Tech giant Apple was apparently inspired by Australia youth social media ban when formulating its new content limitations.

Outgoing Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese about the changes in a phone call on Tuesday, singling out the restrictions enforced for young Australians.

Under the Apple’s changes announced to iPhones and iPads announced overnight, access to content can be limited for under-18s.

Permission will need to be asked before apps can be downloaded or whether purchases can be made, while parents can also manage who their children communicate with.

Messages that include nudity, gore or violent content will be blocked.

“Mr Cook told me these changes are in part inspired by Australia’s world-leading social media age ban, as well as the continued research Apple is undertaking into the impact of social media on kids,” Albanese said following the phone call.

“I welcome this announcement, and I am proud of the world-leading work Australia is doing to fight for a safer online world for our children.

“We have a long way to go, and we knew it would not be easy. However, we are now seeing a number of nations follow Australia’s lead and take forward their own social media age bans.”

Australia’s social media ban came into effect last December, with under-16s barred from having accounts with 10 social media platforms including Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.

Albanese said more than five million accounts had been removed, deactivated or restricted since the ban.

“Mr Cook invited me to visit Apple the next time I am in the United States to see this technology in action, and I plan to take up that offer so we can keep learning how best to protect our kids,” Albanese said.

“Australian parents led this effort and we are proud to back them.

“Social media companies have a social responsibility, and we make no apology for holding them to account to help keep kids safe.”

Cook will become Apple’s executive chairman, after stepping down as CEO. Photo: AAP

Apple outlined changes to its trust and safety initiatives and a new AI initiative as part of its rollout of iOS 27 announced at the its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) Monday night Australian time.

The conference was Cook’s last as CEO before he steps down in September after 15 years at the helm to be replaced by John Ternus.

Under the safety initiatives, Apple will expand its “ask” feature, which can enable parents to control who their children can speak with, requiring parental approval before they can talk with an unknown person.

Apple also said it will automatically censor any image sent to a known child’s device if it’s flagged by its system as potentially inappropriate for sexual or violent content.

At the announcement, Apple senior vice president Craig Federighi said the company was providing “powerful, easy to use tools to manage what kids can see, who they talk to and when they have access”.

The company has previously come under fire from some child safety advocates for failing to do enough to protect children.

Siri AI

As well as new protections for under-age users, Apple has announced a significant overhaul of its digital assistant, unveiling Siri AI.

The introduction of Siri AI comes after criticism that the company has fallen behind fellow technology giants.

The new version of Siri will work across other Apple products and apps, and will also feature a new app, similar to those used by  OpenAI and Anthropic for their AI assistants.

Apple said Siri AI would draw from a user’s past interactions with the app, an understanding of images, as well as broad-world knowledge and will serve as a more capable and conversational assistant than its current iteration.

-with AAP