Last year, macOS Tahoe 26 gave Apple's desktop a bit of a Liquid Glass facelift. This year, macOS Golden Gate the star of the show is the company's new Siri AI. It's a more conversational way to use Siri, similar to ChatGPT and other AI tools. Siri AI will be integrated into Spotlight in macOS Golden Gate, making that feature even more useful for power users (building on last year's updates).

In demos at WWDC, Apple representatives used Siri AI to find when a concert was happening, figure out how to get tickets and then play music from that artist, all in one conversation. We also saw Siri AI unearth a friend's new address from text messages, then plan a route to a scenic view that stopped along that address. 

The demonstrations appeared to be happening in real time, but we won't be able to fully judge Siri AI until we can actually test it. At first glance, though, Siri AI seems more useful than other AI agents, since it can access your personal information securely right on your device, without reaching into the cloud (or communicating with Apple). 

macOS Golden Gate will also sport a refined version of Liquid Glass, which is more customizable and readable than before. I never had too much trouble with Liquid Glass in last year's Apple devices, but it was easy to make your screen confusing with multiple layers of transparency. The company also says that macOS, along with all of its new platforms, will sport some noticeable speed upgrades.

Apple's Siri revamp has been delayed multiple times after its brief WWDC 2024 preview, when the company didn't even have working demos. And honestly, it probably would have been much more impressive if it actually landed in 2024 or last year. But being late to a new technology may give Apple more time to deploy it thoughtfully — something we've seen time and again with the company. You'll also have to wait a bit longer to actually use Siri AI: Apple says it'll be available in beta later this year.