Apple is set to make its Gemini-powered Siri AI assistant available in Korean in October, Yonhap News Agency reported from Seoul on 21 October, citing industry sources. The expansion would bring the assistant, launched in an English beta in September, to South Korean customers who want to ask questions and give instructions in Korean.
Key points
- Industry sources told Yonhap that Korean support for Siri AI is due in October.
- The assistant uses Google’s Gemini and can draw on messages and other personal information to answer requests.
- Apple is reportedly working with Kakao and Naver on services for South Korea.
- A software update could make the Korean service available as early as 26 October, Chosun reported.
Korean support follows Siri AI’s English beta
The English beta introduced a broader kind of request than Siri’s familiar alarms and weather answers. Apple described an assistant that could take account of personal information, respond to what is on the screen and carry out more actions across apps. Those are the company’s descriptions of the release, reported by Yonhap, rather than measurements of how reliably each capability works.
Chosun reported on 21 October that support has expanded to include Korean and Japanese. Its account describes a spoken request for a recipe from an earlier trip: Siri searched past conversations for the link, then handled requests to organise ingredients in a memo and prepare a message to a contact. That example illustrates the sort of connected task Apple is pursuing, though it is one reported interaction rather than a test across different users’ messages.
The distinction matters for the Korean release because finding a particular item in a person’s history depends on more than understanding the language of the question. The assistant also has to identify which earlier conversation is relevant and act on the answer. Chosun describes the new version as drawing on messages, emails, photographs and other information stored on the device, where the older Siri principally handled requests such as setting alarms.
Gemini supplies answers using personal context
Google’s Gemini powers Siri AI, while Apple says the assistant operates within its own security framework. In plain terms, the model provides language and image-handling capabilities, while the request may need information from an iPhone to become useful: a question about a recipe from a particular trip calls for the right conversation, rather than a general recipe found without that context.
Finding a recipe from an earlier trip could become a question rather than a search through old messages, if the assistant connects the request to the right conversation. Turning its ingredients into a shopping list could follow from the same exchange. Both possibilities depend on the personal-context and app actions described for Siri AI, not simply on its ability to answer a question in Korean.
Apple says data used for answers requiring AI workload processing is designed to be deleted immediately, Yonhap reported. That is a description of the system Apple says it has built, not a result from a published privacy test.
The division between Gemini and Apple’s systems also puts the company’s choice of model in a wider context. AI Affairs previously reported OpenAI’s account of its underperforming ChatGPT integration with Apple as Siri turned to Google. For people building services that the assistant can reach, the practical question is whether Siri can find the relevant information and complete an action in an app when a request depends on personal context.
Kakao and Naver feature in Korean plans
Apple is reportedly working with Kakao and Naver to optimise the service in South Korea, and its integration with domestic apps is said to have expanded. Chosun reported that the two companies are working on related features. The difference between language support and app integration is consequential: answering a question in Korean is one capability, while carrying out a request through a locally used service depends on that service being connected to the assistant.
Apple’s regional AI plans also cover a different set of features in mainland China. Seoul Economic Daily reported on 15 October that a planned December launch of Apple Intelligence there uses safeguards developed with Alibaba and excludes Siri AI. AI Affairs has reported the planned December launch separately. The Korean plan concerns the newer assistant itself, rather than that collection of Apple Intelligence features.
Apple’s Korean-language Siri AI service is expected to arrive through a software update as early as 26 October.
