are genuinely neutral. If Apple gives its own on-device models first-pass priority and routes to Extensions only as an explicit user override, that is a very different competitive dynamic than a system where Claude, Gemini, and Grok receive equal routing opportunity.
The OpenAI partnership represented a landmark moment for both companies when it was announced. For OpenAI, it was the closest thing to default OS-level distribution a generative AI product had ever achieved. For Apple, it was a quick fix for a Siri that couldn't answer hard questions.
Two years on, the arrangement looks different from each side. OpenAI has since launched autonomous agents, its own hardware ambitions, and a browser product — all of which compete with Apple's own surface area at varying degrees. The ChatGPT integration that once felt complementary now exists in a more complicated competitive context.
More practically, OpenAI no longer has an exclusive. In the iOS 27 Extensions settings, ChatGPT will appear alongside Claude, Gemini, Grok, Copilot, and Perplexity. Users who preferred Claude all along but enabled ChatGPT because it was the only Siri-integrated option will have an obvious reason to switch. OpenAI will need to win on merit — response quality, speed, and product differentiation — rather than on default advantage.
The company's position is still strong: ChatGPT remains the most recognizable AI brand among general consumers, and its existing iOS app has tens of millions of users. But the floor just shifted. The iOS distribution moat, which was partly responsible for the OpenAI-Apple deal's strategic value, has been opened to competition.
Step back from the feature announcements and the regulatory positioning, and what Apple is doing in iOS 27 is structurally significant for the entire AI industry.
The company is positioning the iPhone as the universal access point for AI — a platform-of-platforms where users do not need to care which underlying model powers a given response. You ask a question through Siri; the system routes it to the best available service based on your preferences. The AI brand becomes less important than the experience Apple wraps around it.
This is the same move Apple made with music (Apple Music absorbed Spotify as just another audio app), with maps (Apple Maps and Google Maps coexist, but Apple controls the system-level mapping APIs), and with payments (Apple Pay and third-party wallets operate in a two-tier system Apple designed). In every case, Apple created a platform that benefited from third-party participation while retaining structural control.
For AI companies, the calculus is uncomfortable but clear: opt out of iOS 27 Extensions and you forfeit distribution to roughly half the US smartphone market. Opt in and you accept Apple's terms, Apple's UI framing, and Apple's ability to commoditize your service over time. There is no neutral choice.
The companies best positioned to benefit are those with genuinely differentiated products that improve when users access them more frequently — Claude with its long context and professional use cases, Perplexity with its citation-first search model, Grok with its real-time social data. Commoditization is a real risk for products that are primarily competing on generic chatbot quality; it is less threatening for products that do something structurally distinctive.
Apple has confirmed WWDC 2026 for June 8, and based on the steady stream of Bloomberg leaks in the last two weeks, the iOS 27 Siri overhaul will be the centerpiece of the keynote presentation.
Expect Apple to:
What remains less certain: whether Apple will announce any changes to the financial terms of its AI partnerships, whether there will be a premium or subscription tier for higher-quality model routing, and how the iOS 27 Extensions rollout will interact with the European Union's Digital Markets Act requirements, which may compel even more aggressive openness in EU markets.
The June 8 keynote will fill in these gaps. What is already clear is that the AI assistant landscape on iPhone is about to change fundamentally — and every AI lab in the world is paying close attention to how the Extensions approval process works.
Apple's decision to open Siri to Claude, Gemini, Grok, Copilot, and Perplexity in iOS 27 is one of the most consequential platform decisions in the current AI cycle. It ends a two-year period in which ChatGPT held a uniquely privileged position inside Apple's ecosystem, replaces exclusive partnership with open competition, and transforms the iPhone from a device with an AI assistant into a device that orchestrates the AI industry.
For users, it means genuine choice at the level of the operating system for the first time. For AI companies, it means access to the world's most valuable smartphone distribution channel — and the pressure of competing inside an interface Apple controls. For regulators, it creates a defensible argument that Apple is not a gatekeeper but a platform.
Whether that argument holds will depend on the details Apple announces in June. But the direction is set. The iPhone is becoming the LLM battleground, and every major AI company just got a seat at the table — and a new set of rules to play by.
Sources: Bloomberg — Apple Plans to Open Up Siri to Rival AI Assistants Beyond ChatGPT in iOS 27 | Bloomberg — iOS 27 Features: Apple AI Reboot With Siri App, New Interface, 'Ask Siri' Button | CNBC — Apple picks Google's Gemini to run AI-powered Siri | 9to5Mac — iOS 27: Apple will reportedly let Claude and other AI chatbot apps integrate with Siri | MacRumors — Apple Plans to Let Rival AI Chatbots Integrate With Siri in iOS 27 | Tom's Guide — Beyond ChatGPT: iOS 27 Extensions will reportedly allow Siri to use Google Gemini and Claude
Google rolls out dual import features in Gemini: chat history via .zip file (up to 5GB) and memory via summaries. Seamless migration from ChatGPT, Claude, and others. Unavailable in EU due to data regulations. The most aggressive AI platform consolidation play yet.
Apple is launching a completely redesigned Siri powered by Google's Gemini model with Private Cloud Compute, positioning 1 billion iPhones as the world's largest consumer AI platform.
New credit card transaction analysis of 28 million US consumers confirms Claude's paid subscriptions more than doubled since January 2026, driven by viral Pentagon drama, Super Bowl ads, and Claude Code buzz — and the data suggests it's pulling users directly from ChatGPT.