Siri's AI Overhaul Delayed Again (yahoo.com) 21
Apple's long-promised overhaul of Siri has hit fresh problems during internal testing, forcing the company to push several key features out of the iOS 26.4 update that was slated for March and spread them across later releases, Bloomberg is reporting.
The new Siri -- first announced at WWDC in June 2024 and originally due by early 2025 -- struggles to reliably process queries, takes too long to respond and sometimes falls back on OpenAI's ChatGPT instead of Apple's own technology, the report said. Apple has instructed engineers to begin testing new Siri capabilities on iOS 26.5 instead, due in May, and internal builds of that update include a settings toggle labeled "preview" for the personal data features. A more ambitious chatbot-style Siri code-named Campo, powered by Google servers and a custom Gemini model, is in development for iOS 27 in September.
The new Siri -- first announced at WWDC in June 2024 and originally due by early 2025 -- struggles to reliably process queries, takes too long to respond and sometimes falls back on OpenAI's ChatGPT instead of Apple's own technology, the report said. Apple has instructed engineers to begin testing new Siri capabilities on iOS 26.5 instead, due in May, and internal builds of that update include a settings toggle labeled "preview" for the personal data features. A more ambitious chatbot-style Siri code-named Campo, powered by Google servers and a custom Gemini model, is in development for iOS 27 in September.
Yeah (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Nothing you can't fix by building 8-10 more datacenters and dumping in them 4 or 5 more "agentic expert" models to loop over each others' "reasoning" per request.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
It's actually kind of impressive that they are holding out and not shipping something that doesn't work. Shipping non-functional hype is the industry standard. We'll ignore that Siri sort of already doesn't work. They are refusing to make it worse.
Still time for an iPhone (Score:3)
Re:Still no time for an iPhone (Score:3, Insightful)
one cannot expect our incompetent upper class overlords to produce anything but even more overpriced and unimaginative technology, let's not forget the goal is not to produce good tech but to extract the most revenue in order to increase shareholder value
our devices and our services are designed to exploit us, manipulate us and surveil us, welcome to our classist corporatocracy
Re:Still time for an iPhone (Score:4, Insightful)
If phone interfaces (And windows 11) were designed by professional interface designers instead of as an afterthought by programmers then we wouldn't have to search to find functionality, it would be obvious where it is.
Re: (Score:2)
I don't know...have you actually worked with professional interface designers? I find that I usually have to coach them, to get it close to right.
Re: (Score:2)
They wouldn't even need to bother with building a good AI. Create a MCP server that has access to all important functions of the phone and other apps can provide the AI that does these things. But they don't want to let other apps access these things.
WHAT?! I am shocked. SHOCKED! (Score:2)
Well, not that shocked.
Actually, now that I think about it... I kind of expected this.
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, it was pretty likely.
That said, good on Apple for delaying. If/when they release, it needs to be really good - much better than anyone elses *on the phone*. As noted elsewhere, if you ask it to alter a setting which is deep in a spaghetti of menus, then it needs to do it right first time. It needs to be at least as good as the others for the inevitable stupid questions people will ask when testing it out too, I guess.
If Apple release a half-baked product, people really lose their gussets over it. Cont
Please delay the new features... (Score:5, Interesting)
... just focus on fixing the issues like bugs. Way too many problems. V26 is awful. Also, please stop doing new major versions every year. Why not slow down and take the time?
Re: (Score:2)
Seconded. There are so many things that need refactored in macOS, iOS, iPadOS, and other *OS items. Not to mention iCloud.
Even something as basic as Time Machine needs help. Ideally, have the ability for iCloud to handle S3, and Time Machine able to do deduplicating S3 backups similar to Restic or Duplicacy. Duplicacy has some nice things, including public key encryption of data, so machines can back up and deduplicate, but not read the data.
Then comes other items. Macs need something like BootCamp so
Re: (Score:2)
"Macs need something like BootCamp so they can be used for Linux."
Just release the full hardware specifications so Linux doesn't have to reverse engineer everything.
The good news (which may now be obsolete) is that OS 27 was supposed to be a clean-up and bug-fix version. But now that is suddenly the great AI savior introduction. Can they fix more bugs than the AI will generate?
Silly question, of course not.
Siri still can't tell a good joke then..... (Score:2)
Apple announces no date, but is already late (Score:2)
More unsubstantiated rumor from people whose business it is to generate CLICKS TO THEIR WEBSITE. When have you ever heard someone like Gurman or Bloomberg News admit they were wrong, or that they just made some shit up?
New Siri is a significant/important thing for Apple. They should spend the time to get it right The release should be based on functionality, not schedule. But I suspect the people who actually know about this are not leaking this kind of status.
Caveat Lector (and Caveat Investor)
Not a problem (Score:2)
My iPhone 13 is too old for this AI crap. Gives me a lot of incentive *not* to upgrade.
As Long As Siri Still Responds To- (Score:2)
"Siri, play Tubthumping, volume maximum."
I'll be ok with it.
——
I like my computers but I feel no need to create a relationship with them.
Apple's AI mistake (Score:3)
Apple's mistake was building *privacy* into their AI model. Nobody else did that, and it crippled Apple's solution. Apple pushed 5GB of AI model data to everyone's phone, and everyone complained about the space usage. Next up their AI is slow because it is using resources on the phone instead of big data centers. Apple did what everyone asked for, but users were ultimately unwilling to accept the compromise.
Personally, I liked the Apple solution better. On Android, if I lose internet for 2 seconds, and say to my phone "Call Bob Smith" it sits there for several minutes then times out with "try again later". BUT IT GETS WORSE: The local hardware transcribed the text perfectly. So there was no need for a server to be involved at all!
Apple's old approach was the right one, so it is really sad that they botched it.