Latest news with #Giannandrea
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Apple's Siri Struggle: New Report Explains What Went Wrong
PCMag editors select and review products independently. If you buy through affiliate links, we may earn commissions, which help support our testing. A lot has been said about Siri in the past year after Apple failed to deliver on its promise of a supercharged voice assistant. Multiple delays and lawsuits later, we now have details on what went wrong at Cupertino. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple rushed the development of its AI features after OpenAI's ChatGPT launched in 2022. Things began falling apart when the team tried merging Siri's old code with the new one. Sources tell Gurman that Apple had no plans to launch Apple Intelligence until ChatGPT arrived. Apple's software chief, Craig Federighi, realized the chatbot's potential a month after its launch when he used it to write code for a personal project. Soon, Federighi, along with Apple's then AI head, John Giannandrea, and a few other executives, started meeting with OpenAI, Anthropic, and other AI companies to learn more about these AI models. Federighi also told his team that iOS 18 should infuse as many AI-powered features into an iPhone as possible. Giannandrea then assembled a team and started working on building large language models (LLMs) for AI features. However, as Apple inched closer to Apple Intelligence's public reveal in June 2024, internal tests showed that the chatbot lagged significantly behind ChatGPT, with OpenAI's product delivering 25% better accuracy. The desperate need for AI forced Apple to look for partners. For stronger user privacy, Giannandrea suggested Google, but Apple announced OpenAI as its first AI partner at WWDC 24. Many AI-powered features were announced at the June event, including the ability to summon ChatGPT for requests Siri can't fulfill. A delay pushed that feature to December 2024, but many others that were announced are still MIA, resulting in lawsuits and a new chapter in Apple's ever-growing Siri struggles. Some Apple Intelligence features were too buggy when Federighi started testing them on his personal phone before iOS 18.4. Worse, the communication between Apple's product development and marketing teams was poor. Apple had to pull down TV ads for iPhone 16 features that were nowhere close to being ready. Internally, Giannandrea has absorbed much of the blame for Siri's failure. Several employees claim that Giannandrea lacked urgency for generative AI; another Apple executive says Giannandrea believed consumers don't trust it enough and that AI agents are far away from replacing humans, Bloomberg reports. The exec has blamed overhyped marketing. CEO Tim Cook eventually lost faith in Giannandrea and replaced him with Vision Pro's head, Mike Rockwell, in March. Aside from these issues, Siri's code was seen to have a major technical flaw. To add AI features, Apple engineers split Siri's infrastructure in half. When they tried to merge Siri's new AI features with legacy features, such as setting the alarm, things started falling apart. A team in Zurich is now creating a new software architecture built entirely on an LLM-based engine, called LLM Siri. Their aim is to make Siri more conversational and better at processing information. In the EU, Apple will also let users replace Siri with third-party assistants, according to a source. According to an earlier New York Times report, some of Siri's announced but unreleased features are expected this fall. Meanwhile, Apple is prepping for a huge iOS revamp scheduled for WWDC 25 next month.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Yahoo
Ex-Siri head reportedly wanted Apple to choose Google's Gemini over ChatGPT
Former Siri head John Giannandrea pushed Apple to choose Google's Gemini chatbot over ChatGPT for the first chatbot integration with Siri last year, according to a Bloomberg report looking at Apple's uneven AI efforts. Giannandrea, an ex-Google executive who was demoted in a leadership reshuffle in March, thought that OpenAI's bot wouldn't have staying power and wasn't protective of sensitive personal data. Despite these concerns, Apple announced ChatGPT's integration at WWDC in 2025 and made the feature available to users in December. Apple's integration lets users tap ChatGPT in instances where Siri isn't able to answer a question. Last year, Apple announced that it would connect additional chatbots, including Google's Gemini, to Siri. Apple is also in preliminary talks with AI-powered search engine Perplexity to offer Perplexity as a ChatGPT alternative in Siri and a search provider in the company's Safari browser, according to Bloomberg. Sign in to access your portfolio
The Star
25-04-2025
- Business
- The Star
Apple to strip secret robotics unit from AI chief weeks after moving Siri
Apple Inc will remove its secret robotics unit from the command of its artificial intelligence chief, the latest shake-up in response to the company's AI struggles. Apple plans to relocate the robotics team from John Giannandrea's AI organisation to the hardware division later this month, according to people with knowledge of the move. That will place it under Senior Vice President John Ternus, who oversees hardware engineering, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the change isn't public. The pending shift will mark the second major project to be removed from Giannandrea in the past month: The company stripped the flailing Siri voice assistant from his purview in March. The changes are part of a broader effort to catch up in artificial intelligence, a field where Apple has fallen behind tech peers such as Alphabet Inc's Google and OpenAI. Giannandrea, a former Google executive who serves as senior vice president of machine learning and artificial intelligence strategy, continues to run most of Apple's AI efforts. And the change will give his group more time to focus on underlying artificial intelligence technology, the people said. A representative for Cupertino, California-based Apple declined to comment. The Siri engineering unit was taken over by Mike Rockwell, who previously ran hardware and software development for the Vision Pro headset. As part of that management shift, Rockwell kept oversight of the visionOS operating system. He is replacing much of the management of Siri with top deputies from the Vision Pro team, Bloomberg News reported this week. The robotics team, in contrast, is more behind the scenes at Apple. It's working on ways to use AI technologies to power devices – potentially laying the groundwork for a new product category. The group is led by veteran executive Kevin Lynch, who has managed Apple Watch software and the company's now-defunct self-driving car initiative. As part of the robotics project, Apple plans to release a tabletop robot that uses an artificial limb to move around an iPad-like display. For further in the future, the group has discussed building mobile machines, including a roaming robot similar to the Amazon Astro. The products are designed to be telepresence devices, meaning they would let users videoconference with others. Robots are quickly emerging as one of the most exciting fields in Silicon Valley, with Tesla Inc, Meta Platforms Inc and other giants investing billions of dollars in the category. After losing ground in generative AI, cancelling its self-driving car plans and arriving late to the smart home market, Apple can ill-afford to miss out on yet another major AI-driven category. Top Apple executives have faith in Ternus' ability to oversee the project. He's one of Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook's most trusted lieutenants and is already in charge of hardware engineering for the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro and most other products. Many employees believe that Ternus could be Apple's next CEO – a future shift that could occur at a time when robots become more mainstream. Ternus already has jurisdiction over a hardware engineering team run by executives Matt Costello and Brian Lynch that has been working on robotics and smart home technologies. The latest shake-up also suggests that Apple is ramping up work on the effort and wants both groups more closely aligned under a single boss. The relocation of Lynch's unit is also notable because it gives Ternus control over key AI operating system and algorithms teams, groups not typically managed by the hardware engineering department. Ternus briefly oversaw the Vision Pro software unit – until Rockwell moved with that team to the software engineering organisation. That coincided with the Siri management shift last month. For Giannandrea, the switch will mark yet another demotion of sorts in the wake of major delays to key Siri features and a tepid response to the Apple Intelligence platform. He has now lost hundreds of engineers just this year – to Ternus, Rockwell and software chief Craig Federighi – after Cook lost faith in his ability to execute on new product development. The shifts do free up Giannandrea's group to focus on development of underlying models that will power future Apple products – including upgrades to Apple Intelligence and Siri. The AI and machine learning group, mocked by some employees as "AI/MLess', has been reeling for months after multiple delays to promising Siri features. People within Apple also have complained about a lax attitude that has slowed down engineering and the development of new initiatives. In an all-hands meeting last month, Apple's former head of Siri under Giannandrea – Robby Walker – called the situation "ugly' and "embarrassing'. Giannandrea hasn't given his team any indication that he is planning to leave soon, but the continued shift of responsibilities has raised the prospect that the company may be preparing for a world without the executive at the helm of its AI efforts. Eight years after combining Apple's AI teams into a single group with the hire of Giannandrea, a breakup of the AI and ML team is looking more likely, the people said. – Bloomberg
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Apple to Strip Secret Robotics Unit From AI Chief Weeks After Moving Siri
(Bloomberg) — Apple Inc. will remove its secret robotics unit from the command of its artificial intelligence chief, the latest shake-up in response to the company's AI struggles. Trump Gives New York 'One Last Chance' to End Congestion Fee Why Car YouTuber Matt Farah Is Fighting for Walkable Cities Backyard Micro-Flats Aim to Ease South Africa's Housing Crisis The Racial Wealth Gap Is Not Just About Money To Fuel Affordable Housing, This Innovation Fund Targets Predevelopment Costs Apple plans to relocate the robotics team from John Giannandrea's AI organization to the hardware division later this month, according to people with knowledge of the move. That will place it under Senior Vice President John Ternus, who oversees hardware engineering, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the change isn't public. The pending shift will mark the second major project to be removed from Giannandrea in the past month: The company stripped the flailing Siri voice assistant from his purview in March. The changes are part of a broader effort to catch up in artificial intelligence, a field where Apple has fallen behind tech peers such as Alphabet Inc.'s Google and OpenAI. Giannandrea, a former Google executive who serves as senior vice president of machine learning and artificial intelligence strategy, continues to run most of Apple's AI efforts. And the change will give his group more time to focus on underlying artificial intelligence technology, the people said. A representative for Cupertino, California-based Apple declined to comment. The Siri engineering unit was taken over by Mike Rockwell, who previously ran hardware and software development for the Vision Pro headset. As part of that management shift, Rockwell kept oversight of the visionOS operating system. He is replacing much of the management of Siri with top deputies from the Vision Pro team, Bloomberg News reported this week. The robotics team, in contrast, is more behind the scenes at Apple. It's working on ways to use AI technologies to power devices — potentially laying the groundwork for a new product category. The group is led by veteran executive Kevin Lynch, who has managed Apple Watch software and the company's now-defunct self-driving car initiative. As part of the robotics project, Apple plans to release a tabletop robot that uses an artificial limb to move around an iPad-like display. For further in the future, the group has discussed building mobile machines, including a roaming robot similar to the Amazon Astro. The products are designed to be telepresence devices, meaning they would let users videoconference with others. Robots are quickly emerging as one of the most exciting fields in Silicon Valley, with Tesla Inc., Meta Platforms Inc. and other giants investing billions of dollars in the category. After losing ground in generative AI, canceling its self-driving car plans and arriving late to the smart home market, Apple can ill-afford to miss out on yet another major AI-driven category. Top Apple executives have faith in Ternus' ability to oversee the project. He's one of Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook's most trusted lieutenants and is already in charge of hardware engineering for the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro and most other products. Many employees believe that Ternus could be Apple's next CEO — a future shift that could occur at a time when robots become more mainstream. Ternus already has jurisdiction over a hardware engineering team run by executives Matt Costello and Brian Lynch that has been working on robotics and smart home technologies. The latest shake-up also suggests that Apple is ramping up work on the effort and wants both groups more closely aligned under a single boss. The relocation of Lynch's unit is also notable because it gives Ternus control over key AI operating system and algorithms teams, groups not typically managed by the hardware engineering department. Ternus briefly oversaw the Vision Pro software unit — until Rockwell moved with that team to the software engineering organization. That coincided with the Siri management shift last month. For Giannandrea, the switch will mark yet another demotion of sorts in the wake of major delays to key Siri features and a tepid response to the Apple Intelligence platform. He has now lost hundreds of engineers just this year — to Ternus, Rockwell and software chief Craig Federighi — after Cook lost faith in his ability to execute on new product development. The shifts do free up Giannandrea's group to focus on development of underlying models that will power future Apple products — including upgrades to Apple Intelligence and Siri. The AI and machine learning group, mocked by some employees as 'AI/MLess,' has been reeling for months after multiple delays to promising Siri features. People within Apple also have complained about a lax attitude that has slowed down engineering and the development of new initiatives. In an all-hands meeting last month, Apple's former head of Siri under Giannandrea — Robby Walker — called the situation 'ugly' and 'embarrassing.' Giannandrea hasn't given his team any indication that he is planning to leave soon, but the continued shift of responsibilities has raised the prospect that the company may be preparing for a world without the executive at the helm of its AI efforts. Eight years after combining Apple's AI teams into a single group with the hire of Giannandrea, a breakup of the AI and ML team is looking more likely, the people said. As More Women Lift Weights, Gyms Might Never Be the Same Why US Men Think College Isn't Worth It Anymore Eight Charts Show Men Are Falling Behind, From Classrooms to Careers India's 110% Car Tariffs Become Harder to Defend in Trump Era The Guy Who Connected Donald Trump to the Manosphere ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Sign in to access your portfolio
Mint
24-04-2025
- Business
- Mint
Apple to Strip Secret Robotics Unit From AI Chief Weeks After Moving Siri
(Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. will remove its secret robotics unit from the command of its artificial intelligence chief, the latest shake-up in response to the company's AI struggles. Apple plans to relocate the robotics team from John Giannandrea's AI organization to the hardware division later this month, according to people with knowledge of the move. That will place it under Senior Vice President John Ternus, who oversees hardware engineering, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the change isn't public. The pending shift will mark the second major project to be removed from Giannandrea in the past month: The company stripped the flailing Siri voice assistant from his purview in March. The changes are part of a broader effort to catch up in artificial intelligence, a field where Apple has fallen behind tech peers such as Alphabet Inc.'s Google and OpenAI. Giannandrea, a former Google executive who serves as senior vice president of machine learning and artificial intelligence strategy, continues to run most of Apple's AI efforts. And the change will give his group more time to focus on underlying artificial intelligence technology, the people said. A representative for Cupertino, California-based Apple declined to comment. The Siri engineering unit was taken over by Mike Rockwell, who previously ran hardware and software development for the Vision Pro headset. As part of that management shift, Rockwell kept oversight of the visionOS operating system. He is replacing much of the management of Siri with top deputies from the Vision Pro team, Bloomberg News reported this week. The robotics team, in contrast, is more behind the scenes at Apple. It's working on ways to use AI technologies to power devices — potentially laying the groundwork for a new product category. The group is led by veteran executive Kevin Lynch, who has managed Apple Watch software and the company's now-defunct self-driving car initiative. As part of the robotics project, Apple plans to release a tabletop robot that uses an artificial limb to move around an iPad-like display. For further in the future, the group has discussed building mobile machines, including a roaming robot similar to the Amazon Astro. The products are designed to be telepresence devices, meaning they would let users videoconference with others. Robots are quickly emerging as one of the most exciting fields in Silicon Valley, with Tesla Inc., Meta Platforms Inc. and other giants investing billions of dollars in the category. After losing ground in generative AI, canceling its self-driving car plans and arriving late to the smart home market, Apple can ill-afford to miss out on yet another major AI-driven category. Top Apple executives have faith in Ternus' ability to oversee the project. He's one of Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook's most trusted lieutenants and is already in charge of hardware engineering for the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro and most other products. Many employees believe that Ternus could be Apple's next CEO — a future shift that could occur at a time when robots become more mainstream. Ternus already has jurisdiction over a hardware engineering team run by executives Matt Costello and Brian Lynch that has been working on robotics and smart home technologies. The latest shake-up also suggests that Apple is ramping up work on the effort and wants both groups more closely aligned under a single boss. The relocation of Lynch's unit is also notable because it gives Ternus control over key AI operating system and algorithms teams, groups not typically managed by the hardware engineering department. Ternus briefly oversaw the Vision Pro software unit — until Rockwell moved with that team to the software engineering organization. That coincided with the Siri management shift last month. For Giannandrea, the switch will mark yet another demotion of sorts in the wake of major delays to key Siri features and a tepid response to the Apple Intelligence platform. He has now lost hundreds of engineers just this year — to Ternus, Rockwell and software chief Craig Federighi — after Cook lost faith in his ability to execute on new product development. The shifts do free up Giannandrea's group to focus on development of underlying models that will power future Apple products — including upgrades to Apple Intelligence and Siri. The AI and machine learning group, mocked by some employees as 'AI/MLess,' has been reeling for months after multiple delays to promising Siri features. People within Apple also have complained about a lax attitude that has slowed down engineering and the development of new initiatives. In an all-hands meeting last month, Apple's former head of Siri under Giannandrea — Robby Walker — called the situation 'ugly' and 'embarrassing.' Giannandrea hasn't given his team any indication that he is planning to leave soon, but the continued shift of responsibilities has raised the prospect that the company may be preparing for a world without the executive at the helm of its AI efforts. Eight years after combining Apple's AI teams into a single group with the hire of Giannandrea, a breakup of the AI and ML team is looking more likely, the people said. More stories like this are available on First Published: 25 Apr 2025, 01:48 AM IST
