Yes, Siri seems to have been a dead end that turned out to be nearly impossible to modify and that Apple didn’t bother replacing for too long. It sounds like that is going to change.
Siri is not the only thing Apple has been doing with AI. They have been doing what they call machine learning for years, which is a functional AI focuses on specific features. Last year they did an experiment with the typing suggestions by using a transformer AI to learn your typing patterns. A transformer is what an LLM is but on a smaller scale.
I imagine an arrangement where Siri has a local LLM that listens to your requests (or via typing) and interprets the intent, even asking clarifying questions. Once it knows that you want, it would check its available functions in the OS or apps or web and bring those together to satisfy your requests. They could expand on the intents frameworks that expose app functionality to Shortcuts to provide a toolbox for the local AI. A lot of apps will have their own machine-learning-style AI functions, as well that could be called by a Siri. For some things, it will make more sense to pass the request on to a server-based AI like Gemini, OpenAI, or Baidu. This whole idea of the local AI that connects to other systems for different functions is similar to the Large Action Model envisioned by those crazy kids that made the Robot R1.
I’m really interested in where this could go.
