Apple’s Siri AI Delay Causes Morale to Plummet

Last week, Apple made a highly embarrassing announcement in a classic Friday news dump, revealing that it would be postponing its plans to integrate artificial intelligence-powered capabilities into its voice assistant, Siri. This announcement not only led to a decline in the company’s stock price but also significantly impacted the morale of the Siri team, according to a recent report from Bloomberg.

Internal Response to the Delay

Robby Walker, a senior director in Apple’s Siri division, held an all-hands meeting with the team to address the situation. He acknowledged the team’s potential feelings of anger, embarrassment, and burnout, stating, "You might have co-workers or friends or family asking you what happened, and it doesn’t feel good," as reported by Bloomberg. This admission underscores the internal struggles faced by the team in the wake of the delay.

Marketing Missteps

The situation is further complicated by Apple’s marketing efforts, which had begun promoting features of the enhanced Siri last year, promising their availability by June of this year. These features were intended to be part of the broader Apple Intelligence offerings, a key selling point of the iPhone 16, which otherwise offered few upgrades. However, with the delay, these features are no longer expected to arrive on time, leaving the Siri team in an awkward position.

Uncertain Timeline

Currently, there is no clear timeline for when these features will be available. Walker informed the team that while Apple would like to roll out the new intelligence features with the launch of iOS 19, expected this summer, "it doesn’t mean that we’re shipping then." The in-progress Siri feature reportedly functions as intended only between two-thirds to 80% of the time, which is concerning and aligns with the current performance issues many users experience with Siri.

Public Perception

While missing deadlines can be painful, the Siri team might find solace in the fact that a significant portion of iPhone users may not be eagerly awaiting these features. A December 2024 survey by SellCell found that 73% of iPhone owners believe Apple’s new AI features add little to no value. This could imply that the delay, although embarrassing for Apple, might not have a substantial impact on user experience or demand.

Industry-Wide Challenges

The integration of artificial intelligence into voice assistants like Siri seems like an obvious application, yet it has taken companies a considerable amount of time to implement. Apple is not alone in facing these challenges; Amazon only recently announced AI-powered features for its Alexa voice assistant, and even these are being introduced gradually to a limited number of devices. Despite the hype surrounding AI, finding effective ways to integrate it into consumer products and encouraging its use appears to be more challenging than anticipated.