Apple staff concerned about new Siri, raise red flags ahead of iOS 26.4 launch

Apple's journey with artificial intelligence has been tumultuous in recent years, with the tech giant struggling to keep pace with competitors. Dubbed 'Apple Intelligence,' many of the company's anticipated AI features were still in development when the iPhone 16 series hit the market last year. A significant aspect of this AI initiative is the anticipated upgrade to Siri, which was originally slated for release with the iOS 18.4 update. However, that launch did not materialize, and Apple later acknowledged that the updated Siri would be postponed for approximately another year. Craig Federighi, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Software Engineering, has revealed that the revamped Siri did not meet the company's quality standards and is now expected to debut with the iOS 26.4 update, projected for release in 2026. Despite this timeline, concerns about the new Siri's performance persist among Apple engineers. In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman expressed skepticism about the rollout, suggesting that dissatisfaction with the new Siri could lead to significant departures from Apple's AI department. He noted, "I strongly believe there will be more senior members of the company's AI ranks hitting the exits soon, especially if the new Siri coming in the spring falls flat." Gurman also pointed out that many of the company's AI experts have recently transitioned to Meta, which is establishing its own AI research unit. Within Apple, there is growing uncertainty regarding whether to continue developing in-house AI models or to leverage those from competitors like Anthropic or Google for future projects. High-profile exits from Apple’s AI division have included Ke Yang, who led AI Search, Ruoming Pang, head of the Foundations Models team, and Robby Walker, an AI and Search executive. Apple is reportedly exploring two different strategies for Siri's redesign: one that uses its own on-device models and another that utilizes Google's Gemini model on Private Cloud Compute. Although Gurman did not specify which model has faced criticism, he highlighted that during the WWDC 2024 conference, Apple showcased features such as on-screen awareness and personal context understanding for Siri. These enhancements were intended to position Siri as a seamless, hands-free controller for the iPhone. However, the assistant now increasingly relies on ChatGPT to tackle more complex user inquiries, facing stiff competition from emerging AI startups.