When Siri was introduced back in 2011, following Apple’s purchase from SRI from the time Siri was an app in iOS 4, it was hailed as a revolution and promised a great deal. Today, it has been completely overtaken by the revolution in generative AI. And while Apple Intelligence promises to make Siri a more capable assistant, the gap between promise and reality is wide and expanding.
With people such as market analyst Benedict Evans asking if Apple is facing “a Vista-like drift into systemically poor execution”, and the company facing lawsuits over alleged false advertising for not delivering Apple Intelligence features, it’s clear Apple’s foray in AI and boosting Siri has hit some significant hurdles that are impacting customer and market confidence.
According to reports [paywall], Apple’s head of AI John Giannandrea has been dumped from overseeing the development of Siri and the creator of the Apple Vision Pro, Mike Rockwell, has been tapped to take over. Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, oversees the development of iOS, iPadOS and macOS and will stay involved in the development of Siri.
It’s a strong sign of Tim Cook’s dissatisfaction that such a major reshuffle is happening in senior management. Apple’s dirty laundry rarely sees light of day. These revelations tell us how important the redevelopment if Siri is and how poorly the project has progressed thus far.
Apple’s annual developer shindig, WWDC, is only about three months away. If Apple doesn’t have something substantial to show the world about Siri and Apple Intelligence it will face conservable consternation – not just from critics but from disgruntled customers, many of whom are already sceptical of Apple’s ability to successfully integrate AI into the macSO, iPadOS and iOS user experience.
There are countless examples (there are a few here) of Siri’s less than stellar attempts at answering questions.
The big question is whether Apple is able to overcome these setbacks. As per its most recent financial results, Apple holds a cash on hand balance of over USD$85B. That’s a lot of money it can dedicate to resourcing a rapid improvement in the capabilities of Siri and Apple Intelligence. But money is not the problem. The challenge is rapidly developing the technology needed to not just catch up with OpenAI, Google, X, DeepSeek and others who have a massive head start over Apple but to overtake them.
Apple could probably match those services if it was making a standalone product. Apple’s tasks is more complex because it is attempting to integrate AI, under the moniker of Apple Intelligence, deeply into its three main consumer computing platforms.
And perhaps that ambition is greater than Apple’s current ability. That is what we will learn at WWDC 2025 in June.
Anthony is the founder of Australian Apple News. He is a long-time Apple user and former editor of Australian Macworld. He has contributed to many technology magazines and newspapers as well as appearing regularly on radio and occasionally on TV.