Apple's AI plans for Siri hit major roadblocks behind the scenes

Yahoo

15-03-2025

Apple's plans for an AI overhaul of its Siri voice assistant have not gone as smoothly as the brand originally hoped. Those developing on the project are still trying to work out the flaws in the technology, but don't seem confident about a prompt release.
The company aims to seamlessly integrate Siri with its Apple Intelligence AI tool, but this task appears to be easier in concept than execution.
A new report from Bloomberg detailed that the brand previously hoped to have the feature released in a much shorter timeline, but now its plans may align with claims of a long delay. The publication indicated that the Siri team recently had an all-hands meeting where Apple senior director Robby Walker, discussed the state of the project, calling the delay an 'ugly' situation. He told the team there's no guarantee the Siri features will be ready for iOS 19 this year, but 'doesn't mean that we're shipping then,' he said.
Currently, Apple is aiming to release the feature in June to coincide with its mobile software. The Verge noted that Apple first planned to launch the AI-inundated Siri last June to compete with the brand's contemporaries in the market. Last week, a brand spokesperson confirmed to Daring Fireball a second delay of the feature, which was rumored to launch in April with iOS 18.4. Reports before that noted that the project, known internally as 'LLM Siri,' could be delayed potentially for several iOS generations, up until 2027.
It also appears Apple may be prioritizing other developments over the Siri project at this time. The company notably has several upcoming hardware launches, in addition to the aforementioned iOS 19 rollout, among other software releases. Reports also indicate the brand plans to do an overhaul update across all its platforms to make them more uniformly functional and practical. Apple is expected to showcase the updates at the World Wide Developers Conference in June. If true, the Siri project could be held back even further.
'We have other commitments across Apple to other projects. We want to keep our commitments to those, and we understand those are now potentially more timeline-urgent than the features that have been deferred,' Walker said, per the Bloomberg report.
While there has been only one official statement from Apple, there has reportedly been a lot of buzz among the company's senior executives behind the scenes. Walker told the Siri team that software chief Craig Federighi, and AI head John Giannandrea, among others, are taking 'intense personal accountability' for the advanced features of Siri 'taking longer than expected.'
In a prior Bloomberg report, Federighi supposedly discussed having concerns over features malfunctioning during internal tests.
However, Walker assured his team that their progress on the project was impressive and that Siri's AI features would launch as soon as they were ready.
'Customers are not expecting only these new features, but they also want a more fully rounded-out Siri. These are not quite ready to go to the general public, even though our competitors might have launched them in this state or worse,' he said.