Report: Revamped Siri to Be at the Core of Apple's New AI Strategy
Apple's shift to develop its own AI technology to keep up with competitors was today detailed in a The New York Times report.
Citing sources familiar with Apple's work, the report explains that the decision to revamp Siri was taken early last year by Apple's most senior executives. Senior vice president of software engineering Craig Federighi and senior vice president of Machine Learning and AI Strategy John Giannandrea are said to have spent several weeks testing OpenAI's ChatGPT to understand the ways in which the competitor made Siri look antiquated. The Siri team purportedly failed to receive attention and resources compared to other groups inside Apple, and the company has struggled to recruit and retain leading AI researchers.
Apple executives are said to be concerned that AI threatens the iPhone's market share because it has the potential to become a more compelling operating system with an ecosystem of AI apps that undermine the App Store. Apple apparently fears the iPhone becoming a "dumb brick" compared with other technology.
This conclusion triggered a significant reorganization at Apple amid determination to catch up in the race to develop AI tools. The company moved to reallocate employees and resources toward AI, and the change of strategy was a contributing factor in the decision to cancel its electric vehicle project. Apple's upcoming iPhone 16 models will supposedly feature more memory to support AI features.
Apple is expected to reveal a series of AI tools at its WWDC keynote on June 10, including an improved version of Siri that is more conversational and capable, with the ability to "chat" rather than merely respond to individual queries. The company is working on making Siri better at handling tasks such as setting timers, creating calendar appointments, adding items to Reminders, and summarizing text. Apple plans to market the new version of Siri as a more private alternative to rival AI services because most requests will be processed on-device rather than remotely in data centres. See the full The New York Times article for more information.
Popular Stories
In select U.S. states, residents can add their driver's license or state ID to the Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch, providing a convenient and contactless way to display proof of identity or age at select airports and businesses, and in select apps.
Unfortunately, this feature continues to roll out very slowly since it was announced in 2021, with only nine U.S. states and Puerto...
Apple is hiding a new ringtone within iOS 26.
The new ringtone is an alternative version of the existing Reflection ringtone, which has been the default ringtone since the iPhone X was released in 2017. It was discovered within the code for the first developer beta of iOS 26, but it remains hidden, so you will not find it in the list of ringtones available in the Settings app for now.
It...
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices.
Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of June 2025:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X through iPhone 14 Pro have a...
Apple today seeded the first betas of upcoming iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 updates to public beta testers, with the betas coming just a few days after Apple provided the betas to developers.
Testers who have signed up for beta updates through Apple's beta site can download iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software Update.
When the...
Apple will finally deliver the Apple Watch Ultra 3 sometime this year, according to analyst Jeff Pu of GF Securities Hong Kong (via @jukanlosreve).
The analyst expects both the Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3 to arrive this year (likely alongside the new iPhone 17 lineup, if previous launches are anything to go by), according to his latest product roadmap shared with...
Last week, we reported that iOS 26 introduces an opt-in Adaptive Power Mode on the iPhone, alongside the existing Low Power Mode.
Apple says that Adaptive Power Mode can make "small performance adjustments" when necessary to extend an iPhone's battery life, including slightly lowering the display brightness or allowing some activities to "take a little longer."
The full description of...
Spotify appears to be gearing up to launch its long-awaited lossless music tier.
Chris Messina (via TechCrunch) and Spicetify (via The Verge) spotted new lossless references within the code for Spotify's desktop app and web player.
With assistance from Aaron Perris, MacRumors has confirmed that the latest beta of the Spotify app for the iPhone also contains new lossless-related code....
Every year between 2015 and 2024, at least one Apple executive agreed to be interviewed by Daring Fireball's John Gruber for a special WWDC episode of his podcast, The Talk Show. Last year, for example, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi, marketing chief Greg Joswiak, and top AI researcher John Giannandrea joined Gruber on stage at the California Theatre in San Jose to discuss...
Apple is testing new Purple and Green color options for the iPhone 17 base model, according to new information shared by a leaker known as Majin Bu.
In a blog post today, Majin Bu said that only one of the two new colors might make the final cut, with Purple apparently being the more likely choice.
The base model iPhone 16 is available in five colors: Ultramarine, Teal, Pink, White, and...
