Gurman: Apple Believes Its AI Technology Is Two Years Behind Rivals

Some Apple employees believe that the company's in-house generative AI technology powering Apple Intelligence is more than two years behind industry leaders, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

apple intelligence black
Writing in his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman's sources within Apple tell him that the company's own studies suggest its upcoming AI features lack the "wow factor" of rival technologies currently offered by the likes of Google, OpenAI, and Meta.

For example, internal studies at Apple reportedly show that OpenAI's ChatGPT is 25% more accurate than the new Siri and can answer 30% more questions. Of course, Apple has already conceded as much, given that part of its strategy includes a partnership with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT into its operating systems, providing users with the option to tap into greater generative AI assistance if they want it.

Despite the setback, Gurman notes that Apple is in the unique position of presiding over a vast ecosystem of tightly integrated devices, which gives it the advantage of being able to quickly deploy new technologies across its product line. This could prove advantageous as the company works to close the AI gap with competitors, and its history of successfully entering new markets suggests it shouldn't be counted out.

Apple's latest iPhone 16 series supports Apple Intelligence, as does its Macs and its iPad lineup (with the exception of the entry-level model) following last week's iPad mini 7 announcement. The first set of AI features are expected to roll out to these devices next week.

Meanwhile, a new iPhone SE 4 with Apple Intelligence support is set to launch in March, with an AI-capable entry-level iPad said to be coming later in the same year. In addition, Apple is working on bringing the technology to Vision Pro, and given that AI notification summaries can be delivered to Apple Watch, Gurman suggests that by early 2026, "nearly every Apple device with a screen" will run Apple Intelligence.

Popular Stories

airpods pro 3 purple

New, Higher End AirPods Pro Coming This Year

Tuesday January 20, 2026 9:05 am PST by
Apple is planning to debut a high-end secondary version of AirPods Pro 3 this year, sitting in the lineup alongside the current model, reports suggest. Back in September 2025, supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported that Apple is planning to introduce a successor to the AirPods Pro 3 in 2026. This would be somewhat unusual since Apple normally waits around three years to make major...
smaller dynamic island iphone 18 pro Filip Vabrous%CC%8Cek

iPhone 18 Pro Leak: Smaller Dynamic Island, No Top-Left Camera Cutout

Tuesday January 20, 2026 2:34 am PST by
Over the last few months, rumors around the iPhone 18 Pro's front-panel design have been conflicted, with some supply-chain leaks pointing to under-display Face ID, reports suggesting a top-left hole-punch camera, and debate over whether the familiar Dynamic Island will shrink, shift, or disappear entirely. Today, Weibo-based leaker Instant Digital shared new details that appear to clarify the ...
iOS 27 Mock Quick

iOS 27 Will Add These 8 New Features to Your iPhone

Sunday January 18, 2026 3:51 pm PST by
iOS 27 is still many months away, but there are already plenty of rumors about new features that will be included in the software update. The first beta of iOS 27 will be released during WWDC 2026 in June, and the update should be released to all users with a compatible iPhone in September. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that iOS 27 will be similar to Mac OS X Snow Leopard, in the sense...
14 inch MacBook Pro Keyboard

MacBook Pro Buyers Now Facing Up to a Two-Month Wait Ahead of New Models

Sunday January 18, 2026 6:50 pm PST by
MacBook Pro availability is tightening on Apple's online store, with select configurations facing up to a two-month delivery timeframe in the United States. A few 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro configurations with an M4 Pro chip are not facing any shipping delay, but estimated delivery dates for many configurations with an M4 Max chip range from February 6 to February 24 or even later. At...
Liquid Glass App Store Feature

App Store and Apple TV Experiencing Outage

Tuesday January 20, 2026 4:36 pm PST by
Apple's App Store, iTunes Store, and Apple TV service are experiencing an outage at the current time, according to Apple's System Status page. Apple says that some users may be experiencing issues with the App Store and iTunes Store. Apple also says some users may be seeing intermittent issues with Apple TV. The Apple TV Channels feature is down too, and users may be unable to access some...

Top Rated Comments

DeanCorp Avatar
16 months ago
Easily 2 years behind if not more. Siri is absolutely hopeless “I’ve found this on the web”
Score: 52 Votes (Like | Disagree)
2540497 Avatar
16 months ago
The whole world knows this.

Apple got caught in a panic when ChatGPT emerged out of nowhere, they probably knew rivals Samsung and Google were working on AI but I can guarantee Apple brushed it off until they were caught by the ChatGPT earthquake.

To be fair, it wasn't an expected earthquake, as evidenced by the sharp share price rises of AI-linked tech companies not long after.

But nevertheless it was an earthquake and Apple had done nothing, I repeat nothing, to reinforce the foundations, aka invest in AI. This is even more outrageous when you factor in how long they've had Siri baked into their products (Samsung killed off Bixby, etc). Siri has barely changed since it was introduced in 2011. Yes. 2011.

Now they are playing a desperate catch up and rushing something, anything, out without little care or thought. It is wholly embarrassing to release a suite of products with a cornerstone product Apple 'Intelligence' that isn't even available. Embarrassing.

Tim Cook has overstayed his welcome and needs to move on, time is proving a lot of (not all, but a lot of) his judgement calls have been wrong.
Score: 31 Votes (Like | Disagree)
contacos Avatar
16 months ago
Is anyone else barely using AI tools because you're just so used to doing things the "old way"? For me, certain workflows have become such a habit that it's tough to change them now.

The main thing I use is rephrasing emails to C-Level folks with ChatGPT, but beyond that, I don’t really feel the need for it in my day-to-day. To me, using AI feels a bit like giving instructions to an agency—you spend so much time explaining what you want that it almost feels faster to just do it yourself! Maybe I'm just getting old, haha.

The Apple Intelligence features also seem almost hidden? I always forget it is even there or an option.

On a side note, I do think the new Siri "glow" effect looks cool
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ifxf Avatar
16 months ago
Other then generating fake homework papers, what can AI do?
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
oneteam Avatar
16 months ago
It’s not even available to the general public, so yeah.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BigDO Avatar
16 months ago
Yay, let me rush out and get an iPhone 16.

Oh, wait...
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)