Apple’s Siri Chaos: From “Artificial Intelligence” to “Artificial Indecision”
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A new report from The Information has unveiled the backstage circus behind the grand launch of Apple’s new Siri powered by Apple Intelligence.
Earlier, Apple subtly announced that some AI features would be “taking a little longer,” and according to Reuters, Siri’s fancy new skills have now officially been delayed until 2026. Yes, if you’re waiting for a smarter Siri, you might want to invest in a very comfy chair.
Initially, Apple planned to develop two language models: the “Mini Mouse” to run on devices and the “Mighty Mouse” to handle cloud processing. However, after spinning around indecisively like a confused carousel, leadership scrapped the plan and decided to bet everything on one giant cloud model. Result? Engineers lost motivation, waved goodbye, and left behind their dreams of a smarter Siri.
Beyond shaky strategies that changed faster than the weather, Apple faced internal “family feuds.” Several former AI/ML team members described Siri leadership as “weak,” with a workplace culture that was “too chill” and ambitions that were practically non-existent. Internally, the team even earned the nickname “AIMLess” — a wordplay combining “AI/ML” with “aimless” — while Siri was dubbed the “hot potato” nobody wanted to hold onto for too long.
John Giannandrea, Apple’s AI chief, believed that Siri could be saved by better training data and enhanced web search. When ChatGPT stormed the world in 2022, Giannandrea remained calm and sipped his tea, shrugging off chatbots as mostly hype. Meanwhile, Siri team leader Robby Walker chased after “tiny victories,” like dropping the word “Hey” from “Hey Siri” — a change that, believe it or not, took a full two years to complete.
Another project, codenamed “Link,” aimed to turn the Vision Pro into a voice-controlled marvel. Spoiler alert: Most features fell apart faster than a house of cards because the Siri team couldn’t get them to work.
Even more amusing, most of the dazzling Siri features shown off at WWDC 2024 — reading emails, pulling flight info in real time, reminding you about lunch dates, planning trips in Maps — were actually scripted demos. Many Siri team members watched the demo and thought, “Wait, we built that?” On prototype devices, the only thing working reliably was the flashy animated light band — the new visual symbol of Apple Intelligence.
Apple’s decision to flaunt a not-quite-working demo was a bold departure from their long tradition of “only showing features that actually exist.” Nevertheless, some employees remain optimistic, believing Craig Federighi and Mike Rockwell can save the day. Federighi reportedly told Siri engineers to “do whatever it takes,” including borrowing open-source code or third-party models if necessary. That’s a big move for a company famous for its “we build everything ourselves” attitude.
As for team morale? In an internal meeting, Senior Director Robby Walker admitted many Siri employees were feeling “angry, frustrated, exhausted, and embarrassed.” He still praised the team’s hard work and promised Apple would continue striving to create “the best virtual assistant in the world.” Hang in there, folks — just 12 more months (or maybe 24).
According to Bloomberg, Apple currently has no plans to fire John Giannandrea or any other Siri project leaders. However, the company is discussing bringing in more senior executives under Giannandrea to speed things up. Fingers crossed.
Finally, Apple has announced that WWDC 2025 will run from June 9–13, where they will showcase iOS 19, iPadOS 19, and macOS 19. iOS 19 is expected to feature a brand-new design — but as for Apple Intelligence? Well, don’t hold your breath.