Some Apple Employees Have 'Concerns' About iOS 26.4's Revamped Siri

[turbineseaplane]

Article link for non subs:

https://archive.is/ah6yI

From article:


I strongly believe there will be more senior members of the company’s AI ranks hitting the exits soon, especially if the new Siri coming in the spring falls flat. Already, there are concerns from people testing iOS 26.4 — the OS version slated to include the new Siri — about the voice assistant’s performance.

The biggest question among Apple AI employees is how long their boss, John Giannandrea, remains in his role. That executive, known as JG, is facing his biggest challenge since becoming senior vice president of AI in 2018. His duties have been gradually reduced this year already, with Siri being moved to the software group and robotics shifting to hardware.

People close to JG believe his role will change again in the not-too-distant future. I also recently reported that Apple has been interviewing outside candidates to eventually take over as Apple’s top AI leader. Moreover, Craig Federighi and Mike Rockwell have taken on bigger roles in shaping the company’s AI strategy, which is what JG was hired to do seven years ago.

 

[The Game 161]

More likely he didn't release any details because he has no details and just wanted something to publish.

Exactly that

He has no clue just heard whispers on an update which is 6 months from releasing

 

[SilmarilFinder]

Believe me, they are not alone on this

 

[Macalway]

assuming this article is relevant (it isn't apparently lol)

IMO, they really need to hash out a rock solid agreement with OAI, and start from there, and do it like yesterday.

One thing after another, and they WILL lose business eventually.

 

[Nyx1]

Not surprise actually they employee already gone to meta

 

[beautyहमempty]

i just hope, that the new Siri blows everything away

 

[Falco McGregor]

Exactly that

He has no clue just heard whispers on an update which is 6 months from releasing

“Concerns” is such a vague word it’s almost meaningless without more context. It’s a slow news week for Gurman’s paid newsletter so he needs to toss in something juicy. Hence the single, detail-free sentence. Siri 2.0 could be a dumpster fire, but it also could be suffering from the usual issues that plague all software six months before release.

 

[Happy_John]

Slightly off-topic, but why does MacRumors advertise Gurman’s paid subcription Newsletter when they reprint (albert nominally paraphrased) everything he releases on his newsletter anyway?

Why pay for content when the same content is reported on a „Free to view” (but ad supported) site?

 

[johannnn]

Of course they have concerns, every AI employee works like 1 week at Apple before getting poached by Meta

 

[JPack]

If your top AI boss left the company twice in a row for Meta, you’d be concerned.

It’s silly to even debate that.

 

[ricketysquire]

Member when Apple used to innovate instead of copy the competition?

I member.

 

[reno]

Could they just please focus on making Siri NOT so stupid? I'll take that any day over Liquid Glass.

 

[Hajj.david]

Oh boy..

Last time there were "concerns" leaking out, Apple* pushed out the Vision Pro flop.




*well, in reality, Tim Cook personally forced it out hoping for his own iPhone moment

I'd argue its the best device apple has ever made. Completely transformative experience and device. Akin to using a computer for the first time.

I’m sincerely don’t see anything useful, can you elaborate on this?

The VisionOS can be used for glasses and other wearable forms. Apple has long stated that the Vision Pro is a stepping stone device for spatial computing. You'll note they called it the Vision Pro and not just the Vision. It will be the high end device akin to the Mac Pro and soon they will release cheaper and more mainstream variants.

The Vision Pro provided Apple a mountain of data, Apple had no idea where to go regarding AR/VR and by putting them in customer hands they have a much better idea (Hence Apple's massive productivity push in VisionOS 2 and 26) They also massively expanded enterprise use and options and is probably the most enterprise friendly device Apple makes (Except maybe macs).

The fact that Apple is investing so much time and money on OS upgrades and improvements you can see Apple is looking at VisionOS for the next 10+ years and the future of computing. I, for one, purchased the M5 Vision Pro because when I tried the original Vision Pro it was an absolute productivity and entertainment game changer in almost every regard.

 

[I7guy]

Yeah it is a very much a flop the AVP and there is no getting away from that

It’s your opinion. Please explain apples point of view with some citations.

Regarding Siri you will probably find that this comes down to how Apple actually operates as a company compared with others in regards to digital assistants it’s why Siri is bottom of the pile compared with the head start it got

You mean the privacy focused aspect of it.

 

[Taq'aix]

Haha Apple can’t do AI. It’s beyond embarrassing.

 

[Hajj.david]

Could they just please focus on making Siri NOT so stupid? I'll take that any day over Liquid Glass.

This would be a massive step in the right direction. Oh and good dictation. The current one is beyond useless.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I love all the people downplaying the concerns.

Folks - this is Siri we are talking about.

It's HOT GARBAGE.

What on Earth has Apple done anytime recently to assuage anyone's concerns about their ability to execute in this space?

 

[Falco McGregor]

This is also fascinating from the same article.

“Ke Yang, who ran the company’s Answers, Knowledge and Information team, or AKI, is bolting to Meta Platforms Inc. He was in charge of Apple’s effort to make Siri more ChatGPT-like. Though Yang wasn’t popular among the rank-and-file staff, the length of his stint in the job is embarrassing for Apple.”

Sucks to lose talent, but Apple’s AI staff clearly needs a housecleaning.

 

[Hajj.david]

Yeah it is a very much a flop the AVP and there is no getting away from that
Regarding Siri you will probably find that this comes down to how Apple actually operates as a company compared with others in regards to digital assistants it’s why Siri is bottom of the pile compared with the head start it got

When steve jobs died, nobody touched and improved siri. It took forever to even give developers the ability to utilize some aspect of it, and even then it was super restricted.

 

[Jakesky123]

The AI bubble is gonna pop before this new Siri ever comes out lol

 

[carswell]

In July, Apple CEO Tim Cook said his company was making "good progress" on the more personalized Siri

It's not like he was going to say they were making "bad progress" even if they were, eh?

 

[Hajj.david]

I love all the people downplaying the concerns.

Folks - this is Siri we are talking about.

It's HOT GARBAGE.

What on Earth has Apple done anytime recently to assuage anyone's concerns about their ability to execute in this space?

No idea why someone downvoted your post, Siri is so awful ANYTHING they do would be an improvement.

 

[turbineseaplane]

The AI bubble is gonna pop before this new Siri ever comes out lol

A silver lining in the iClouds perhaps?

 

[woolypants]

It's very simple.

Apple aims for excellence. Consistency.

LLMs are simply incapable of this.

 

[SBlue1]

I just want a smarter Siri. For example, I don’t want to learn how to code automations, I just want to tell Siri what I want and be done with it. I just spent two hours with ChatGPT and Gemini trying to figure out how to set up an automation. I told them I wanted my iPhone to skip the 80% charging limit whenever I’m on vacation. Man, what an impossible task! After two hours of back and forth, I finally found an acceptable, somewhat working solution.