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Sneak peek at new Siri app reveals Apple’s plans to take on ChatGPT and more
Just ahead of Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June, Bloomberg has published leaked renders of what Apple’s planned AI upgrade could look like on iPhone — including a brand-new Siri app meant to rival ChatGPT and other AI chatbots — as well as how Siri’s new capabilities will be woven throughout the operating system.
The images were produced by Bloomberg based on what it saw and learned from sources.
While you’ll still be able to press a button in iOS 27 to trigger Siri, the animation and response will now emerge from the iPhone’s Dynamic Island — that’s the black pill-shaped area at the top of the screen that today houses Live Activities, the real-time updates and interactive displays from apps that appear directly on the phone’s Home Screen. This mode will work best for quick voice queries or searches, much like how people use Siri currently.
A new mode, however, will put Siri-powered search within easy reach, capitalizing on people’s muscle memory for swiping down on their screen to access Spotlight Search — a built-in way to find information from both your phone and the web in one place. The swipe-down gesture will still open search, but now those searches will draw on the AI-powered Siri, which includes a rebuilt AI model that uses Google’s Gemini AI technology under the hood for added intelligence.
From here, iPhone users can search, launch apps, start messages, ask about the weather, add calendar appointments, search their notes, and trigger app shortcuts, Bloomberg reports, with results displayed in formatted text in a card-style interface that also emerges from the Dynamic Island.
Apple’s approach to AI is strikingly similar to its earlier multi-billion dollar partnership with Google that made Google the default search engine on iPhone. Just as building a search engine from scratch was never in Apple’s playbook, AI presents a similar calculus — it’s too expensive and complex to go it alone, at least right now. So Apple is working with outside partners for AI technology that users want today, while simultaneously building out its own models, including local AI, that runs on local devices rather than the cloud — an approach that allows Apple to lean into it privacy brand without needing to catch up.
Bloomberg also notes there will be a new standalone Siri app — as previously reported — designed to compete directly with chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and others. The app will surface your past chat history and allow you to upload documents and photos, in addition to text.
Scale, as ever, is Apple’s advantage. While ChatGPT now has 900 million weekly active users, Apple’s install base (all devices, not just iPhone) is 2.5 billion — meaning the company has an unmatched runway to introduce AI to people who haven’t yet adopted standalone AI tools.
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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday f2026 arraigned Mr. Ahmed Adamu Dikko, former Managing Director of Port Harcourt Refining Company Ltd (PHRC), before Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on a 12-count charge bordering on money laundering.
The charge, marked FHC/ABJ/CR/360/2026 and dated and filed on June 22 by the Commission’s counsel, Ekele Iheanacho, SAN, listed Dikko and Masterpiece Projects & Investment Limited as first and second defendants respectively.
Dikko, who led the Port Harcourt Refining Company for about four years, pleaded not guilty to a 12-count charge filed against him by the Commission on Wednesday, July 8, 2026.
The EFCC accused Dikko of laundering N1,322,839,112.7 (One Billion, Three Hundred and Twenty-Two Million, Eight Hundred and Thirty-nine Thousand, One Hundred and Twelve Naira, Seven Kobo) in proceeds allegedly linked to contractors engaged by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery, through cash property purchases, undisclosed bank retentions, third-party fund concealment and unauthorised currency conversion, in violation of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
Count one reads in part: “That you AHMED ADAMU DIKKO… did directly make cash payment of the dollar equivalent of the sum of N218,375,000.00 to one Hadeija Bashir for the purchase of Plot 558, Abubakar Umar Street, Katampe Extension, Abuja without passing through a financial Institution and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Sections 2(1)(a), 19(d) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022 and punishable under Section 19(2)(b) of the same Act.”
Count eight reads: “That you AHMED ADAMU DIKKO, former Managing Director of the Port Harcourt Refining Company Ltd (PHRC) on or about the 26th of June, 2023 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court disguised the origin of the sum of N328,710,337.50 (Three Hundred and Twenty Eight Million, Seven Hundred and Ten Thousand, Three Hundred and Thirty Seven Naira, Fifty Kobo) paid into the GTBank Account Plc No. 0123201507 operated by Masterpiece Projects & Investment Limited by OMSA Integrated Services Limited from the transactions involving NNPC Limited allocation of Vacuum Gas Oil for export when you knew that the said sum of N328,710,337.50 constituted proceeds of unlawful activity and you thereby committed an offence contrary Section 18(2) (a) and punishable under Section 18(3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.”
Count eleven reads: “That you AHMED ADAMU DIKKO between October, 2022 and May, 2025 did convert the aggregate sum of $77,080 through Ibrahim Isa Yaro which amount did not form part of your known lawful earnings as a former public officer with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18(2)(b) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022 and punishable under Section 18(3) of the same Act.”
The defendant pleaded not guilty to the charges when they were read to him.
Thereafter, counsel to the defendant, Okechukwu Ajunwa, SAN urged the court to grant the defendant bail pending the determination of the suit. Iheanacho, however, opposed the bail application.
In his ruling on the bail application, Justice Ekwo granted the defendant bail in the sum of N150,000,000 (One Hundred and Fifty Million Naira) with a surety who must be resident within the jurisdiction of the court and with a landed property valued at not less than the bail sum. He ordered that the defendant be remanded in the custody of the EFCC pending when he’s able to meet the bail conditions.
The matter was therefore adjourned to October 12, 13 and 14, 2026 for trial.
The post EFCC Arraigns Former MD Of Port Harcourt Refinery for Alleged N1.32bn Money Laundering appeared first on Business Today NG.
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