Apple confirms that Apple Intelligence Siri features are taking longer than expected

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AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in General Discussion edited March 7

While Apple scheduled and pushed out plenty of artificial intelligence-powered features in the last several months, the next batch of improvements to Siri aren't going to arrive on time.

Smartphone screen showing a notification about meeting Zac Wingate at Cafe Grenel and a calendar event for a production catch-up on July 3.
The type of question Apple promises Siri will be able to answer with Apple Intelligence. Image source: Apple



Like most other Big Tech companies, Apple has been making some pretty big strides in the AI space as of late. We've seen features like Genmoji, Image Playground, Writing Tools, and Visual Intelligence roll out over the past few months.

However, one feature that we were promised hasn't materialized yet -- the new, more personalized Siri. Siri was allegedly supposed to adopt a set of new Apple Intelligence features in iOS 18.4, but it looks like that won't be the case.

The reason for the delay is pretty unsurprising: the new Siri features aren't up to Apple's standards.

An Apple spokesperson told Daring Fireball that the company is facing a bit of an unexpected delay, but plans to introduce the new features "in the coming year."

"Siri helps our users find what they need and get things done quickly, and in just the past six months, we've made Siri more conversational, introduced new features like type to Siri and product knowledge, and added an integration with ChatGPT.

We've also been working on a more personalized Siri, giving it more awareness of your personal context, as well as the ability to take action for you within and across your apps. It's going to take us longer than we thought to deliver on these features and we anticipate rolling them out in the coming year."



This aligns with two reports, one in mid-February and another in early March, that suggested the voice-assistant may only get minor Apple Intelligence improvements before iOS 19.

This means features like Personal Context Understanding, In-App Actions, and Onscreen Awareness won't make an appearance until July for beta users, and September for everyone else -- if they even show up then.

When Apple first boasted about the feature in ads, it showed how someone could ask Siri the name of someone they met before and it would read their calendar for the answer. Another feature would allow a user to ask about a sports team, then say "when do they play next?" and Siri would add that event to their calendar.

Siri currently remains an unfinished hybrid of its old and new features, which hasn't been going quite as well as one would hope.



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  • Reply 1 of 36
    kkqd1337kkqd1337 Posts: 505member
    The current Apple AI and image generation is just awful. Absolutely terrible I would say.

    so seems like a sensible decision 
    Alex1Nwilliamlondontiredskillsssfe11pulseimageshecalderm4m40
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  • Reply 2 of 36
    entropysentropys Posts: 4,403member
    This is what happens when you have a supply chain expert in charge of an innovative company. 
    • Want to  make good computers so make some profit to do that; vs
    • Want to make a profit so make some good computers to do that . 
    A subtle difference, but turns out it is everything. It takes time to be revealed, and then it is clear to see and difficult to fix.
    Tim Apple is exposed as in the second category.  

    This Siri debacle is a clear example of it.  It has been poor for years, and nothing was done about it because software isn’t in the supply chain for hardware (thus low priority), and here we are.

    and now Apple is so far behind it is becoming uncool. But hey, let’s get that geriatric pompous git King Charles (or more likely, an underling of his media manager) to do a playlist.  
    edited March 7
    Alex1Nwilliamlondonmuthuk_vanalingamtiredskillsssfe11pulseimagesdewmewatto_cobrabyronl
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  • Reply 3 of 36
    Scot1scot1 Posts: 130member
    I’m a huge Apple fan, but Siri drives me crazy

    Sorry I can’t handle multiple requests at once.. ask exactly the same request and it works. 

    I tried to use image playground again. It was working before but now I get an error message saying that Siri and my iPhone must use the same language. Currently your iPhone is English Canada and Siri is set for English Canada, lol


    williamlondonentropystiredskillsssfe11pulseimagesSmittyWwatto_cobrabyronl
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  • Reply 4 of 36
    zinkdifferentzinkdifferent Posts: 66member
    Offering "Would you like to ask chatGPT about that?" (or words to that effect) as an option for every single request is pathetically embarrassing as an Apple 'solution' -- and then making this 'feature' only available on iPhone 15 and 16 models is just ridiculous.

    I use a shortcut to essentially replace Siri with chatGPT on my iPhone 14 Pro, where it works just fine. While 'Apple Intelligence' is a nice play on the 'AI' moniker, I'm concerned that the delivery is, currently, embarrassing ... and based on how badly Apple has shepherded and mishandled Siri since the original acquisition (basically forcing the original creators out, and then letting Siri languish (*)), I have very little hope for Apple Intelligence to set itself apart.

    It might be worth it for Apple leadership to revisit Steve's words...

    “It doesn't make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to to , We hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.”
            ― Steve Jobs, Steve Jobs: His Own Words and Wisdom


    entropyswilliamlondonssfe11pulseimageshypoluxawatto_cobrabyronl
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  • Reply 5 of 36
    Massiveattack87massiveattack87 Posts: 106member
    Lawsuit in 3, 2, 1...... 

    Honestly.. There are tons of people who bought iPhone 16 only due to Apple Intelligence. 

    Their iOS update gets worse and worse. Apple is so behind. 

    I think Apple really deserves a huge lawsuit. 
    entropysappleinsideruserlooplessjas99ssfe11pulseimageshecalderm4m40watto_cobrabyronl
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  • Reply 6 of 36
    entropysentropys Posts: 4,403member
    Scot1 said:

    I tried to use image playground again. It was working before but now I get an error message saying that Siri and my iPhone must use the same language. Currently your iPhone is English Canada and Siri is set for English Canada, lol

    At the risk of bringing in a distraction to the topic, and coming from the other side if the pacific, what is the difference between Yankee English and Canadian English? Cause it sounds all the same to me. Does Siri put an “eh” at the end of each sentence?

    pulseimageshecalderwilliamlondonwatto_cobrabyronl
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  • Reply 7 of 36
    canukstormcanukstorm Posts: 2,782member
    "In the lead-up to the latest delay, software chief Craig Federighi and other executives voiced strong concerns internally that the features didn’t work properly — or as advertised — in their personal testing, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing internal matters. An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment.

    Some within Apple’s AI division believe that work on the features could be scrapped altogether, and that Apple may have to rebuild the functions from scratch. The capabilities would then be delayed until a next-generation Siri that Apple hopes to begin rolling out in 2026.

    The company first demonstrated the features during its Worldwide Developers Conference last June, part of an unveiling of the Apple Intelligence AI platform. At the same annual event this year, Apple isn’t planning to show off any big AI breakthroughs. Instead, it will focus on integrating Apple Intelligence into more of its apps.

    The delays — especially of announced features — are embarrassing for Apple and add more evidence to the idea that the company is struggling in artificial intelligence. They also threaten to set back work on future improvements.

    Apple had been planning to make Siri more ChatGPT-like and conversational next year. But now only the initial underpinnings for that upgrade are expected to be ready by 2026, when iOS 19 debuts. The actual interface that users experience likely won’t arrive until iOS 20 in 2027, the people said.

    Bloomberg News reported earlier this week that Apple employees are questioning whether Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook or the company’s board needs to take action to change the leadership of the AI group. They believe that, short of major changes, Apple will continue to fall behind. Earlier this year, the company tapped veteran software leader Kim Vorrath to help the team.

    The delays mark an especially public setback for Apple because the company has been advertising the not-yet-ready features in TV commercials for nearly six months. When the company introduced the iPhone 16 last fall, it did so by selling customers on the idea that the device was “built for the ground up for Apple Intelligence.” Now, the core features for that experience might not be available until months after the iPhone 17 debuts.

    In anticipation of customer frustration, the company sent guidance to its AppleCare support representatives on Friday. “If customers ask about the timing of these Siri features, reiterate that we anticipate rolling them out in the coming year,” the memo said.

    There are also concerns internally that fixing Siri will require having more powerful AI models run on Apple’s devices. That could strain the hardware, meaning Apple either has to reduce its set of features or make the models run more slowly on current or older devices. It would also require upping the hardware capabilities of future products to make the features run at full strength.

    Siri did get some refinements as part of the rollout of iOS 18, including an integration with OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot and a text-based option called Type to Siri. It also includes Apple product knowledge and a new glowing interface, but those features don’t represent changes to the underlying technology.

    The slow pace threatens to put Apple further behind Amazon.com Inc. in the voice assistant market. That company will begin rolling out its highly anticipated Alexa+ this month."

    edited March 7
    ssfe11pulseimageswilliamlondon
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  • Reply 8 of 36
    Stabitha_Christiestabitha_christie Posts: 674member
    entropys said:
    This is what happens when you have a supply chain expert in charge of an innovative company. 
    • Want to  make good computers so make some profit to do that; vs
    • Want to make a profit so make some good computers to do that . 
    A subtle difference, but turns out it is everything. It takes time to be revealed, and then it is clear to see and difficult to fix.
    Tim Apple is exposed as in the second category.  

    This Siri debacle is a clear example of it.  It has been poor for years, and nothing was done about it because software isn’t in the supply chain for hardware (thus low priority), and here we are.

    and now Apple is so far behind it is becoming uncool. But hey, let’s get that geriatric pompous git King Charles (or more likely, an underling of his media manager) to do a playlist.  
    Yeah..... I totally get the impression that Craig Federighi is timid and would be incapable of advocating for himself 

    Do you actually think this nonuse through when you type it?
    ssfe11pulseimagesXedwatto_cobra
     4Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 9 of 36
    charlesncharlesn Posts: 1,390member
    CNBC is reporting that the Siri improvements are now delayed til 2026. That's the headline of the article currently running on the website. This (obviously) would mean an entire year of additional delay beyond a launch date that was already pushed out nine months from when A.I. Siri was first announced. My "Apple memory" goes back to roughly 1990 and I can't ever recall something like this happening before--a product announced for debut nine months later (that in itself is rare enough) and then blowing by that debut date by a full year. So I guess AI Siri now debuts in time for its sweet sixteen--but you really have to wonder if Apple is ever going to be able to fix Siri. smh. $166 billon in cash on hand and we can't do this? For context: just Apple's cash, if it were a separate company, would rank #90 on the list of the 100 most valuable companies.  
    meterestnzssfe11hecalderSmittyWwatto_cobra
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  • Reply 10 of 36
    looplessloopless Posts: 353member
    You guys don’t reflect what most people use Siri for. 99% of people use Siri to dictate text and read messages or emails, and get directions using maps-  and it’s damn good at that. I don’t find google much better with understanding speech, if at all. And the second use case is to control a smart home. For both of these use cases Siri works great. If you want to ask idiotic questions about how many super bowls some team won, then go ask google. For complex questions, you want to have an interaction with ChatGPT but that’s a separate way to work with AI, and not really what Siri is intended for. Apple intelligence is not Siri. All the other tools like summaries and email categories are actually super useful. Apple has to build out massive AI compute farms and integrate Siri into iOS and apps, that takes time. And Apple likes to get things right.
    jas99ssfe11pulseimagesneoncatwilliamlondoncharlesnwatto_cobra
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  • Reply 11 of 36
    mr moemr moe Posts: 4member
    loopless said:
    You guys don’t reflect what most people use Siri for. 99% of people use Siri to dictate text and read messages or emails, and get directions using maps-  and it’s damn good at that. I don’t find google much better with understanding speech, if at all. And the second use case is to control a smart home. For both of these use cases Siri works great. If you want to ask idiotic questions about how many super bowls some team won, then go ask google. For complex questions, you want to have an interaction with ChatGPT but that’s a separate way to work with AI, and not really what Siri is intended for. Apple intelligence is not Siri. All the other tools like summaries and email categories are actually super useful. Apple has to build out massive AI compute farms and integrate Siri into iOS and apps, that takes time. And Apple likes to get things right.
    My experience using Siri to control home hasn’t been pleasant at all. For my smart lights I have a scene called twinkling midnight sky, when I tell Siri to set twinkling midnight sky it sets an alarm for 12 AM with the tag twinkling. It used to work most of the time, now it rarely works correctly.
    ssfe11pulseimageshecalderwilliamlondondewmeSmittyW
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  • Reply 12 of 36
    entropysentropys Posts: 4,403member
    Stabitha_Christie said:
    entropys said:
    This is what happens when you have a supply chain expert in charge of an innovative company. 
    • Want to  make good computers so make some profit to do that; vs
    • Want to make a profit so make some good computers to do that . 
    A subtle difference, but turns out it is everything. It takes time to be revealed, and then it is clear to see and difficult to fix.
    Tim Apple is exposed as in the second category.  

    This Siri debacle is a clear example of it.  It has been poor for years, and nothing was done about it because software isn’t in the supply chain for hardware (thus low priority), and here we are.

    and now Apple is so far behind it is becoming uncool. But hey, let’s get that geriatric pompous git King Charles (or more likely, an underling of his media manager) to do a playlist.  
    Yeah..... I totally get the impression that Craig Federighi is timid and would be incapable of advocating for himself 

    Do you actually think this nonuse through when you type it?
    The trouble is definitely not Federighi,  it’s that he doesn’t win in the C-suites.
    tiredskillsdewmeSmittyW
     2Likes 0Dislikes 1Informative
  • Reply 13 of 36
    Scot1scot1 Posts: 130member
    entropys said:
    Scot1 said:lol

    I tried to use image playground again. It was working before but now I get an error message saying that Siri and my iPhone must use the same language. Currently your iPhone is English Canada and Siri is set for English Canada, lol

    At the risk of bringing in a distraction to the topic, and coming from the other side if the pacific, what is the difference between Yankee English and Canadian English? Cause it sounds all the same to me. Does Siri put an “eh” at the end of each sentence?


    watto_cobra
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  • Reply 14 of 36
    saareksaarek Posts: 1,607member
    Well, Siri launched back in 2011 with the iPhone 4S and it's been a moaned about disappointment since then. Might as well continue the trend.
    ssfe11avon b7pulseimagesneoncatwilliamlondondewmewatto_cobra
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  • Reply 15 of 36
    pulseimagespulseimages Posts: 688member
    Siri used to be useful on Apple TV to search for movies and shows. Now when I search for a title I’ll receive a simple “No” reply from Siri or “I can’t search for that here.” But if I search using the keyboard I find it right away. Very frustrating! 
    hecalderdewmeSmittyWwatto_cobra
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  • Reply 16 of 36
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,722member
    loopless said:
    You guys don’t reflect what most people use Siri for.  Apple intelligence is not Siri. All the other tools like summaries and email categories are actually super useful. Apple has to build out massive AI compute farms and integrate Siri into iOS and apps, that takes time. And Apple likes to get things right.
    ...which may require scrapping Siri altogether. 

    EDIT: There are reports coming out this morning that Apple has wasted more than a year trying to integrate Apple Intelligence with Siri before determining it just wasn't going to work. If accurate, that would help explain the "new" Siri moving to 2026. 
    edited March 8
    muthuk_vanalingamSmittyWwatto_cobra
     1Like 1Dislike 1Informative
  • Reply 17 of 36
    Stabitha_Christiestabitha_christie Posts: 674member
    entropys said:
    Stabitha_Christie said:
    entropys said:
    This is what happens when you have a supply chain expert in charge of an innovative company. 
    • Want to  make good computers so make some profit to do that; vs
    • Want to make a profit so make some good computers to do that . 
    A subtle difference, but turns out it is everything. It takes time to be revealed, and then it is clear to see and difficult to fix.
    Tim Apple is exposed as in the second category.  

    This Siri debacle is a clear example of it.  It has been poor for years, and nothing was done about it because software isn’t in the supply chain for hardware (thus low priority), and here we are.

    and now Apple is so far behind it is becoming uncool. But hey, let’s get that geriatric pompous git King Charles (or more likely, an underling of his media manager) to do a playlist.  
    Yeah..... I totally get the impression that Craig Federighi is timid and would be incapable of advocating for himself 

    Do you actually think this nonuse through when you type it?
    The trouble is definitely not Federighi,  it’s that he doesn’t win in the C-suites.
    And how do you know this? It's a rhetorical question, you are pretty obviously decided on the narrative you want to believe and are substituting your opinions as fact so that they  back that narrative. 
    watto_cobra
     1Like 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 18 of 36
    canukstormcanukstorm Posts: 2,782member
    Copland's Long Shadow - by John Kneeland - John’s Substack

    TL;DR => Siri is Apple's Copland moment
    williamlondon
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  • Reply 19 of 36
    mikethemartianmikethemartian Posts: 1,596member
    Stabitha_Christie said:
    entropys said:
    This is what happens when you have a supply chain expert in charge of an innovative company. 
    • Want to  make good computers so make some profit to do that; vs
    • Want to make a profit so make some good computers to do that . 
    A subtle difference, but turns out it is everything. It takes time to be revealed, and then it is clear to see and difficult to fix.
    Tim Apple is exposed as in the second category.  

    This Siri debacle is a clear example of it.  It has been poor for years, and nothing was done about it because software isn’t in the supply chain for hardware (thus low priority), and here we are.

    and now Apple is so far behind it is becoming uncool. But hey, let’s get that geriatric pompous git King Charles (or more likely, an underling of his media manager) to do a playlist.  
    Yeah..... I totally get the impression that Craig Federighi is timid and would be incapable of advocating for himself 

    Do you actually think this nonuse through when you type it?
    Craig Federighi isn’t in charge of the company and wherever he fits on the product vs profit continuum doesn’t matter.
    SmittyW
     0Likes 0Dislikes 1Informative
  • Reply 20 of 36
    hecalderhecalder Posts: 16member
    I think in a couple of years we will see a new company that will be as innovative and cool as it was for blackberry and now Apple. They are allowing the gap and this reminds me of blackberry when it was cool then they floundered and Apple came out and it was end of story! Same demise will happen in less than 2 years. If they don’t get on the ball! 
    williamlondonwatto_cobra
     0Likes 2Dislikes 0Informatives
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