Many were hopeful that Siri would soon be enhanced with advanced AI capabilities. Apple has hinted at this since the previous WWDC, showcasing a Siri that seemed to mirror the qualities of AI assistants like ChatGPT in various commercials and promotional content.

As we approach one year since WWDC 2024, a revamped Siri has yet to materialize. Speculation remains around its release timeline, as many believe it could still be quite some time away. However, it seems certain that any AI-enhanced Siri will not make an appearance at the upcoming WWDC 2025.

Apple’s AI Challenges

In a revealing article from Mark Gurman at Bloomberg, the disarray within Apple’s AI division becomes apparent. While a thorough recap of the piece is not necessary, it highlights some crucial developments related to Siri’s AI:

Initially, Apple’s leadership, including Craig Federighi, the Senior VP of Software Engineering, dismissed AI investments as non-essential, hesitating to divert focus from core software projects. However, after Federighi experienced the capabilities of ChatGPT in late 2022, he shifted his stance, urging executive teams to pursue AI integration aggressively for the next iOS version.

Although an AI division had existed pre-2022—especially with the recruitment of Google’s AI chief, John Giannandrea—the engineers were unable to deliver AI features that matched the standards set by competitors like OpenAI and Anthropic. The repercussions of this struggle surfaced in two primary ways: First, many AI features released by Apple were not thoroughly developed, leading to egregious errors. For instance, the notification summary feature faced backlash for presenting an inaccurate summary concerning a serious news event, which ultimately led Apple to disable the feature for news notifications.

Secondly, lacking the necessary technology to bolster their capabilities, Apple turned to external partners for assistance. Although there was considerable debate regarding potential collaborations—Giannandrea favored integrating with Google’s Gemini—Apple ultimately opted for ChatGPT, resulting in OpenAI’s tool being embedded in iPhones.

A lack of focus on AI also led Apple to miss out on acquiring GPUs, essential for training AI models, amid strict privacy regulations that restricted their capacity to use user data for model training. While some may argue this commitment to privacy is a positive aspect, it does pose challenges compared to competitors who have access to vast datasets.

Siri’s Journey Toward AI Integration

Despite some AI features being successfully integrated into Apple’s offerings, Siri has not been one of them. To develop AI capabilities for Siri, Apple had to bifurcate the assistant’s operational framework: one portion maintained traditional functional codes for standard tasks, while the other was designed to support AI. Although the AI component can function independently, merging it with the existing Siri infrastructure has proven problematic, leading to significant delays.

Rather than waiting until the technology was fully operational, Apple proceeded to market these promising AI traits. During WWDC 2024, pre-recorded demonstrations displayed Siri handling intricate queries with ease, illustrating its ability to draw upon user-specific knowledge and contextual information. A notable instance featured an Apple employee querying Siri for their mother’s travel details, which Siri efficiently retrieved from message conversations.

Noteworthy was Apple’s decision to feature actress Bella Ramsey from The Last of Us in promotional materials for AI Siri. In a commercial, she sought assistance from Siri to recall an acquaintance’s name from a previous meeting without specifying the date or location, suggesting that AI Siri would be contextually aware enough to process such ambiguities. However, this advertisement has since been removed from Apple’s YouTube channel.

Subsequently, regular updates for iOS 18 have introduced AI functionalities, but AI Siri has yet to debut. Reports—many sourced from Gurman—indicate ongoing troubles for Apple engineers as each delay pushes back AI Siri’s release to subsequent iOS updates. Initially, there was hope for a launch alongside iOS 18.4; however, Gurman highlights that even Federighi was caught off guard when AI Siri features failed to operate effectively during beta testing for this version.

The anticipated AI upgrades for Siri have been delayed once again, now labeled as “indefinite.” There are currently no plans to reveal these features with the impending roll-out of iOS 19. Although the intention remains to eventually launch AI Siri with iOS 19, the situation appears grim—reliability issues are reported, with functionalities failing approximately one-third of the time, and any fixes to significant bugs seem to unveil new challenges.

Reports suggest that Apple is cultivating an AI team in Zurich, focusing on a new LLM-based Siri which may eliminate the dual-component framework of the current version. Additionally, Mike Rockwell has taken the helm of this initiative, succeeding Giannandrea. Some speculate that Apple’s internal chatbot might even rival ChatGPT and could potentially enhance Siri if successfully integrated.

While there are glimmers of hope for Siri’s future advancements, it is indisputable that the past year has been tumultuous. If anticipation is high for Siri’s impending developments, it may be prudent to temper expectations for the near future.