macOS 27 Golden Gate is out: Siri AI comes to the Mac

macOS 27 Golden Gate is available now. Apple released it on September 14, 2026, the same day as iOS 27. The free update is for Apple silicon Macs. Intel Macs are not supported.

The headline feature is Siri AI. On Mac it lives in Spotlight and in a new Siri app. You can type a question where you already search, drop files onto Siri, and pick up an iPhone conversation on the desktop.

What is new in macOS 27 Golden Gate

1. Siri AI in Spotlight

Type a normal question into Spotlight and macOS can route it to Siri AI instead of just local files and apps. You stay in the search box you already use, then continue in a conversation window.

2. A dedicated Siri app on Mac

This is the first real Siri app on the Mac. It keeps chat history, syncs over iCloud, and lets you start on iPhone and finish on Mac. You can also drag files into a Siri window and ask it to compare them, summarize them, or turn them into a table.

3. Personal context

Siri can search your Messages, Mail, Photos, notes, and calendar. Ask where a confirmation email is, what someone texted you, or which photos are from a trip.

4. Visual Intelligence on Mac

Visual Intelligence comes to the Mac with a keyboard shortcut: Shift–Command–Space. Select part of the screen and ask Siri about it, or add events from a schedule you can see.

5. App actions

Siri can draft Mail, send Messages, add reminders, and act in other apps when support is there. It is stronger on first-party apps than on everything in your Dock.

6. Write with Siri

Draft and rewrite text in the apps you already type in. Proofreading and tone changes work across more of the system than last year’s writing tools.

7. Liquid Glass controls

Golden Gate keeps last year’s look but adds a system-wide opacity slider, tighter window corners, and colored sidebar icons again after they went flat.

8. Photos editing

On supported Macs, Photos gets Spatial Reframing and an Extend tool that fills in the edges of a shot.

9. Shortcuts and Safari help from a prompt

Apple Intelligence can generate Shortcut automations and Safari extensions from a description, so you spend less time building them by hand.

10. The last macOS with Rosetta

Golden Gate is the last version that helps Apple silicon Macs run older Intel apps through Rosetta. That matters if you still depend on un-ported software.

Which Macs can install macOS 27

Golden Gate requires Apple silicon.

• MacBook Neo (A18 Pro)

• Macs with M1 or later

Intel Macs cannot update to macOS 27. Siri AI and the rest of Apple Intelligence need that same Apple silicon floor. The most powerful on-device Siri model needs newer chips and more memory: generally M3 or later with 12GB unified memory, or M4 and later depending on the machine.

Siri AI on Mac is available in the EU at launch, unlike Siri AI on iPhone and iPad. It is still English-first. French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish are expected in October. China is still blocked pending regulation. Users under 13 cannot use Siri AI.

How to update to macOS 27 Golden Gate

1. Back up with Time Machine or another backup.

2. Open System Settings.

3. Go to General → Software Update.

4. Download macOS 27 Golden Gate.

Leave the Mac plugged in. The installer is large. After it finishes, open System Settings → Siri (or Apple Intelligence / Siri) and turn on Siri AI if you are eligible. You may still hit a waitlist or a model download before the new Siri appears.

You should not treat this as a mid-week impulse install on a work Mac that still needs old Intel-only apps. Check those first because this is the last Rosetta release.

macOS 27 vs iOS 27

Both ship Siri AI, a Siri app, personal context, writing tools, and Liquid Glass tweaks.

The Mac-specific pieces are Spotlight integration, drag-and-drop files into Siri, Visual Intelligence with Shift–Command–Space, and the fact that EU Macs can get Siri AI while EU iPhones cannot, at least at launch.