In a new, lengthy report regarding Apple’s AI strategy, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has detailed a number of strategic failures for the launch of Apple Intelligence. As many of us have already believed, Apple was caught off-guard by the new generative AI trend.
Additionally, according to Gurman, Apple is ‘unlikely’ to spend a lot of time talking about Siri at this years WWDC. That includes future upgrades and the already announced (but since delayed) features from last years WWDC.
What went wrong with Apple Intelligence
I won’t be summarizing the entire report, so if you’d like to read it in full – you can do so here.
In short, Apple software chief Craig Federighi didn’t believe a ton in AI. He was “reluctant” to invest a lot into the technology, and didn’t see it as a “core capability.” In Federighi’s eyes, it’d take away from everything else without actually paying off. This wasn’t just a Craig Federighi thing, though:
Other leaders shared Federighi’s reservations. “In the world of AI, you really don’t know what the product is until you’ve done the investment,” another longtime executive says. “That’s not how Apple is wired. Apple sits down to build a product knowing what the endgame is.”
The report also claims that while other executives were “convinced” AI would be “revolutionary”, they were unable to convince Federighi. A lot of it “fell on deaf ears.”
On top of that, Apple AI chief John Giannandrea was never truly able to hit the ground running. When he started at Apple, he concluded that Apple would need to spend a lot more money than it currently is. However, his efforts were “often stymied.”
The future
As for how Apple plans to bounce back from this strategic failure, well – we won’t find out quite yet. According to Gurman, that won’t be too big of a focus at next months WWDC, where Apple will announce iOS 19 and more:
Significant upgrades to Siri—including the ones promised nearly a year ago—are unlikely to be discussed much and are still months away from shipping.
The report reaffirms that Apple plans on adding additional Apple Intelligence capabilities to other apps, and that the company is also planning on adding an AI powered battery optimization tool. Apple also plans on launching Project Mulberry, a virtual health coach.
Apple also is working on implementing a new capability for European Union residents: the ability to ditch Siri entirely. Instead of having Siri as your voice assistant, you’ll be able to use third-party options. Specific third-party options weren’t named, but it’s worth noting that this will be a distinct feature from the already-existing ChatGPT integration in Siri.
Last but not least, Apple is continuing to work on its new “LLM Siri” infrastructure, which’ll fix a lot of the engineering mess that got us to severely-delayed Siri in the first place. Despite that, the company wants to separate Siri from Apple Intelligence in its marketing efforts:
The Apple sources say the company, despite its hopes for LLM Siri, is also preparing to separate the Apple Intelligence brand from Siri in its marketing. It’s a tacit admission that the voice assistant’s poor reputation isn’t helping the company’s AI messaging.
Apple also wants to stop touting features more than a few months before they’re able to launch, according to the report.
My favorite Apple accessory recommendations:
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