To ask Siri AI a question on a Mac running macOS 27, press Command-Space bar to open Spotlight, type your question or request, and press Return. Once Siri AI (Beta) is turned on, Apple’s Mac User Guide says Spotlight “becomes the place where you start a conversation with Siri.”
From that one window, Apple says, you can ask for personal context, get broad world knowledge or take actions across your apps. The search bar you already use for files and apps now takes full questions too.
Turn on Siri AI first
Without Siri AI, Spotlight stays a search tool. Apple says Siri AI “is available in beta on macOS 27 or later on an Apple Intelligence-enabled MacBook Neo (A18 Pro) or Mac model with M1 or later with Siri and device language set to a supported language. Available in English to start. Usage limits may apply.” Apple’s release notes add that Siri AI “is rolling out to users,” so it may not appear on every Mac at once.
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To turn it on:
- Open the Settings app on your Mac.
- Click Siri in the sidebar. You may need to scroll down.
- If Siri is off, click Turn On Siri, then click “Try Siri AI (Beta).” If Siri is on, click “Try Siri AI (Beta).”
- Follow the onscreen instructions.
Haven’t installed the update yet? Start with our guide to checking and backing up your Mac before installing macOS 27.
Ask Siri from Spotlight
- Press Command-Space bar to open Spotlight.
- Enter a question or make a request.
- Press Return.
That’s the whole flow Apple documents. What changes is what you can type. Apple’s macOS 27 release notes say Siri AI is integrated into Spotlight “so you can search for answers about almost any topic right from where you already search for things across your system.” The same notes say it “can draw on personal context to find things across your messages, mail, photos, and more” and “get things done across your apps, just by asking.”
So skip the keywords. Apple’s What’s new guide for macOS 27 tells Mac owners to “type or talk naturally to find what you need,” and its examples include a recommendation from a family member, a photo from years ago, or a friend’s flight details from your email or calendar. Apple doesn’t publish a list of requests that work from Spotlight, so treat those as a guide rather than a guarantee.
A question doesn’t vanish when you close the window. Apple’s release notes say you can revisit and resume past conversations in the new Siri app, synced with iCloud across your Apple devices. Spotlight starts the conversation, and the Siri app keeps the history.
Everything else in Spotlight works as before
Siri AI adds to Spotlight rather than replacing it. Results still appear as you type, with the best match at the top, and the keyboard still does most of the work: Return opens a result, Space bar previews it with Quick Look, and Tab reveals Quick Actions. Calculations, unit conversions and clipboard history were already part of Spotlight in macOS 26, and none of them needs Siri AI.
That leaves one box for two jobs. Type a file name and Spotlight finds it, or type a full question and hand it to Siri. For the rest of the update, see our macOS 27 Golden Gate release coverage, and if you’re shopping for a Mac that can run Siri AI, our rundown of every Mac Apple sells right now covers the chip in each model.
