Apple’s entering the AI age – and it’s already struggling
Two years ago, Apple promised a new Siri but never delivered. Now the same features are being heralded once more, as if nothing had happened. But this second attempt already appears to have been pushed too quickly.
On Monday, Apple unveiled its new artificial intelligence (AI), offering more features and Siri AI. The pitch: Apple’s assistant will finally understand me better and complete tasks more reliably. Cool.
Just one thing: I’m getting déjà vu. Apple already announced exactly the same features back at WWDC 2024. AI with access to your personal context. Better data protection than the competition. A new Siri that can handle more than just pre-programmed commands.
Neither CEO Tim Cook nor his colleagues have brought up this obvious repetition. Instead, the LLM-powered Siri is being touted as a revolution for the second time. Apparently, they’re trying to cover up the fact that, two years ago, it was nothing but vaporware. Even with one of the largest war chests in the history of capitalism, Apple hasn’t yet managed to deliver on its promises of in-house AI models. As a result, the company even faced a class-action lawsuit for misleading advertising. In the end, Tim Cook hit the panic button – a licensed Google AI – and referred to the whole thing as deep cooperation. Just how stupid does Cupertino think we are?
Source: Screenshot from Apple Keynote
Too much fine print
But okay, let’s just forget about this. Sure, Siri AI is definitely going to be great this time around. And it’ll definitely come out just as quickly and look just as polished as I’ve come to expect from Apple products. Right?
Right?!
No chance. Siri AI isn’t coming out right now. Not even with the new operating systems in September – only «later this year.» In a beta version. Only in English. And as shown, this feature will only be available on devices with the latest chips. Not in the EU or China for the time being. This long list of limitations shows that the launch, too, has been completely rushed due to immense pressure on Apple.
Source: Screenshot from Apple Keynote
The features shown here don’t blow me away in 2026 either. Siri can look up and analyse information, send messages and create calendar entries. One unique selling point is the incorporation of personal context. But it’ll only work properly if you use Apple’s own apps for everything. The assistant shouldn’t have access to information from Gmail, WhatsApp or Outlook.
The gambit could pay off, despite a rough start
So, does this mean everything is plain bad? Of course not. The cross-platform integration of Siri AI and other AI features looks promising. Both visually and technically. Some of the agent’s functions, such as automatically changing unsafe passwords, seem really useful. I’m also impressed by Apple’s privacy policies. That alone will make me use Siri AI over other chatbots.
While other tech giants are spending vast amounts of capital on AI development and server farms, Apple has held back so far. According to reports, licensing Gemini costs Apple one billion dollars a year. Pocket change. Conversely, Google pays twenty times that to remain the default search engine on iPhone.
Whether Apple will still be able to obtain external AI models at such low prices going forward depends on various factors: will competition remain as fierce as it has been so far? Can open-source models keep up? Will Cupertino ever allow Google or anyone else to turn our Siri queries into advertising revenue, as is the case with the search engine? If so, the strategy could work in the long run. Apple’s entry into the AI era, however, is likely to go down in company history as a fiasco.
We talked more about the new Apple Intelligence in the latest episode of our Swiss-German Take a Byte podcast:
My fingerprint often changes so drastically that my MacBook doesn't recognise it anymore. The reason? If I'm not clinging to a monitor or camera, I'm probably clinging to a rockface by the tips of my fingers.
This is a subjective opinion of the editorial team. It doesn't necessarily reflect the position of the company.
Show all
