Apple’s statement last week regarding the delay in releasing the new Siri capabilities on Apple Intelligence indefinitely has raised many questions. Originally anticipated to launch between March and April of this year, the fastest possible timeline now points to early next year, or possibly as late as 2027. This delay raises concerns and uncertainty about Apple’s competitiveness in developing artificial intelligence assistant systems.
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple recently held a team meeting to discuss the Siri development, led by Robby Walker, who is in charge of Siri. The company had showcased the new Siri capabilities at WWDC last year but only as a demo video, without any actual delivery to customers. The marketing team used this as a selling point, which turned out to be misleading as the features were not available. This move has caused much disgust and disapproval.
Walker mentioned that the team may feel angry, disappointed, hopeless, and embarrassed that Apple had to publicly announce the delay of this feature. This setback also affects other Apple projects that rely on Siri capabilities since everything has been pushed back or requires adjustments to compensate for delayed features.
He acknowledged his responsibility for the issue, along with John Giannandrea, Apple’s AI team head, Craig Federighi, software development team lead, and all senior executives. While there have been no reports of resignations at the moment, there has been a reshuffling of top management to address the situation, notably with Kim Vorrath, known as Apple’s bug catcher, taking a prominent role.
Despite the setback, Walker emphasized that the Siri development team has delivered many customer capabilities according to plan, all of which are of high quality. The delay in delivery was due to testing showing only 70-80% accuracy in commands, which was not deemed sufficient by Apple’s standards, even if it may exceed competitors in some cases. Apple aims to maintain a high standard before release.
Gurman reported that Walker concluded the meeting by reaffirming Apple’s goal to provide the best smart assistant in the world to customers.
TLDR: Apple faces uncertainty and criticism as the release of new Siri capabilities on Apple Intelligence is indefinitely delayed, impacting the company’s competitiveness in AI development. Walker takes responsibility, emphasizing the team’s high-quality work despite setbacks and aiming for excellence in delivering the best smart assistant globally.
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