Apple Knows AI Isn't What People Really Want, but It Can't Say That

Gizmodo

a day ago

If you felt like Apple's WWDC 2025 was a bit light on AI, you're not alone. While conferences from competitors like Google and its annual I/O keynote were basically breathless in launching new Gemini features, models, and video generation tools, Apple took a more tepid approach. This year, we got a new AI health coach, Visual Intelligence, for more agentic, multimodal AI that can view your iPhone screen, and everyone's favorite—new Genmoji. One thing that doesn't appear on that shortlist is Apple's promised AI Siri update, which was supposed to have rolled out last year as a centerpiece of Apple Intelligence.
If you've been keeping track of that saga, you may have noticed that rollout didn't happen. Apple has since delayed the launch of its AI-supercharged Siri, causing some to cast doubt on whether Apple has the firepower to actually take AI chatbots and the large language models (LLMs) that power them, or AI image/video generation tools, and run with them. Though I'm sure Apple would have preferred not to address those concerns, execs didn't get to sneak away from the developer conference without addressing the AI elephant in the room.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Apple's Senior Vice President of Software Engineering, Craig Federighi, said, 'We want to do this the right way.' When asked exactly when the right way is going to come along, Federighi was less authoritative. 'We want to make sure we have it very much in hand before we start talking about dates for obvious reasons,' Federighi said. Smart. A little late for that, but smart. It's clear Apple is under pressure to deliver AI features via Apple Intelligence, which is no surprise given the way rhetoric (and money) around AI has exploded, but what's most interesting about that isn't the pressure necessarily; it's where the pressure is coming from.
As I wrote before the start of WWDC, in a lot of ways, Apple's Siri stumbles, and AI issues writ large are more optical than consequential. That's to say that people don't necessarily care about AI features yet, and as a result, Apple likely doesn't either—or not that it doesn't care, it's that it doesn't care about rushing them out. Of course, it can't really say that for the optical reasons I already mentioned. Despite the consumer-side collective shrug, investors are paying attention, and that may be exactly why, in an AI-light, year of WWDC, Apple's stock immediately dipped following its keynote. But the fact remains: AI, while still on the roadmap, isn't make-or-break for selling hardware yet.
Call me a skeptic, but I don't think AI Siri will be the determining factor of whether or not most people rush out to buy this year's iPhone. It'll be cameras; it'll be a thinner form factor; it'll be the fact that they need a new phone and simply cannot bear the thought of switching to Android and getting green bubbled by the Messages app. If Apple is going to care about AI in the here and now, then it'll be the result of consumers, not market forces.
That being said, Apple may need to care about AI a lot more in the near future. Progress in generative AI and LLMs has been rapid, and while skeptical of AI features, I'm not ruling out a watershed moment for AI on your phones or laptops quite yet. I'm also not ruling out that said watershed moment could actually come from Apple, despite the fact that it's 'behind' in rolling out Apple Intelligence features. Federighi, when talking with TechRadar, said:
'When we started with Apple Intelligence, we were very clear: this wasn't about just building a chatbot. So, seemingly, when some of these Siri capabilities I mentioned didn't show up, people were like, 'What happened, Apple? I thought you were going to give us your chatbot. That was never the goal, and it remains not our primary goal.'
That could be obfuscation or an excuse, for sure, but I'm inclined to give Federighi the benefit of the doubt here because Apple has a track record of making wait-and-see work. Some of Apple's polish has worn off as years go by, but entering late into a field (smartwatches, for example) has worked out in its favor more than once, and AI may be a perfect arena to make that strategy work once again. Google may have a lot of AI features, and so does Samsung, but truly useful features are arguable. Circle to Search is about the closest thing I can point to, and I don't know if that's worthy of heralding an AI revolution.
Maybe patience, progress, and forethought will make whatever AI features Apple does release actually worth it, or maybe AI phones are a fad, and Apple can rest easy knowing it didn't divert all of its resources into pushing the wrong boulder up a hill. It's hard to say what the future really has in store for AI and all of the devices it's being shoved into, but if there's one thing I can't do, it's rule Apple out of the equation. Maybe not caring isn't the perfect way to bring you the most AI features in the shortest amount of time, but it may be the best way to bring you stuff you actually use.