Report: Revamped Siri to Be at the Core of Apple's New AI Strategy

[MacRumors]

Apple's shift to develop its own AI technology to keep up with competitors was today detailed in a The New York Times report.

Citing sources familiar with Apple's work, the report explains that the decision to revamp Siri was taken early last year by Apple's most senior executives. Senior vice president of software engineering Craig Federighi and senior vice president of Machine Learning and AI Strategy John Giannandrea are said to have spent several weeks testing OpenAI's ChatGPT to understand the ways in which the competitor made Siri look antiquated. The Siri team purportedly failed to receive attention and resources compared to other groups inside Apple, and the company has struggled to recruit and retain leading AI researchers.

Apple executives are said to be concerned that AI threatens the iPhone's market share because it has the potential to become a more compelling operating system with an ecosystem of AI apps that undermine the App Store. Apple apparently fears the iPhone becoming a "dumb brick" compared with other technology.

This conclusion triggered a significant reorganization at Apple amid determination to catch up in the race to develop AI tools. The company moved to reallocate employees and resources toward AI, and the change of strategy was a contributing factor in the decision to cancel its electric vehicle project. Apple's upcoming iPhone 16 models will supposedly feature more memory to support AI features.

• Should Apple Kill Siri and Start Over?

Apple is expected to reveal a series of AI tools at its WWDC keynote on June 10, including an improved version of Siri that is more conversational and capable, with the ability to "chat" rather than merely respond to individual queries. The company is working on making Siri better at handling tasks such as setting timers, creating calendar appointments, adding items to Reminders, and summarizing text. Apple plans to market the new version of Siri as a more private alternative to rival AI services because most requests will be processed on-device rather than remotely in data centres. See the full The New York Times article for more information.

Article Link: Report: Revamped Siri to Be at the Core of Apple's New AI Strategy

 

[Think|Different]

Let's gooooo -- WWDC is gonna be dope.

 

[groove-agent]

They could have improved Siri's AI long ago but left it dumb as a post until now. They're just jumping on the AI bandwagon because everyone else is. That's not exactly "leading" the charge in the technology field.

 

[Realityck]

Yes improving how Siri works is great way to introduce AI to consumers, compared to its limitations now. There are so many words you use now that Siri can't interpret.

 

[now i see it]

After a divorce, couples rarely get back together

 

[sw1tcher]

Senior vice president of software engineering Craig Federighi and senior vice president of Machine Learning and AI Strategy John Giannandrea are said to have spent several weeks testing OpenAI's ChatGPT to understand the ways in which the competitor made Siri look antiquated.

It took them several weeks to see what was wrong with Siri and made it antiquated?

 

[brofkand]

Why should I trust these guys, they're the ones that brought me MobileMe!

 

[antiprotest]

This should have started at least 5-7 years ago. Then Apple might even be ahead now.

Tim Cook is the dumb brick.

 

[TVreporter]

It took them several weeks to realize Siri was antiquated?

Where have they been for the past decade!

 

[guci0]

Let them remember about Polish, I don't know if it's real that Siri finally may do understands something in my language

 

[erikkfi]

They need to kill the Siri brand. I learned to hate talking to “Siri” and never want to again.

 

[sw1tcher]

Apple executives are said to be concerned that AI threatens the iPhone's market share because it has the potential to become a more compelling operating system with an ecosystem of AI apps that undermine the App Store.

Addicted to the sweet App Store revenues and margins.

 

[NVDA]

I'm on my third iPhone and have had Siri disabled since day one, 6+ years ago. Am I missing anything??

 

[coffeemilktea]

Apple's upcoming iPhone 16 models will supposedly feature more memory to support AI features.

A smarter Siri AND Apple putting more memory than just the bare minimum? What a time to be alive.

 

[chfilm]

YES! FInally!

 

[NVDA]

This should have started at least 5-7 years ago. Then Apple might even be ahead now.

Tim Cook is the dumb brick.

He's a bean counter who only cares about stock performance, which has been subpar the past two years. Trailing the QQQ and an absolute joke compared to META and MSFT.

 

[steve123]

Let's hope this actually happens and the next project on the block is AVP. Such a distraction.

 

[Koni17]

How many big wigs did it take to realize Siri needed to be revamped? And not only that, but to only start reacting early last year? It's as if absolutely no one was even checking in on what was going on in the AI world until Chat GPT literally showed up everywhere. Better late than never I suppose, but this just screams incompetence.

 

[citysnaps]

Excellent news. And Apple has been quietly moving into AI for some time now with Apple Silicon.

Cracks me up those believing Apple just discovered AI.

 

[needsomecoffee]

John G. Hired years ago to improve Siri. Nothing to date. Craig & John just spent "weeks" evaluating AI chat. Based on this they realized Siri is behind. WTH. What were they doing in previous years?? I hope for the best, but am really concerned that Apple can no longer manage its way to excellence WRT software. Where is Forstall -- he might be the nicest guy, but he got a lot done ??

 

[steve123]

Excellent news. And Apple has been quietly moving into AI for some time now with Apple Silicon.

Crack me up those believing Apple just discovered AI.

Nobody is saying Apple just discovered it ... they have under resourced it.

nVidia's market cap exceeds Apple's. That could turn into an existential threat to Apple.

EDIT: Apple's stock app gave me nVidia's market cap in CAD and Apple's in USD. I missed this discrepancy earlier. 😊. Nevertheless, nVidia has the resources to become an existential threat to Apple.

EDIT2: Watch OpenAI's Spring Update and their thanks to nVidia at 25:30 to get an idea of just how existential to Apple the threat is:

https://openai.com/index/spring-update/

EDIT3: Well, it happened. Nvidia’s share price has lifted its market value above $3 trillion, overtaking Apple to become the world’s second most valuable company. (Jun 6, 2024).

 

[garoto]

Siri’s brand is so tarnished by now. They should’ve changed the name. I have no hope for Siri I don’t think.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Guys! Guys! Give Apple a break. It takes money to improve software. It takes money to hire & retain talented programmers to make great software. We all know that money has been in very short supply at Apple for the last decade or two...

Oh wait.

Well maybe if they charged 6-8X more for RAM & SSD than market... instead of only 3X-5X more.

Maybe if they ripped the Mac computing guts out of a 27" monitor, stopped including a keyboard and mouse in the box... but charged the same price for only what is left...

Oh wait.

Cut out the "Intel Premium" AND raise prices?

Oh wait.

Courageously turn the masses from $20 wired buds to $170 wireless buds?

$1000 monitor stand? $20 handkerchiefs? $800 wheels?

Get rid of them costly stickers?


I'm at a loss. Perhaps if we started a gofundme???

 

[Macalway]

Kinda funny really. Of course the journalist made them look a bit foolish, but hey! that's what they're paid to do.

 

[Contact_Feanor]

After a divorce, couples rarely get back together

Your ex usually doesn't live in your pant pocket either...