Wayne Ma of The Information recently published a detailed report detailing how Apple “failed to remake Siri’s AI.” Ma blamed Apple’s “militant stance” on user privacy and poor management for the company’s AI problems.
Several former Apple employees who previously worked in the AI and machine learning group told The Information that poor management was “to blame” for the problems with the new version of Siri, with particular criticism directed at Robert Walker, who “lacked ambition and the willingness to take risks in developing future versions of the voice assistant.”
Many employees from other parts of Apple have called the AI/ML group “AIMLess,” a reference to its lackluster performance and lack of success.
After last year’s WWDC event, Apple faced criticism for showing off AI features that apparently didn’t even have working prototypes. Ma claims that “for members of the Siri team at Apple, the demo was a surprise.” According to one former employee, the only new feature at the time was a pulsating colored ribbon that would appear around the edges of the iPhone’s screen when a user invoked Siri.
For Apple, this Siri demo was a departure from its previous practice. Historically, the company has only shown off features and products at its conferences that were already working on test devices and had been vetted by the marketing team to ensure they could be released in a timely manner. Given this, it’s surprising that the company was able to show off any new Siri features at all in iOS 18.1 and 18.2.
Image Source: Apple
Today, according to The Information, Apple’s management is much more optimistic about Siri’s prospects. This is due to the active participation of Senior Vice President of Software Development Craig Federighi in the development of new AI functions. Under his leadership, a separate AI division, Intelligent Systems, was even created within Apple.
While the AI/ML team continues to operate under the leadership of SVP of Machine Learning and AI Strategy John Giannandrea, Ma’s article hints that there could be conflict and confrontation between the two units in the near future.
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According to Ma, Federighi has already made a significant change in policy on AI, from requiring Apple engineers to develop features using internal models only to now giving the green light to use third-party, open-source models.