macOS 27 Golden Gate is in beta ahead of a fall release, and we thought we’d review what’s new for those who don’t want to risk a beta on their Mac. macOS Golden Gate adds Siri AI, Liquid Glass updates, and several new Apple Intelligence features.
Siri on Mac resides in Spotlight. Command + Space brings up a new Find or Ask interface to search for files on Mac or ask Siri a question. Siri is able to access data on the Mac and can answer the same general questions that any chatbot can answer. The combination of personal context and knowledge of the world allows Siri to do certain things that are not available to other AI services like ChatGPT or Claude.
Siri responses appear in Spotlight with an option to ask follow-up questions, but there’s also a standalone Siri app where you can find all your past Siri interactions. Siri is also integrated into the system for features such as writing with Siri. Siri can write emails and messages for you in your own writing style, check your grammar, or just give you general feedback on what you’ve written.
Apple has introduced visual intelligence to Mac and it is available through the screenshot interface. When enabled, you can select an area of your screen that has something you want to learn more about, and Siri can answer your questions. In apps like Safari, you can select text or images and then ask Siri for your selection. Most of the Visual Intelligence features found on the iPhone have been carried over to the Mac, so Siri can identify plants and animals or even tell you the nutritional value of foods in a picture, which is a new feature this year.
Apple Intelligence improves many built-in Mac apps. Safari can group similar tabs by topic, Passwords can automatically change weak passwords for you, Photos has new AI editing tools to change framing and perspective, and Image Playground can generate photorealistic images.
Shortcuts uses AI to create shortcuts for you based on natural language requests, Calendar supports natural language event entry, Mail search is better than before with suggestions for quick actions, and the Messages app also supports AI suggestions for actions you might want to take, like inserting a photo to send to a friend.
Apple has updated Liquid Glass in macOS Golden Gate. There’s a slider to adjust the overall system opacity, refraction and contrast have been improved, the sidebars are unified with less wasted space, and Apple has removed many unnecessary icons from the menu bars.
If you have a Mac capable of running Golden Gate, you’ll benefit from Siri AI and Apple Intelligence features. Apple Intelligence works on all Apple Silicon Macs and Golden Gate does not work on devices with an Intel chip.
EU users can’t use Siri AI on iPhone and iPad because Apple doesn’t make it available yet, but Siri AI is available on macOS in the European Union.
