Apple Intelligence & Siri team getting a boost from fixer Kim Vorrath

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Long-time Apple executive Kim Vorrath has been moved into the Apple Intelligence team following her successes on projects from Apple Vision Pro to the original iPhone.

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Apple Intelligence and Siri



The claim that Apple is behind on artificial intelligence may never go away, despite the company's long history of working in the field. But a new rejigging of staff on the Apple Intelligence project at least suggests that the company believes it has work to do.

Specifically, according to Bloomberg, Kim Vorrath has been appointed
as a top deputy in Apple's artificial intelligence and machine learning division. She will be reporting to Apple Intelligence and Siri chief John Giannandrea.

Despite not being as well-known outside of Apple as other executives, inside the company, Vorrath has a track record of getting difficult projects across the finishing line. She joined Apple as an intern in 1987, was then hired on staff in 1988 -- and has never left.

Her most recent work was on the Apple Vision Pro, and she was moved into that role in 2019. It was seen at the time as Apple accelerating its plans for the AR headset.

Before that, Vorrath she ran the project management of iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. Most notably, she lead the project management for the original iPhone's software team.

Across Vorrath's many high-profile Apple projects, she has been known for keeping work on schedule, and for implementing rigorous bug testing. Consequently, her move to the Apple Intelligence and Siri team is likely to be because the project needs to be given more impetus.

While Apple has been working on artificial intelligence and machine learning for many years, the perception is that has fallen behind. This is because it has not produced an equivalent to ChatGPT, even as its major rivals have.

Apple does seem to be taking a different approach, though, including a greater emphasis on privacy through on-device AI processing. Yet its most prominent machine learning feature remains Siri, which is lacking compared to other AI services.

The development Siri has reportedly seen problems over both implementing privacy, and surmounting internal fighting. Kim Vorrath's move, then, is likely to get the team focused.

It's also a sign of how Apple Intelligence, and perhaps especially Siri, is considered more important within Apple than the Apple Vision Pro, too.

While Vorrath is said to have already been advising the team, she comes on board now just as Apple nears its promised release of a better Siri, which is currently expected to launch with iOS 18.4.

Apple has not commented on the staff move.



Read on AppleInsider

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 12
    thttht Posts: 5,814member
    Sounds like she is on the retirement transition plan, too?

    This might be her last big project. 
    SmittyWwatto_cobra
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  • Reply 2 of 12
    I don't know what can save Siri - not sure a project manager is enough.  As an article by John Gruber just yesterday related, Siri is dumb and apparently getting dumber by the day: https://daringfireball.net/2025/01/siri_is_super_dumb_and_getting_dumber
    .While I've never asked Siri sports questions, I can attest to its stupidity.  Even seemingly simple requests such as "Play all songs by James [a band in my library]" get incorrect responses (in this case, Siri insists on playing songs from one particular album only).

    Siri is now, what, 14 years old?  There hasn't been an excuse for this level of ineptitude in years.  At this point, my money is that Siri won't get much better any time soon - even with AI help.  Yet AAPL stock has a lot riding on Siri getting better  - it's literally the only candidate for a "killer app" when it comes to AI on iPhone.  All the other AI features that have been introduced so far run from pure gimmick (e.g. genmoji) to niche (e.g. object deletion in Photo) to useful-but-not-must-have (e.g. improved searching within Photos).  Only a vastly improved Siri - one that finally delivers on the 14 year old promise of becoming a helpful personal assistant - would help Apple re-invigorate iPhone sales.
    williamlondonwatto_cobramuthuk_vanalingam
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  • Reply 3 of 12
    thttht Posts: 5,814member
    Gruber’s monthly sniping at Siri is not really helping imo. Most of the time, it has something to do with how Gruber enunciates, grammar, or perhaps how he has his devices setup. 

    Like 90% of the times Gruber has posted about Siri failing this or that, I asked Siri how many Superbowls the Eagles have won, and it answer correctly with one Super Bowl in 2018.

    With Gruber being a Cowboys homer, maybe he was just pissed off with the answer he got?

    Anyways, I’m still ambivalent on whether Apple should even have a chat bot product. It’s basically next generation search, with all the foibles of entering the search query with proper terms, except now you need precise grammar and syntax. “Prompt engineering” isn’t becoming a field for nothing. Search isn’t Apple’s forte and they don’t want to be good at it. 

    And no, it won’t increase iPhone sales. The market is saturated and Apple has a rather hefty chunk of the high end. The only way they get more sales is to lower prices, but they likely won’t make more profits doing that. 
    watto_cobraforegoneconclusion
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  • Reply 4 of 12
    canukstormcanukstorm Posts: 2,770member
    tht said:
    Sounds like she is on the retirement transition plan, too?

    This might be her last big project. 
    If she's as good as this article states, maybe she should considered for Federighi's replacement.
    williamlondon
     0Likes 1Dislike 0Informatives
  • Reply 5 of 12
    thttht Posts: 5,814member
    tht said:
    Sounds like she is on the retirement transition plan, too?

    This might be her last big project. 
    If she's as good as this article states, maybe she should considered for Federighi's replacement.
    She has 37 years at Apple. That's definitely retirement age. If she wanted the job, the time should have been when Forstall was fired. She was likely loyal to Forstall and taking his position was unsavory for her, or that such management position was what she wanted. Just me guessing.
    canukstormwatto_cobramacplusplus
     3Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 6 of 12
    tht said:
    tht said:
    Sounds like she is on the retirement transition plan, too?

    This might be her last big project. 
    If she's as good as this article states, maybe she should considered for Federighi's replacement.
    She has 37 years at Apple. That's definitely retirement age. If she wanted the job, the time should have been when Forstall was fired. She was likely loyal to Forstall and taking his position was unsavory for her, or that such management position was what she wanted. Just me guessing.
    Then at the very least make her John Giannandrea's replacement because he's been there many years and done nothing.
    watto_cobraAppleAlwayswilliamlondon
     2Likes 1Dislike 0Informatives
  • Reply 7 of 12
    NOW, Apple recognizes that Siri is so bad and dumb and their half-backed Apple Intelligence is nothing burger. What a bunch of idiots at Apple.

    Fire John Giannandrea. Hire Ilya Sutskever. 

    Bringing veteran X or Y does not help too much. 

    Apple is clearly far far behind they are in AI. 

    Their incompetence. 
    AppleAlwaysjas99
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  • Reply 8 of 12
    tht said:
    Gruber’s monthly sniping at Siri is not really helping imo. Most of the time, it has something to do with how Gruber enunciates, grammar, or perhaps how he has his devices setup. 
    Yeah, I'm not sure why he doesn't realize that the quality of the answer is typically based on the way that the question is asked. Asking Siri about Super Bowl winners by year seems to work fine.
    jas99
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  • Reply 9 of 12
    We have the original music Home Pods. My wife is from England. Siri has gotten better responding to her requests for music by band or singer name over the years. Sometimes the request works and the same request another time comes back not heard of.

    If one builds a house on quick sand, it is very hard to get above the first floor. Siri is still in Beta mode as far as I can see. Basic utility needs to be 100%. Bad programming code just gets worse with ever more patches.  It becomes a whack a. mold issue then.

    The sad thing is that Siri has the same faults on all platforms. 

    It would be better to turn it off on all but the iPhone and get it working right there. My opinion is that Siri is not a selling point on the other devices.

    Maybe Apple needs to do an etch-a-sketch and create a new operating system from scratch. Only add  features when they are bullet proof. 

    Apple customers should not have to feel like they are beta testers on every new device they buy from Apple like for the last five years or so.


    williamlondon
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  • Reply 10 of 12
    dewmedewme Posts: 5,873member
    tht said:
    tht said:
    Sounds like she is on the retirement transition plan, too?

    This might be her last big project. 
    If she's as good as this article states, maybe she should considered for Federighi's replacement.
    She has 37 years at Apple. That's definitely retirement age. If she wanted the job, the time should have been when Forstall was fired. She was likely loyal to Forstall and taking his position was unsavory for her, or that such management position was what she wanted. Just me guessing.
    She sounds exactly like someone I would want as a team leader. With 37 years with the same organization she obviously loves doing the work that she does and has established a level of mastery and confidence that enhances her contributions to the company immensely. The culture of always chasing the gold ring often results in the Peter Principle playing out in reality. If she is excited to jump out of bed every day and get on with it and still loves what she’s doing, she’s living her dream and the company is all the better for it. It’s funny that the cliche of “enjoy the journey rather than focusing on the destination” is so often put forth but outsiders often criticize people who do exactly that instead of always focusing on climbing the proverbial ladder. 

    I imagine she’s one of those people who chooses to retire when the job is either no longer fun or her priorities change to living her life outside of the Apple bubble.
    edited January 25
    canukstormmuthuk_vanalingam
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  • Reply 11 of 12
    Either John G is not upto what was expected of him or Apple's environment is not letting him ( e.g.,hiring the right people, being open about what is worked on so that the real talented people want to come in) deliver. Either way, something needs to change if Apple wants to stay relevant in the next decade.

    williamlondon
     0Likes 1Dislike 0Informatives
  • Reply 12 of 12
    saareksaarek Posts: 1,594member
    tht said:
    Gruber’s monthly sniping at Siri is not really helping imo. Most of the time, it has something to do with how Gruber enunciates, grammar, or perhaps how he has his devices setup. 
    Yeah, I'm not sure why he doesn't realize that the quality of the answer is typically based on the way that the question is asked. Asking Siri about Super Bowl winners by year seems to work fine.
    Respectfully, I think you’re missing the point. Siri should be able to understand the question and answer it.

    For a personal assistant app, If a user has to use a specific syntax, well, then the product has already failed.

    Billions of people own products that ship with Siri. Apple advertise Siri as a service someone can just speak to, it should operate accordingly.
    neoncatwilliamlondon
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