Apple’s long-promised Apple Intelligence Siri could be delayed

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Apple’s long-promised overhaul of its long-neglected Siri digital assistant is beset with “engineering problems and software bugs” that threatening to delay or significantly limit its release, Mark Gurman reports for Bloomberg News citing “people with knowledge of the matter.”

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At WWDC 2024 last June, Apple highlighted three significant upgrades for Siri:

• Enhanced access to personal data to improve query responses and execute actions.
• A new system allowing for more precise control over apps.
• The ability to interpret the content displayed on a device’s screen to provide more context-aware assistance.

The company first unveiled plans for a new AI-infused Siri at its developers conference last June and has even advertised some of the features to customers. But Apple is still racing to finish the software, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the situation is private. Some features, originally planned for April, may have to be postponed until May or later, they said.

The Siri makeover is a centerpiece of the Apple Intelligence platform, the company’s effort to catch up in AI and spur iPhone upgrades… Getting Siri right is especially crucial for Apple, which first introduced the digital assistant in 2011 as a groundbreaking interface. After falling behind competitors, the technology has come to represent the company’s shortcomings in artificial intelligence.

Apple is considering delaying or limiting at least some of the overhaul until iOS 18.5, which will be released as early as May, the people said… Inside Apple, many employees testing the new Siri have found that these features don’t yet work consistently.

Despite a marketing blitz for Apple Intelligence, the company is struggling internally with a difficult reality: The AI platform is behind rival systems like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Alphabet Inc.’s Google Gemini, and Meta Platforms Inc.’s Llama…

Behind the scenes, Apple is looking to make changes to its AI and machine-learning organization, the people said. The company recently tapped longtime software executive Kim Vorrath, who is known for whipping the original iPhone and Vision Pro software into shape, for a senior role on the team. The AI effort is run by John Giannandrea, a former senior Google executive who joined Apple in 2018.

The gradual release of Apple Intelligence features has impacted the broader software development cycle. The company is preparing major updates tied to the fall launch of the iPhone 17, but delays to iOS 18 capabilities are rippling through the process. In some cases, iOS 19 features that were planned for the end of this year may be pushed back until 2026.

‎Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News