New Siri will bring voice control to just about all apps -- but maybe not banking

AppleInsider

Apple's goal for its Apple Intelligence-based Siri is to give it the ability to control apps through voice commands, but will be limited at launch, and may never control banking apps.

Apple Intelligence will give Siri the ability to control apps by voice alone

It's previously been reported that Apple had opened up Siri to developers specifically so that it would become more context aware when a user makes a request. That would be via the increasingly important app intents system, and now Bloomberg says that having Siri control apps by voice is the real focus of Apple's development work.

Siri can already open apps and achieve a degree of further control by having voice commands trigger Shortcuts. But reportedly the ambition now is for a user to be able to do everything from editing photos, buying items, or adding social media comments, all without touching the iPhone screen.

It's claimed that Apple is already testing this functionality across a series of popular third-party apps, such as Uber, Amazon, YouTube, Facebook and others. Apple is also building this into its own apps, plus some selected games.

Reportedly, the feature will either exclude or at least limit the control of banking, financial and other sensitive apps, perhaps including health. That's because the feature has to be entirely and constantly reliable, and Apple will not be rolling it out to all apps at once.

The report claims that this use of Siri is enormously significant, and specifically that it is vastly more important than the promised ability to ask Siri the name of someone a user has forgotten. But that promise was a rare demonstration of AI being used for something people would actually do.

Opening an app by asking for it would be nice, and it has accessibility benefits. But it can already be done and this extension to controlling all of an app's features is just that, an extension instead of something new.

It would turn the iPhone and Siri into a "Star Trek"-like device, and it could be an impressively fast way of using devices. But Apple needs to show us a reason to want Apple Intelligence, and "what's the name of the guy I met that time" is what would persuade more people than a quicker way to leave a sarky comment on Facebook.

Perhaps an improved search facility would help, too. The latest reports are that Siri may gain ChatGPT-like search powers in the first half of 2026.

Rumor Score: Possible

Read on AppleInsider

gmgravytrain

Many top people believe computing is now all about A.I. and A.I. data centers scattered all over the planet.  If a tech company doesn't follow standard beliefs, then they're just going to be left in the dust.  Apple has already been left in the dust by Nvidia and Microsoft.  I'm not a fan of A.I. and I hate the idea of water- and energy-wasting A.I. data centers all over the U.S.  I prefer Apple's approach to small, on-device A.I. but because of Apple's small approach to A.I. isn't favored by the computing industry or big investors, Apple has lost plenty of value.  On-device A.I. seems much more practical than running dozens of A.I. data centers 24/7/365.  I don't know why people aren't highly concerned about climate change brought about by all these A.I. data centers using so much energy.  It's almost as though people welcome them.  All this praise because a data center has hundreds of thousands of GPUs seems sort of stupid.  It seems to me is that these data centers will cause more harm than good.  Maybe I'm just old-fashioned.  Anyway, I hope Apple solves the Siri problem of not being as useful as expected, but I'll still continue to use Apple products even if Siri isn't an A.I. champ.  I don't need to rely on A.I. to get things done.

22july2013

Computers used to be room-sized 50 years ago, but can now be worn on your wrist. AI data centres will probably follow suit. In less time.

blackwhitepanda

gmgravytrain said:

Many top people believe computing is now all about A.I. and A.I. data centers scattered all over the planet.  If a tech company doesn't follow standard beliefs, then they're just going to be left in the dust.  Apple has already been left in the dust by Nvidia and Microsoft.  I'm not a fan of A.I. and I hate the idea of water- and energy-wasting A.I. data centers all over the U.S.  I prefer Apple's approach to small, on-device A.I. but because of Apple's small approach to A.I. isn't favored by the computing industry or big investors, Apple has lost plenty of value.  On-device A.I. seems much more practical than running dozens of A.I. data centers 24/7/365.  I don't know why people aren't highly concerned about climate change brought about by all these A.I. data centers using so much energy.  It's almost as though people welcome them.  All this praise because a data center has hundreds of thousands of GPUs seems sort of stupid.  It seems to me is that these data centers will cause more harm than good.  Maybe I'm just old-fashioned.  Anyway, I hope Apple solves the Siri problem of not being as useful as expected, but I'll still continue to use Apple products even if Siri isn't an A.I. champ.  I don't need to rely on A.I. to get things done.

I don´t get your comparison Apple vs. Microsoft and Nvidia.
They are too different from each other. 

What has Microsoft done so far to be an AI player? Surely, Microsoft does provide an AI infrastructure, but Microsoft has no comparable voice assistant. Microsoft is completely dependent on OpenAI for its co-pilot, which is a gabbage as well. 
Have you already read about the relationship between Microsoft and OpenAI? Here, Microsoft is also in a very anxious relationship with OpenAI. 
Nvidia is also dependent on big players incl. META, Tesla, Alphabet and Microsoft. If those big techs stop or reduce their CapEx, Nvidia will be hit. 

Apple is just a B2C company while Microsoft and Nvidia are B2B companies. Too different.

AI is here to stay like Internet. Even a bubble burst, AI will remain important. 

appleinsideruser

Sounds like they’re taking a leaf out of Jonny Ives new book/venture. Almost no need for a screen, let alone touching it.