Apple's got troubles with its AI efforts, highlighted by a delayed overhaul to its Siri personal assistant. And the company has reportedly decided to look inward for the solution.
Earlier this month, Apple conceded publicly that features like a context-aware Siri that could work across various apps on your iPhone would not be part of iOS 18 as promised and may not even be ready until 2026. And now Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports that Apple is making changes to whose overseeing the project.
According to the report, CEO Tim Cook has become dissatisfied with the efforts led by current Apple Intelligence head John Giannadrea. Reportedly, Giannadrea will no longer oversee Siri development, with Apple executive Mike Rockwell taking over those efforts.
If Rockwell's name isn't familiar, his work should be. He's credited as the creator of the Apple Vision Pro headset. Meanwhile, Giannadrea will remain involved in Apple's AI efforts, Bloomberg reports.
The personnel reshuffle emphasizes the importance Apple places on the growth of Apple Intelligence. And the company's choice to take over Siri's revamp signals its belief in Rockwell's reputation reputation for getting products with difficult technical issues out the door, as he did with the Vision Pro.
Bringing in some Vision [Pro]
While the Vision Pro hasn't been selling gangbusters for Apple, largely thanks to its $3,500 price, the headset is fairly impressive and does what Apple claims it's supposed to — something you can't say about the Apple Intelligence version of Siri.
Reportedly, the effort to get the Vision Pro out the door involved a large team of engineers, designers and even involved artificial intelligence to complete — all of which was overseen by Rockwell.
This isn't the only move Apple has made in the last few months to right Siri. In January, reports surfaced that Kim Vorrath was brought into the AI team, an internal Apple “fixer,” and apparently, one of Rockwell's lieutenants to aid with Siri.
It's possible the move was an early foray so that Rockwell would have reports ready when he was finally brought on.
Siri is broken
An AI-assisted Siri was supposed to be a center-piece of Apple's attempt at AI with Apple Intelligence.
However, subsequent reports have indicated that the AI-boosted voice assistant only works two-thirds to 80% of the time, and that's just in internal testing of features that have yet to launch.
Now, users are complaining that even the shipping version of Siri isn't working properly. A better Siri is missing and that's problem, but a broken Siri is just as bad.
Apple Intelligence outlook
Whether or not consumers are demanding generative AI features is beside the point now. Large tech companies like Apple are leaning into AI, and Apple aggressively advertised its version of AI during WWDC 2024 and as a key reason to buy the iPhone 16.
The slow rollout of Apple Intelligence has either produced delays of key AI features like a revamped Siri or the removal of tools like AI-generated notification summaries.
Rockwell seemingly has a good track record and he may get Apple's ambitions set to true, but he has a big job in front of him. We're certain whatever AI tools he's able to push out will receive intense scrutiny after so many delays.
