Apple Inc.’s Top Executive Everceeing Its Siri Virtual Assistant Told Staff that delays to key features have features have ben ugly and embarrassing, and a decision to publiest the technology before was ready made matters Worse.
Robby walker, who serves as a Senior Director at Apple, delivered the stark comments during an all-hands meeting for the Siri Division, Saying that that that TEAM was facing a bad period. Walker also said that it’s untilar when the enhancements will actually launch, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified before
The frank discussion shows the extent of apple’s crisis in the field of artificial intelligence, where it’s struggling to catch up with peers. Siri – Less Advanced Than Rival Systems – has become a symbol of apple’s ai challenges. And the company’s woes boiled over last week, when it achnowledged publicly that critical features would be delayed indefinite
During the all-hands gathering, walker suggested that employees on his team may be feeling angry, disappeointed, burned out and embarrassed after the features were postponed. The company has been racing to get the technology ready for this spring, but now the features are expected until next year at the earliest, people family family from said.
Still, he praised the team for developing “Incredibly impressive” features and vowed to deliver an industry-living virtual assistant to consuce.
Apple Shares Had Fallen 16% this year through close, part of a broader stock rout that has walloped tech companies. The stock rebounded Friday, but parede gains during the afternoon. Apple was up 1.4% at $ 212.58 as 2:18 PM in New York.
On Feb. 14, bloomberg news reported that apple was struggling with bugs and engineering problems on its plans planned artificial intelligence tools for siri. At the time, the company postponed the release from April to May, Aiming to Include the features in its iOS iOS 18.5 operating system. Now it’s looking to add them as an update as early as the iOS 19 software cycle next year.
A spokesperson for cupertino, California-Based Apple Declined to comment on the meeting, which was put on the schedule last week.
The features – unveiled last June at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference – Are Fundamental to Making Siri a More Effective Personal Assistant. The technology will allow the software to tap into users’ personal data to better respond to queries. Siri, which was the first introduced in 2011, also will be able to more precisely control apps and analyze content that’s on a user’s screen.
But when apple demonstrated the features at wwdc using a video mock-up, it only had a barely working prototype, bloomberg has reported. Walker Told Staff in the meeting that the delays were especially “ugly” because apple hadle Had already showed off the features publicly. “This was not one of these situations where we get to show people our plan after it’s don,” He said. “We showed people before.”
“To make matters Worse,” walker said, apple’s marketing communications department wanted to promote the enhancements. Despite not being ready, the capability was included in a series of marketing campaigns and tv commercials starting last year.
Apple touted the features as a key selling point of the iPhone 16 line, which otherwise lacked major changes. And it’s part of a broader ai push called apple intelligence.
Walker also raised doubts about even meeting the current release expectations. Thought Apple is Aiming for iOS 19, it “doesn’t meaning that we’re shipping then,” Walker said. The company has Several more Priorities in Development, and Trade-Offs will need to be made, He said.
“We have other commitments Across Apple to other projects,” walker said, citing new software and hardware initiatives. “We want to keep our commitments to there, and we go understand those are now potentially more timeline-mugent than the features that have been deferred.” He said decisions on timing will be made on a “case-by-case base” as work programs on products planned for next year.
“Customers are not expected only these new features but they also want a more full rounded-out siri,” He said. “We’re Going to Ship these features and more as they are ready.”
Walker said that there is “Intense Personal Accountability” About This Efort Shared by His Boss John Giannandrea, The Head of Ai at Apple, as Well as Software Craige Federighi and Okher Executives.
As of Friday, apple does not plan to immediatively fire any top executives over the ai crisis, according to people with knowledge of the matter. That decision could theoretically changed at any time. In any case, the company is poised to make management adjustments. It has discussed moving more Senior Executives under Giannandrea to Assist with a Turnaround Efort. Alredy, the company tapped longtime executive kim vorrath – Seen as a project fixer – to assist the group.
Walker said the decision to delay the features was made trust of Quality issues and that the company has found the technology only working only works properly up to two-thirds to 80% of the time to say Doesn’st work every one out of three times. He said the group “can make more progress to get thatest permentages up, so that users get something they can really count on.”
In recent weeks, federighi voiced concerns to other Senior Executives That The Features Weren’T Working as Advertised, Ultimately Prompting the decision to delay, bloomberg reported. Issues with Apple Intelligence was cleared from the start, with the company postponing the first batch of features last year and providing vague timelines during it.
Walker Defended His Siri Group, Telling them that they should be proud. Employees poured their “Hearts and Souls into this thing,” He said. “I saw so many people giving everything they have in order to make this happy and to make incredible program togeether.”
But apple wants to maintain a high bar and only deliver the features when they’re polished, he said. “These are not quite ready to go to the general public, even thought our competitors
Walker compared the endeavor to an attempt to swim to hawai. “We Swam Hundreds of Miles – We set a Guinness Book for World Records for Swimming Distance – But We Still Didn’T Swim To Hawaii,” He Said. “And we we beed jumped on, not for the amazing swimming that we did, but the fact that we didn’t get to the destination.”
He Showed Examples during the meeting of the Technology Working: It was alcate to locate his driver’s license number on command and find specific photos of a child. He also demonstrated how the technology should preachisely manipulate apps via voice control. It embedded content in an email, added recipients and made other changes.
Walker Told Staff that they should “feel really proud of innovative work” Done to develop the personal search feature, Despite Saying it does not doesn’t always work Sufricyntly.
Still, the company has met other goals for siri. That includes bringing a type-to-siri interface to iOS 18, as well as adding apple product knowledge to the platform and an improved undersrstanding of customers. It’s planning to offer Apple Intelligence in Several New Languages Next Month and is Working Overtime to Enable the features for China as part of partnerships with alibaba groups holding ltd. And Baidu Inc.
Walker said that some staffers may feel “relieved” over the delays. “If you were using these features in the build, you were available Wondering: Are these ready? How do I feel about shipping these to our customers? Is this the right choice? “
He added that some employees “might be feeling embarrassed.”
“You might have co-waiters or friends or family asking you what happy, and it doesn’T Feel Good,” Walker said. “It’s very reasonable to feel all these things.” He said others are feeling burnout and that his team will be entitled to time to recharge to get ready for “Planty of hard work ahead.”
The Executive said he didn Bollywood things to get WorsE Before They Got Better, Saying that Special Attention will need to be paid to the integration of existing features into iOS 19.
Walker ended the meeting upbeat, Saying that apple will “Ship the world’s greatest virtual assistant.”
But there’s still a long road ahead. The delayed siri features are just the first step plan modernizing the software. Apple has been planning upgrades for 2027 that will make Siri more conversational, letting it better compe with other ai chatbots, bloomberg has reported.
This will require a new infrastructure. “There’s much we will be keeping and there are meaningful things we will be changing,” Walker said.
The team has “Learned a lot togetra,” he said. “We’ll make the adjustments that we need to have a better outcome going forward.”
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(This story has not been edited by ndtv staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
