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Will Apple’s Desperate Move to Save Siri Actually Work?
Apple is struggling to build its own smart assistant. I’ve been watching this story unfold, and it’s clear the tech giant is facing serious challenges with its Siri upgrade plans.
Apple’s AI Assistant Problems Are Getting Worse
Apple promised us a better Siri back in 2024. They said it would be more personal and smarter. But here we are in 2025, and that promise hasn’t happened yet.
The company had to delay the new Siri from 2025 to spring 2026. Why? Because their internal testing showed the AI assistant only worked properly two-thirds of the time. That’s not good enough for Apple’s standards.
I think this delay shows Apple is falling behind in the AI race. While Google and other companies are moving fast with their AI tools, Apple is stuck trying to fix basic problems.
Why Apple Might Use Outside Help
Apple is now talking to two big AI companies – OpenAI and Anthropic – about powering the new Siri. This would be a huge change for Apple, which usually builds everything in-house.
Here’s what’s happening:
- Apple asked both companies to train special versions of their AI models
- These models would run on Apple’s private cloud servers
- Apple is testing how well ChatGPT and Claude work compared to their own AI
- Early reports suggest Anthropic’s Claude might be the better choice
This move would mean Apple is admitting they can’t build competitive AI on their own. That’s a big deal for a company that prides itself on controlling every part of its products.
The Technical Challenges Apple Faces
Building a smart AI assistant is harder than it looks. Apple is dealing with several tough problems:
Quality Control Issues: The new Siri fails to work properly about one-third of the time. For a company known for polished products, this is unacceptable.
Complex Context Understanding: The AI needs to understand personal relationships, daily routines, and complex requests across multiple apps. This requires processing huge amounts of personal data while keeping it private.
Leadership Changes: Apple moved John Giannandrea off the Siri project and put Mike Rockwell in charge. This kind of leadership shuffle usually means a project is in trouble.
What This Means for Apple’s Future
I believe Apple’s struggles with AI could hurt them in the long run. Here’s why:
- The company’s core business – selling iPhones and other devices – isn’t immediately threatened by AI. But if Siri stays behind competitors like Google Assistant, people might start choosing Android phones instead.
- Apple is also facing competition from companies that never competed with them before. Google’s AI Overview feature is already hurting education companies like Chegg by keeping users on Google instead of sending them to other websites. This shows how powerful AI can change entire industries.
The Privacy Challenge
Apple wants to keep user data private, but this makes building good AI harder. Companies like Google and OpenAI can use massive amounts of internet data to train their models. Apple can’t do this because of its privacy promises.
This creates a tough choice: build weaker AI that protects privacy, or use outside AI that might not be as private. Apple seems to be choosing the second option by working with OpenAI and Anthropic.
Competition Is Getting Fierce
While Apple struggles, other companies are moving fast:
- Google has Gemini AI built into Android phones
- Samsung is using Google’s AI technology
- Even smaller companies like Perplexity are making deals with phone makers
Apple executives reportedly looked at buying Perplexity to boost their AI efforts. This shows how desperate they are to catch up.
What Happens Next
Apple hasn’t made a final decision about using outside AI for Siri. They’re still working on their own “LLM Siri” project internally. But the fact that they’re even considering outside help shows how far behind they are.
If Apple does partner with OpenAI or Anthropic, it would be a major shift in strategy. The company that built the iPhone by controlling every detail would be admitting they need help with AI.
I think this story shows that even the biggest tech companies can fall behind when new technologies emerge. Apple dominated the smartphone era, but AI might be different. The companies that got started early – like OpenAI and Google – have a big advantage.
For Apple users, this might actually be good news. Getting access to ChatGPT or Claude through Siri could make the assistant much more useful, even if it means Apple didn’t build it themselves.