The Siri update is part of Apple's broader Apple Intelligence platform, which has faced a staggered rollout and criticism for glitches. Despite a marketing push, Apple is struggling to keep pace with competitors like OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's AI offerings. The company is also working on AI features for the Chinese market in collaboration with Alibaba and Baidu. Internally, Apple is making organizational changes to address these challenges, with plans for more conversational Siri capabilities by 2026. The delays in Siri's development are affecting Apple's broader software update cycle, potentially impacting future iOS releases.
Key takeaways:
- Apple's AI overhaul for Siri is facing engineering problems and software bugs, potentially delaying its release until iOS 18.5 in May.
- The Siri makeover is a crucial part of Apple's effort to catch up in AI and improve iPhone upgrades, but internal testing shows inconsistent performance.
- Apple is considering releasing some features in April with iOS 18.4 but keeping them disabled by default, to be enabled in the iOS 18.5 update.
- The AI platform is behind competitors like OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini, and internal struggles have led to potential delays in future iOS updates.