Apple Ready to Pay Hundreds of Millions of Dollars to Fix Siri

According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, Apple is currently negotiating multiyear licensing deals with major news publishers to feed live, accurate current events directly into its redesigned Siri.

The iPhone maker has reportedly discussed a total budget in the nine-figure range to secure these agreements. Apple wants to ensure that when users ask Siri about breaking developments, the assistant provides verified information instead of outdated answers or hallucinations.

However, Apple is proposing a financial structure that breaks away from standard industry habits. Most AI developers, such as OpenAI, offer media companies flat, guaranteed fees up front in exchange for sweeping access to their article archives. Apple wants a pay-as-you-go model instead. Under this proposed variable setup, partner publishers would only earn money when Siri actively uses their content to answer a query.

The push for verified news feeds comes after an embarrassing technical failure. In late 2024, Apple trialled an automated feature designed to generate AI news summaries for device notifications. The tool quickly began publishing inaccurate, misleading headlines, drawing sharp criticism from news organizations.

Getting current events right has become a top priority as Apple prepares to roll out its Siri AI upgrade later this year. Siri has faced constant criticism over the past decade for falling far behind rival assistants in intelligence and usability.

By weaving live news directly into the assistant’s core behaviour, Apple hopes to turn Siri into a reliable personal assistant for daily information.