Apple unveiled a series of improvements to its Siri digital assistant on Thursday, but the tech giant still trails rivals such as Google and Amazon in the red-hot field of artificial intelligence, experts say. Apple's biggest move was to open up the talking iPhone assistant to third-party developers for inclusion in their apps, paving the way for users to hail a ride from Uber or send a message with Tencent's WeChat using voice commands. Experts in artificial intelligence applauded the move as an important step forward, in part because the more people use an artificial intelligence system, the better it becomes. But some wondered why Apple had not made Siri an open platform much sooner, noting that competing products including Amazon.com's Alexa, Microsoft's Cortana and the Google app are already open to developers. "Is it too little too late?"

The iPhone's talking pal Siri has, to date, been about as helpful as an umbrella in a hurricane. At the Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday, Apple AAPL 1.07 % CEO Tim Cook touted new features and catch-up software tweaks, from the iPhone and Mac to the Apple Watch and TV. One of the few technologies that spanned all those products was Siri, the virtual assistant that lets us talk and interact with gadgets like they know us. Siri is growing up, and moving to the center of Apple's universe. In the months ahead, Siri will arrive on Mac computers and tackle more complex tasks on the Apple TV, where it first appeared last year.

Apple was not joking when it said that iOS 10 was a massive update for the operating system that runs iPhones and iPads. After a fairly ho-hum year of iOS 9 that was focused more on performance than features, Apple is back with a cadre of redesigns and updates to all the existing features in the operating system with iOS 10. Machine learning is--finally--playing a bigger role in iOS and is baked throughout the operating system, from the keyboard to photos and Siri. Developers will have a whole lot to do this summer with iOS 10. Apple is opening up several aspects of the operating system to developers that were previously cordoned off including the Maps app and Siri.

Back in December, when Slack integrations launched, I wrote Clippy's Revenge about the potential of "smart messaging" to become a new platform. Since then, big players have done much to nurture that possibility -- as if on some secret, jointly agreed-upon master schedule. This looks like the battleground of the next tech war, and all eyes are on Apple this week. But how much of the bot craze is hype, and what's worth paying attention to? The frenetic energy around this emerging ecosystem is well-placed, but often confusing. After meeting with more than 50 founders in this space, I'd like to offer a structured explanation of the emerging conversational economy and to propose some opportunities (for both big companies and startups).

Apple unveiled a series of improvements to its Siri digital assistant on Thursday, but the tech giant still trails rivals such as Google and Amazon in the red-hot field of artificial intelligence, experts say. Apple's biggest move was to open up the talking iPhone assistant to third-party developers for inclusion in their apps, paving the way for users to hail a ride from Uber or send a message with Tencent's WeChat using voice commands. Experts in artificial intelligence applauded the move as an important step forward, in part because the more people use an artificial intelligence system, the better it becomes. But some wondered why Apple had not made Siri an open platform much sooner, noting that competing products including Amazon.com's Alexa, Microsoft's Cortana and the Google app are already open to developers. "Is it too little too late?"

Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, made the announcements at WWDC. Google and Facebook are widely regarded as being more innovative than Apple when it comes to developments in the coveted field of artificial intelligence (AI) - hailed as the next major area for computing. While Google and Facebook have developed self-learning AI agents that can learn and master complex games like Go, Apple has remained relatively silent - offering little more than a personal assistant known as Siri. Facebook has also shown off Chatbots, while Microsoft made a regrettable foray of its own into the world of bots with Tay, a controversial Twitter bot that ended up being highly offensive (as a result of humans). But Apple made a series of practical product updates at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on Monday that show it is not ready to be left behind just yet.

A theory has taken hold in tech: Apple's devotion to privacy will handicap it during the next major wave of computing, where artificial intelligence like voice interaction, personal assistants and automation take center stage. This morning Apple gave its response: It won't handicap us, because we can do both. A concept called "differential privacy" -- an en vogue statistical method designed to reap useful intel from big piles of data while protecting personally identifying information therein. Apple has branded itself as antithetical to Google and Facebook, companies that rely on reams of data. But Apple also wants to provide the perks these companies offer -- more smart, personalized services -- that require reams of data.

Siri upstaged Cortana Monday morning, in a digital assistant battle that's just starting to heat up. Microsoft may have positioned Cortana as the future of digital assistants with its surprise LinkedIn purchase, but mere hours later, Apple's Siri showed off a few productivity tricks of her own that Microsoft is going to have trouble matching. As part of Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference, Apple executives showed off macOS Sierra, the next iteration of Apple's Mac operating system. An integrated Siri wil be one of its star features. "It's the same Siri on the Mac that we know and love, but now it can do so much more,' said Craig Federighi, senior vice president of software engineering, in describing the new Siri.

Apple has announced that it is bringing its virtual assistant Siri to the next Mac operating system. It can be used to find information on its computers, carry out web searches and send messages to acquaintances. The move lets the firm catch up with Microsoft, which offers a similar facility - Cortana - on Windows 10. Apple also announced it would be opening up Siri on its iOS mobile operating system to third-party apps. The firm's software chief Craig Federighi said that meant iPhone and iPad users would soon be able to send Whatsapp messages or book Uber cars via voice commands.

And now Microsoft has a pool of valuable data -- based on personal and professional information -- that Google, despite its expensive past efforts, does not. Google will have to answer -- particularly since one product Microsoft said LinkedIn will assist with is Cortana, its artificial intelligence-powered personal assistant. AI is a linchpin feature that Google is using with its enterprise software sales pitch. Google's AI is widely considered best in the industry; but with LinkedIn's data, Microsoft could have a critical edge in its offering that trumps Google. If it wants to catch up, Google's not short on the cash.