Apple’s ambitious plan to revamp Siri with advanced AI capabilities faces significant delays, according to Mark Gurman, as engineering problems and software bugs threaten to postpone the release of key features beyond their planned April launch.
Why it matters: The setback challenges Apple’s strategy to compete in the AI assistant market, where competitors like Google Gemini and ChatGPT have gained significant advantages in natural language processing and task automation.
Technical Challenges: Apple’s development team encounters multiple obstacles in implementing the promised features:
- Inconsistent personal data access
- Unreliable app control functions
- Problematic screen content interpretation
Strategic Impact: The delay affects Apple‘s broader AI initiatives and market position:
- Features may slip from iOS 18.4 to 18.5
- Release could be pushed to May or later
- Some functions may launch disabled by default
The Siri overhaul, first unveiled at WWDC 2024, promised three major enhancements: improved personal data access, precise app control, and screen content awareness. However, employees testing these features report inconsistent performance, particularly with tasks like retrieving flight details from emails or finding files mentioned in text messages.
“Getting Siri right is especially crucial for Apple, which first introduced the digital assistant in 2011 as a groundbreaking interface,” notes Mark Gurman of Bloomberg. “After falling behind competitors, the technology has come to represent the company’s shortcomings in artificial intelligence.”
To address these challenges, Apple has appointed veteran software executive Kim Vorrath to a senior role on the AI team, while John Giannandrea, formerly of Google, continues to lead the company’s overall AI efforts.
The delay particularly impacts Apple’s broader Apple Intelligence platform, designed to catch up with competitors in AI capabilities and drive iPhone upgrades. Even before the Siri complications, Apple Intelligence faced criticism for glitches in features like news summaries since its October debut.
Looking ahead, Apple must balance the pressure to release these features against the need to ensure reliability. The company faces a tight timeline, as major feature releases typically don’t occur after May, when focus shifts to the next iOS version following WWDC.
