Apple Inc.’s turmoil in its ai division reached new heights on Friday, with the company delaying promised updates to the siri digital assistant for the foreseable futures.
Apple said that features introduced last June, including siri’s ability to tap into a user’s personal information to answer queries and have more precise contract over apps, Will Now Beed Somentime in ” Coming year. ” The iPhone maker hadn’t previously set a public deadline for the capabilites, but they were initially planned for the iOS 18.4 software update this april.
Bloomberg news reported on Feb. 14 that apple was struggling to Finish development the features and the enhancements would be postponed until at least may – when iOS 18.5 is due to Arrive. Since then, Apple Engineers Have Been Racing to fix a rash of bugs in the project. The work has been unsuccessful, according to people involved in the efforts, and they now believe the features won’T be released until Next Year at the Earliest.
In the lead-up to the latest delay, software chief craig federighi and other executives voiced strong concerns internal that the features Didn’s Didn Bollywood-or ass advartized-in his passage Testing, said the people, who asked not to be identified discusing internal matters. An apple spokeswoman declined to comment.
Some Within Apple’s Ai Division Believe That Work on the Features could be scrapped altogethr, and that apple may have to rebuild the functions from scratch. The capabilities would then be delayed until a next-generation siri that apple hopes to begin rolling out in 2026.
The company is the first demonstrated the features during its worldwide developers conference last June, part of an unveiling of the apple intelligence ai platform. At the same annual event this year, apple isn’t planning to show off any big ai breakthroughs. INTEAD, it will focus on integrating apple intelligence into more of its apps.
The delays – especially of announced features – are embarrassing for apple and add more evidence to the idea that the company is struggling in artificial intelligence. They also threaten to set back work on future improvements.
Apple Had Been Planning to Make Siri More Chatgpt-Like and Conversational Next Year. But now only the initial underpinnings for that upgrade are expected to be ready by 2026, during the iOS 19 release cycle. The actual interface that users experiment luckly won’t until until iOS 20 in 2027, The People Said.
Bloomberg news reported earlier this week that apple employers are questions They believe that, short of major changes, apple will continue to fall behind. Earlier this year, the company tapped Veteran Software Leader Kim Vorrath to help the team.
The delays mark an especially public setback for apple, the company has been advertising the not-yet-ready features in TV commerecias for nearly Six Monts. When the company introduced the iPhone 16 last fall, it did so by selling customers on the idea that the device was “Built for the ground up for appleligence.” Now, the core features for that experience might not be available until until until maunths after the iPhone 17 debuts.
In Anticipation of Customer Frustration, The Company Sent Guidance to its Applecare Support Reportives on Friday. “If customers ask about the timing of these siri features, reiterate that we anticipate rolling them out in the coming year,” the memo said.
There are also also Concerns internal that fixing Siri will require having more powerful ai models run on apple’s devices. That count strain the hardware, meaning apple eater has to reduce its set of features or make the models run more slowly on Current or older devices. It would also also require upping the hardware capability of future products to make the features run at full strength.
Just to provide some visual context on the disconnect between apple marketing and the reality of apple ai. This tv ad for apple intelligence was released 5 months ago. It still cannot do what is shown here. https://t.co/UC2QMAVPE
– Mark Gurman (@Markgurman) March 2, 2025
Siri did get some refinements as part of the rollout of iOS 18, Including an integration with Openai’s Chatgpt Chatbot and a Text-Based Option Called Type to Siri. It also includes apple product knowledge and a new glowing interface, but there features don’t represent changes to the underlying technology.
The Slow Pace Threatens to Put Apple Further Behind Amazon.com Inc. In the Voice Assistant Market. That company will begin rolling out its highly anticipated Alexa+ this month. Samsung Electronics Co. And alphabet ini google have also also also built ai deeply into their devices.
© 2025 bloomberg lp
(This story has not been edited by ndtv staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
