Apple Revamps Siri with Advanced AI to Overcome Past Setbacks

Apple’s journey with artificial intelligence, particularly its digital assistant Siri, has faced significant challenges since the initial rollout of AI features last year. According to a detailed report by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple’s AI initiative, internally dubbed “Apple Intelligence,” has struggled due to a combination of late entry into the AI race, cautious investment strategies, and difficulties integrating new generative AI capabilities with the legacy Siri system.

One of the core issues was Apple’s software chief Craig Federighi’s reluctance to make significant investments in AI infrastructure, such as expensive GPUs, without a clear product vision. This cautious approach meant Apple started its AI efforts well after competitors like OpenAI and Google had established themselves. Additionally, Apple’s AI chief John Giannandrea believed that customers were hesitant about AI chatbots, which influenced the company’s slower adoption and integration of generative AI.

The attempt to merge generative AI features with the existing Siri architecture proved problematic. Employees described it as a “whack-a-mole” situation where fixing one problem led to several others. Moreover, Giannandrea’s leadership style and position as an outsider in Apple’s executive circle limited his ability to secure substantial funding and push aggressive AI development. Marketing efforts also outpaced actual product readiness, leading to delays and unmet expectations.

In response, Apple is now undertaking a comprehensive overhaul of Siri, focusing on building it entirely on a large language model (LLM)-based engine. This new architecture, developed by Apple’s AI team in Zurich, aims to make Siri more conversational and better at synthesizing information from multiple sources. The approach also involves leveraging iPhone users’ data through differential privacy techniques, allowing Siri to improve AI training without compromising user privacy.

Another innovative aspect of the new Siri is its potential to access and synthesize information from the web, functioning similarly to AI-powered search tools like Perplexity. Apple has even explored partnerships to integrate AI search capabilities directly into Safari, enhancing Siri’s usefulness as a real-time information assistant. Meanwhile, John Giannandrea has been removed from direct product development roles, signaling a shift in leadership to accelerate this new AI vision.

Apple’s renewed focus on AI and Siri reflects the broader industry trend toward large language models and privacy-conscious AI solutions. By rebuilding Siri from the ground up with advanced AI architectures and privacy-first data strategies, Apple aims to regain competitiveness in the AI assistant space and deliver a more natural, context-aware user experience. This transformation underscores the challenges and opportunities tech giants face in integrating cutting-edge AI technologies into consumer products.