Apple just added a new AI feature to Apple Music, but it also highlights how far behind the company still is in the fast-moving AI race.
With the iOS 26.4 update, Apple Music is gaining the ability to generate playlists using a text prompt. In practice, it’s a “describe what you want” tool: you type out a vibe, theme, or scenario, and the app uses AI to curate a playlist of existing songs that match your request. It’s a convenient upgrade for discovery and mood-based listening, and it fits neatly into how most people already use streaming services.
The problem for Apple is timing and scope. While Apple’s AI is being used to organize music that already exists, Google has moved into full music generation. Google’s newly revealed Lyria 3 model can create original 30-second tracks from scratch using either a text prompt or an image prompt. The idea is simple: describe a concept (or upload a photo), and the system produces a polished, catchy snippet in seconds. Google also says you can guide the output by asking the model to take inspiration from what you upload, pushing it beyond basic prompt-to-audio generation and toward more creative experimentation.
Lyria 3 is still in beta, but it underscores the widening gap between “AI-assisted curation” and “AI content creation.” One approach helps you find the right existing songs faster; the other invents brand-new music on demand. That contrast makes Apple’s latest Apple Music update feel like a smaller step compared to what competitors are already demonstrating.
Apple’s bigger AI hopes are tied to Siri. The company is expected to lean on a Gemini-backed Siri revamp planned for this year, aiming to finally deliver features that have been discussed for a while: in-app actions, personal context awareness, and on-screen awareness. In plain terms, that would turn Siri into a more capable assistant that can take agent-like actions across apps, using what it knows about you and what’s currently displayed on your device.
Even there, progress appears gradual. Recent reporting suggests Apple has run into development snags and may roll out the underlying Siri improvements in stages over the course of the year rather than delivering a fully revamped experience all at once.
More meaningful gains are now expected with iOS 27, when Apple is rumored to introduce a dedicated Siri chatbot. The chatbot version of Siri is said to rely on Google’s TPU and cloud infrastructure (potentially leased by Apple), and to run a more advanced Gemini-based model internally referred to as Apple Foundation Models version 11. If that roadmap holds, the chatbot Siri could be far more capable than the Siri upgrade expected earlier, and potentially competitive with the latest generation of Gemini models.
For now, Apple Music’s AI playlist generator may be a handy quality-of-life feature for iPhone users, but it also serves as a clear snapshot of the current AI landscape: some companies are enhancing apps with small AI conveniences, while others are racing ahead with models that can generate entirely new content on demand.
