Apple’s take on AI has caught a lot of flak from users and analysts who think it’s lagging behind big players like Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI. Siri may have been one of the first voice assistants, but it never really kept up with smarter tools like ChatGPT or Bard. Unlike its competitors, Apple avoided flashy AI rollouts, which only fueled the perception that it had fallen behind. But in recent months, Apple has started to move. Apple signed major partnership deals, made staffing changes in key AI roles, and hinted at a smarter, more capable version of Siri. Could this signal a broader shift in direction?
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What Is Apple Working On in the Field of AI?
There are already announcements of new AI features in iOS 19, macOS 16, and other parts of the ecosystem, which Apple will likely present in just a few weeks at WWDC 2025. These include smarter writing tools, system-wide suggestions, new accessibility features, battery management mode, and a virtual health coach.
But one big piece still hangs in the air – what’s going on with Siri? Sources suggest that Apple’s grand upgrade for the assistant remains on hold. Some features have missed internal deadlines. Others, like the personal context system and full LLM integration, still sit somewhere between ‘coming soon’ and ‘maybe next year.’ Critics say they’ve waited years already and now expect nothing but delays and broken promises. So let’s sort this out, what we might expect from updated Siri, and why, after all this time, it still has not been released.
The Smarter Siri Apple Promised But Hasn’t Provided Yet
Back in 2023, Apple finally admitted what most of us already knew – Siri was due for a major upgrade. With ChatGPT and other AI tools stealing the spotlight, it was becoming obvious that Siri’s claim to fame (beyond weather updates) just wasn’t cutting it. So, in a rare move, Apple started teasing a smarter, AI-powered Siri months ahead of its launch (a clear sign they knew they were falling behind, no?).
Then, at WWDC 2024, Apple unveiled its new game plan: ‘Apple Intelligence.’ This wasn’t just a catchy name. Apple laid out a roadmap for transforming Siri from its often clueless self into a truly intelligent assistant – one that understands context, remembers your preferences, and actually handles tasks like a real AI helper. And yes, they wrapped it all in their signature privacy and design promises.
The update included five central pillars:
- Soon, Siri will use info stored safely on your device to tackle real‐world questions, like pulling up that recipe a friend texted you, grabbing your passport number when you’re booking a flight, or finding the email about your dentist appointment. Instead of random trivia, Siri will actually know you.
- Next up, Siri gets screen smarts. See an address in a text? Just say, ‘Add this to their contact,’ and Siri will know exactly what ‘this’ means – no more tedious copy-and-paste.
- Apple’s also tying Siri into Shortcuts, so one command can trigger multiple actions across apps. ‘Send the email I drafted to April and Lilly’ – done. ‘Fix this photo and save it to my Notes for John’ – handled. Apple promises hundreds of these multitasking tricks, finally making voice commands genuinely useful.
- Perhaps the biggest upgrade: Siri will stop acting like it’s stuck in 2009. It’ll handle back-to-back requests and follow-up questions without freezing up. Thanks to a more advanced language model under the hood, Siri should keep the conversation flowing, even if you stumble mid-sentence.
- If Siri still hits a wall, Apple has a backup plan: a partnership with OpenAI. With your permission, Siri can tap ChatGPT for deeper answers, while keeping your IP and data private.
In addition, Apple gave Siri a facelift. In iOS 18, Siri got a fresh look – a glowing border around the screen and a revamped logo. It also learned to accept typed queries, essentially turning Siri into a text-based chatbot (perfect for when calling out ‘Hey Siri’ in public feels a little awkward).
On paper, this new Siri looked ready to take on ChatGPT or Google Assistant. In reality? Let’s just say we’re still waiting for the magic to kick in.
When the Big Siri Update Went Quiet
Apple kicked off the Siri upgrade hype in 2024 with real confidence. When iOS 18 dropped in September 2024, none of Siri’s headline features showed up. No personal context. No on-screen awareness. No complex in-app actions. Apple did push updates, but Siri still felt stuck in its old groove.
By early 2025, they started covering their tracks. Promotional videos showcasing the new Siri quietly vanished – remember the iPhone 16 Pro ad with Bella Ramsey demoing Siri’s context tricks? It disappeared from YouTube, but remained on the actress’s Instagram:
In March 2025, Apple finally admitted its mistake. A spokesperson said they needed ‘longer than we thought’ to finish the upgrade and hoped to ship it within the coming year.
Why the Delay?
Apple says it pushed back Siri’s update for quality reasons. Inside Apple, the new AI engine was only nailing 67-80% of requests in early tests – hardly confidence-inspiring. Rather than ship a half-baked assistant, executives chose to miss the deadline. They pitched the delay as ‘upholding our high standards,’ even throwing shade at rivals who might’ve launched with worse performance. Maybe, but it doesn’t change the fact that Siri still doesn’t work the way it was hyped to.
The quality wasn’t just one reason – it exposed deeper structural issues at Apple.
- First, Siri’s foundation was ancient (over a decade old) and practically impossible to overhaul without chaos. Apple did start swapping in a new LLM-based engine, but they wildly underestimated the scope of the rewrite.
- Second, AI wasn’t a real priority until very recently. Bloomberg reports that Craig Federighi, Apple’s head of software, stalled on pouring serious resources into generative AI.
- Finally, Siri kept missing its own deadlines. The big rewrite was supposed to land in iOS 18, then 18.4, then 18.5, now it’s eyeing the iOS 19 cycle. Some insiders even bet that the real Siri 2.0 won’t arrive until iOS 20 (or later).
One major issue still remains – performance. Apple wants to run its AI models on-device to protect privacy. But those models remain too slow or too unreliable to trust in real-time assistant tasks. Apple continues to optimize them, hoping that newer chips and smarter model compression will help. So far, that’s a work in progress.
Critics say Apple only has itself to blame. Teasing Siri’s next-level powers so far ahead of time set expectations through the roof. That’s not Apple’s usual play – they typically unveil new software just a few months before release, not a year in advance. You could argue they felt the heat (thanks, ChatGPT!) to prove they had big AI plans, so they broke their own playbook and hyped Siri way early. Now it just looks like a misstep.
A New Boss for a Not-So-New Problem
Apple isn’t just kicking the can down the road, and they’re actually tackling the Siri problem head-on. The biggest clue came in early 2025, when Apple shook up its AI leadership. John Giannandrea (Apple’s SVP of Machine Learning and AI Strategy) was quietly moved off Siri (no Hollywood-style firing, just a reassignment to robotics and experimental work). That move spoke volumes – the guy Apple poached from Google to supercharge Siri was no longer in charge of its fate, and rumors say Tim Cook had lost confidence in his roadmap.
Stepping into Giannandrea’s shoes is Mike Rockwell, the Vision Pro headset mastermind. Rockwell isn’t a theoretical AI guru, and he’s a product man who turned Vision Pro from a wild prototype into a device (albeit one with a luxury-car price tag). Now Apple wants him to work that same magic on Siri.
Rockwell wasted no time. He brought in key people from the Vision Pro team, rejigged Siri’s engineering leadership, and started a full-on rebuild. He also moved Siri under Craig Federighi’s software group instead of keeping it tucked away in a research silo. That shift sent a crystal-clear message – Siri is now a product that absolutely has to ship, no more academic side project.
Yes, Siri’s big overhaul got delayed, but it hasn’t been forgotten. With fresh leadership, a tighter timeline, and zero patience for half measures, Apple seems determined to stop Siri from embarrassing itself. Will it make a difference? Time will tell, but at least someone finally grabbed a wrench.
Inside Apple’s AI Partnerships With OpenAI and Alibaba
If Apple really wants to reinvent Siri and stake its claim in AI, it knows one thing for sure – it can’t go it alone. So at WWDC 2024, it dropped a surprise – partnering with OpenAI. Rather than pretend Siri suddenly learned everything overnight, Apple lets it tap into ChatGPT for tougher questions. With a user’s permission, Siri sends the query to ChatGPT, pulls back the answer, and delivers it – Apple style, with privacy securities and your IP safely hidden.
This move is as much damage control as it is convenient. Apple’s own Ajax models still trail OpenAI in speed and smarts, so it made sense to borrow the best until it catches up.
And it didn’t stop there. As part of its global expansion plans, Apple also reached an agreement with Alibaba to handle generative AI requests in China. Due to government restrictions and local infrastructure demands, Apple couldn’t rely on OpenAI or its own U.S.-based systems in that region. Instead, it handed the job to Alibaba Cloud’s Qwen model, which now processes Siri’s AI queries for Chinese users – same Siri experience, different regional brain.
In short, if Siri suddenly seems smarter this year, thank OpenAI. If it sounds smarter in China, thank Alibaba. And if it finally works on your iPhone without the confusion, maybe, just maybe, thank Apple for not trying to do everything alone this time.
So, Where Is Apple Really Going With AI?
Let’s be honest – the drama around Siri feels a bit overblown. People act like Apple owes them a ChatGPT clone baked into every iPhone. But if you already have ChatGPT, Gemini, or whatever new bot pops up this month, why demand that Apple copy the same thing? Just use the tool that works for you.
It looks like Apple gave in to the pressure, announced a smarter Siri too early, and sparked chaos. And while users obsess over delays, they ignore the progress Apple continues to make elsewhere. Take Apple Vision Pro, for example. Apple introduced features that actually change lives. One lets users with low vision zoom in on real-world objects. Another describes the environment aloud for people who can’t see it. No flashy demos. Just meaningful tech.
This isn’t a defense of Apple’s delays. The Siri rollout deserved better planning. So maybe the real question isn’t, ‘Why hasn’t Siri caught up yet?’ It’s, ‘Why does that matter so much?’ The internet screams about voice assistants, but forgets the bigger picture – Apple is building tools that help real people, not just win AI buzz. Just something to think about.
