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

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

Apple Silicon AI Optimized Feature Siri 1
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.

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.

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Top Rated Comments

groove-agent Avatar
8 months ago
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.
Score: 67 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sw1tcher Avatar
8 months ago

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?
Score: 48 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HobeSoundDarryl Avatar
8 months ago
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??? ;)
Score: 43 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Think|Different Avatar
8 months ago
Let's gooooo -- WWDC is gonna be dope.

Attachment Image
Score: 36 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TVreporter Avatar
8 months ago
It took them several weeks to realize Siri was antiquated?

Where have they been for the past decade!
Score: 31 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Koni17 Avatar
8 months ago
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.
Score: 29 Votes (Like | Disagree)