Apple Watch’s New Siri AI Finally Works, and Google Built Its Brain

Ask the old Siri a real question on an Apple Watch and you got one answer, every time: “Here’s what I found on the web.” Then you waited for a page to load on a screen barely bigger than a postage stamp.

CNET ran Apple’s rebuilt assistant, Siri AI, against that old version this week, side by side on two watches. The new one answered every question put to it. The old one never did. The test arrived alongside the first watchOS 27 public beta, which brings a generative AI assistant to the wrist for the first time.

The upgrade is genuine, and CNET’s verdict was blunt. What the verdict does not mention is who is actually doing the assistant’s hardest thinking on the back end: a Google AI model Apple pays roughly a billion dollars a year to license, running quietly behind an interface that never says so.

Four Questions Old Siri Always Fumbled

Vanessa Hand Orellana, a lead writer at CNET who reviews smartwatches and fitness trackers, installed the iOS 27 public beta on her iPhone, then loaded watchOS 27 onto an Apple Watch Ultra 3 through the Watch app. A second watch, a Series 11, stayed on watchOS 26 with the old Siri intact. Same questions, same day, two very different assistants.

The first test was a ferry schedule from Vallejo to San Francisco. Old Siri punted to a web search. Siri AI answered with a departure time. The second test asked what ingredients make a buttermilk substitute, useful for anyone mid-recipe with wet hands. Old Siri punted again. Siri AI named the ratio directly. The third asked for the next World Cup match and its stadium. Old Siri named the match but dropped the stadium. Siri AI named both, down to the venue, and offered to set a reminder. A bonus question about why Erling Haaland was substituted late in a France vs Spain adjacent match got the same pattern: old Siri’s stock non answer, Siri AI’s actual explanation.

CNET also posted a video walkthrough of the same test, showing both assistants answering in real time on camera.

Which Apple Watches Actually Get Siri AI

Not every Apple Watch that can install watchOS 27 will actually get Siri AI. The software itself needs Series 9, Series 10, Series 11, SE 3, Ultra 2 or Ultra 3, paired with an iPhone 11 or newer running iOS 27. Siri AI specifically needs more than that.

• iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max, or any iPhone 16 or newer – the actual gate for Siri AI, regardless of which watch is paired to it
• Older iPhones, 11 through 14 – can run watchOS 27’s other features but will never unlock Siri AI on the wrist
• A nearby, connected iPhone – Siri AI needs it in range; the watch alone cannot run the heavier reasoning
• European Union Apple IDs – excluded from Siri AI at launch, no matter which watch or phone is paired

Beta testers should also know the fine print that trips people up every cycle: Apple Watch software cannot be rolled back once installed, unlike an iPhone beta. If a build breaks something, the only fix is waiting for the next one.

The Billion-Dollar Engine Apple Won’t Name

Here is the part that never comes up in a watch review. The version of Siri now answering ferry and World Cup questions on a wrist runs on a three-tier system, and the top tier is not Apple’s.

Simple commands, timers, alarms, toggling a smart light, stay entirely on-device. Mid-weight requests route to Apple’s own cloud servers, a roughly 150 billion parameter model built in-house. The heaviest reasoning, the kind needed to synthesize a ferry schedule or explain why a striker got subbed, goes further out, to a custom 1.2 trillion parameter model built for Siri that Google engineered specifically for Apple.

Apple and Google confirmed the partnership in a joint January statement, calling Google’s technology the most capable foundation for Apple’s future models. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has reported the licensing fee at roughly a billion dollars a year, with the full multi-year arrangement potentially worth up to five billion. Neither company has confirmed exact terms publicly. The model reportedly runs inside Apple’s own Private Cloud Compute servers rather than Google’s, which Apple says keeps user data from ever reaching Google directly.

• $1 billion a year – the reported annual license fee Apple pays Google for the custom model
• 1.2 trillion parameters – the size of that model, roughly eight times Apple’s own 150 billion parameter cloud system
• 3 billion parameters – the small model that still runs entirely on-device for basic commands
• Zero Google branding – nothing in Siri’s interface tells a user which model actually answered

The arrangement sits next to an odder fact. Apple is simultaneously fighting its other major AI partner in court, a fight OpenAI has called a trade secret lawsuit lacking merit, even as ChatGPT stays wired into Apple Intelligence for now as a separate, optional layer.

Older iPhones and the EU Are Left Waiting

A Series 9 owner with an iPhone 12 still gets the new app grid, the redesigned Find My, the battery tools. They will never see Siri AI light up, because the phone doing the heavy lifting isn’t capable enough. That gap won’t close with a software patch. It closes only when that person buys a newer iPhone.

EU accounts are shut out entirely, on any hardware. Budgy App has previously covered Brussels’ response placing the choice on Apple, rejecting the idea that regulation alone forced the holdup. Whatever the cause, the practical result is the same for an EU user installing this same beta: a nicer app grid, a smarter Smart Stack, and the identical dead-end Siri response CNET tested against.

Even where Siri AI does run, it is unfinished. Some Apple Watch Ultra users testing an earlier developer build reported that Siri briefly lost the ability to handle requests needing “device knowledge”, things like setting a timer or triggering a HomeKit device, failing those commands outright. Apple has not commented on the specific reports, and the public beta is expected to keep changing through the summer before the fall release.

Two Years of Delays Behind One Beta

None of this shipped on schedule. Apple first showed the reimagined Siri at its 2024 developers conference, promising on-screen awareness, deep personal context, and hundreds of new actions through what it calls App Intents. By March 2025, Apple had pushed the release into “the coming year”, and did so even after already running ads for the feature.

Greg Joswiak, Apple’s worldwide marketing chief, told The Wall Street Journal the company simply “didn’t want to disappoint customers.” By February, the launch had already slipped past its March target, with some features pushed as far out as the iOS 27 release now in beta.

The delays came with a leadership shuffle. In December 2025, Apple said John Giannandrea, its longtime machine learning and AI chief, would retire in 2026, with duties splitting among chief operating officer Sabih Khan, services chief Eddy Cue, and Amar Subramanya, a new hire who previously worked on Gemini at Google. Software chief Craig Federighi picked up broader oversight of AI. Analyst Gene Munster of Deepwater Asset Management framed the pause bluntly at the time, saying Apple had effectively told the market not to expect anything until it could “blow you away.” That same period is when the shakeup around Apple’s AI leadership became public.

What Arrives This Fall

The final, non-beta version of watchOS 27 and iOS 27 is due this fall, timed to Apple’s usual autumn hardware push, which is expected to include a redesigned Apple Watch Ultra 4 with a new sensor bet. Siri AI itself is set to expand from English into more languages after that initial release, according to Apple’s own beta notes.

Apple has been clear internally, per Bloomberg’s reporting, that it does not see Gemini as permanent. The company is reportedly building its own roughly one trillion parameter cloud model, aiming to eventually swap it in for Google’s, even as it keeps paying Google in the meantime. Whether that in-house model actually arrives on schedule is, given the last two years, an open question Apple has already answered badly once.

None of that history was on CNET’s mind when the ferry answer came back correct.

I’m keeping the new one, thank you very much.

Orellana wrote that after running both assistants through identical, real questions on her own wrist, the kind of verdict that reads less like a press release and more like someone who was actually tired of hearing about a website.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do basic Siri commands still work without an internet connection on Apple Watch?

Yes. Simple, on-device tasks like setting a timer or checking the time still run locally and work offline. The more conversational, AI-driven answers, the kind CNET tested with the ferry and World Cup questions, need a data or Wi-Fi connection to reach the cloud-based models doing that heavier reasoning.

Can I go back to the old Siri after installing the watchOS 27 beta?

Not easily. Apple Watch software cannot be downgraded the way an iPhone or iPad beta can. Reversing course typically means unpairing the watch, erasing it, and restoring from a backup, which is why Apple and most reviewers recommend testing the beta on a secondary watch rather than a daily driver.

Which languages does Siri AI support at launch?

English first. Apple has said additional languages will roll out after the initial release lands this fall alongside iOS 27, meaning non-English speakers on supported hardware will still be waiting even after the feature technically ships.

Is Apple planning to drop Google’s Gemini model eventually?

That appears to be the intent, though there is no confirmed date. Reporting from Bloomberg indicates Apple is developing its own large cloud model, roughly a trillion parameters, that it hopes will eventually replace the licensed Gemini system now doing Siri’s hardest reasoning.

Does the Siri app show which AI model answered a given question?

No. Nothing in the Siri interface on Apple Watch, iPhone, or Mac identifies Google’s model as the one handling a request. The tiered system, on-device, Apple’s private cloud, or the licensed Gemini model, runs entirely behind the scenes.