The Ultimate iPhone AI Voice Assistant: My Top Pick

It has been almost a year since Apple introduced Apple Intelligence at WWDC 2024. Since then, Siri has been updated with a new rainbow animation, text-to-Siri support, visual intelligence, and image generation. Features like Genmoji are now available in iOS 18. However, Siri still lacks crucial aspects like conversational abilities and contextual awareness. Meanwhile, AI assistants like ChatGPT and Perplexity are far ahead of Siri in many aspects. To determine which assistant deserves to be the go-to on the iPhone, I decided to test all three. Here are my findings.

I recommend watching the video below to see all three assistants in action for a better understanding of their accuracy and response speed.

For this test, I used the free versions of all three assistants to ensure anyone can try them out at any time and assess their performance out of the box. Going into the test, I had a few hunches:
– Siri might impress with app integrations.
– Perplexity could be a strong contender with real-time info and some app support.
– ChatGPT might be the most intelligent but limited in its actions on the iPhone.

Leave your hunches in the comments below. Now let’s begin.

Basic Knowledge:
All three assistants handled simple questions like who is the president of France, converting Fahrenheit to Celsius, and defining terms easily. Siri responded visually on screen, while the other two responded vocally. They all performed well, but I did not ask follow-up questions here.

Winner: Tied

Navigation and Local Search:
I asked the assistants to find a pet-friendly pizzeria near me and navigate me there. ChatGPT provided a list of places but lacked app integration for navigation. Perplexity showed a routed map within the app and offered a one-tap option to navigate to Apple Maps. Siri excelled by finding spots and providing turn-by-turn directions through Apple Maps.

Winner: Siri

Current Event Article Summarization:
Siri failed to summarize the latest 9to5mac article, only displaying a list of articles. ChatGPT and Perplexity found and summarized the article, with Perplexity confirming if it was the correct one.

Winner: Perplexity

Real-World Problem Solving:
ChatGPT excelled in providing step-by-step guidance through a live video feed, while Perplexity stalled after a few prompts, and Siri didn’t perform well.

Winner: ChatGPT

Travel and Time Logic:
All three assistants gave decent answers to a theoretical question about reaching cities after driving from NYC. Perplexity was able to pull up a map and show options, bringing it closer to navigation.

Winner: Perplexity

App Integration and Utilities:
Siri outperformed with the ability to open both first- and third-party apps, send messages, and trigger reminders. Perplexity had limited integrations with 1st party iOS apps, while ChatGPT had zero integrations.

Winner: Siri

Final Verdict:
If an AI assistant is defined as one that can take actions through voice commands, Siri is the clear winner for its comprehensive integration with iOS. However, if conversational dialogue and fact-based assistance are prioritized, Chat GPT stands out. For now, I will continue to use Chat GPT as a Siri replacement due to its real-world assistance capabilities. If you’re interested in seeing how AI assistants work in real-time, I highly recommend checking out our video. Let me know your thoughts on using AI assistants like Siri. I’m planning on testing out other AI assistants to compare them to Siri, so feel free to suggest which comparison you’d like to see next!

FTC Disclaimer: This article contains affiliate links that may earn us income.

Are you a fan of using AI assistants like Siri? If so, you may be interested in watching our video to see them in action. Let us know your thoughts and which AI assistant comparison you’d like to see next!