Apple launches macOS Golden Gate with Siri AI and UI updates

Apple announced that macOS Golden Gate is now publicly available for download on Macs equipped with an M1 or later Apple chip, including the MacBook Neo. The update requires Apple silicon and does not support Intel-based Macs.

The most prominent addition is Siri AI, which functions as a conversational assistant integrated into Spotlight and a dedicated Siri app. Users can ask Siri questions, request tasks, and access personal data such as emails and photos. Siri also supports Visual Intelligence, allowing users to capture screen areas and receive image-based analysis, translation, or summarization.

Apple introduced a Liquid Glass slider that lets users adjust interface transparency, along with refined opacity, window corner radii, and shadow treatment to improve legibility and focus indication. Sidebars are now edge-to-edge and retain color icons, while toolbars feature fewer icons for clearer headings.

New system-wide features include Write with Siri, which can draft or edit text based on user prompts, and expanded spell-checking and grammar suggestions. iPhone Mirroring windows can be resized, and the Shortcuts app now generates shortcuts from natural-language descriptions. Safari gains AI-generated extensions, automatic tab grouping, and optional webpage-change notifications.

Apple also reported performance gains: faster animations, quicker AirDrop transfers, improved indexing for Spotlight, Photos, Mail and Messages, and more stable window positioning on external displays. The update can be installed via System Settings under General → Software Update.