Apple unveils child safety tools and new Siri AI at WWDC

Apple used its Worldwide Developers Conference in Cupertino to make a dual argument: it wants to be taken seriously in artificial intelligence, and it wants to be seen as a guardian of children using its devices. The company unveiled Siri AI, a rebuilt version of Siri powered by Apple Intelligence, alongside new parental controls that arrive as scrutiny grows over harmful image apps and the power of app stores to shape what minors can access.

Siri AI is Apple’s most direct response yet to criticism that it has fallen behind rivals in the AI race. Apple said the assistant will offer personal context understanding, broad world knowledge and onscreen awareness, with a dedicated app for revisiting conversations. Its own materials said the assistant will answer questions with up-to-date web information and act across apps more naturally, and Apple said developer testing begins June 8, with a beta for users later this year. The software push spans iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, watchOS 27, visionOS 27 and tvOS 27.

The child-safety package is aimed at a different kind of pressure: the political and cultural backlash over so-called nudify apps and other tools that generate non-consensual sexualized images. Apple previewed simpler child-account setup, Ask to Browse, Time Allowances and a redesigned Screen Time experience, saying the features were informed by online safety and health experts. Child accounts are required for children under 13 and available up to age 18, and the updates will land with software releases this fall.

The timing gives the announcements added weight. Apple’s succession plan says Tim Cook will become executive chairman on September 1, 2026, while John Ternus becomes chief executive, making this Cook’s last WWDC as CEO. That backdrop turns the event into a test of whether Apple is charting a new course or merely catching up, one product line at a time.

The company’s safety message also arrives as regulators sharpen their focus on how app ecosystems handle risk. The European Commission has sought information from Apple and Google Play about the risk that users, including minors, can download illegal or otherwise harmful apps, including nudify apps. Apple’s answer is to present tighter parental controls as part of the same modernization push that it says will make Siri AI more useful, more personal and more deeply integrated across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple Vision Pro.