Apple's Siri snags cast a shadow over AI push before pivotal developer conference

Apple's Siri snags cast a shadow over AI push before pivotal developer conference

Apple is running into growing problems to update Siri with leading-edge artificial intelligence, unsettling investors days ahead of its marquee Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC). Current and former employees tell Apple is stymied by fundamental technical issues, risking being left behind further rivals such as OpenAI and Google, the Financial Times reported.

Siri updates hampered by technical challenges

Apple has been working to rebuild Siri using large language models (LLMs) to enable more conversational capabilities. However, integrating LLMs with Siri’s existing architecture has led to persistent bugs, former executives told the Financial Times. Unlike OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini voice assistants, which were built from scratch, Apple is attempting to retrofit its legacy system—an approach that insiders describe as fundamentally flawed.

"It's obvious that they fell short," said one former Apple executive, who noted Apple's step-by-step approach to innovation was unlikely to yield a true next-generation AI assistant.

Siri upgrade is a key component of "Apple Intelligence," a set of AI features announced during last year's WWDC to fuel future hardware revenues. Apple, however, has consistently been unable to deliver on promised features, especially in China, where regulatory issues are causing it to hold back its launch of AI services backed by Alibaba's models.

Investor expectations low as delays mount

Sentiment among investors has cooled in advance of this year's WWDC. "We're to the stage where investors already know what the good news potentially is," said JPMorgan's Samik Chatterjee. "It's about: let's first have you deliver what you promised last year.

Apple shares have underperformed in 2025, down about 18 per cent amid concerns about AI progress, Trump’s trade tariffs, and legal challenges to its services business. Siri’s shortcomings are particularly concerning, as voice assistants are seen as key to enabling future “agentic” AI interactions across Apple’s ecosystem.

Internal leadership shakeups reflect AI tensions

As a reaction to the holdups, Apple has reshuffled management. John Giannandrea, the former Google AI head who oversaw Apple's AI unit, had Siri taken out of his portfolio earlier this year and the product assigned to Mike Rockwell, the executive who is behind Apple's Vision Pro headset.

Former insiders attribute slow progress to fragmented leadership and a lack of early executive support. Budget constraints and being conservative about privacy—mandating AI features to operate locally on devices—have further made the task challenging.

Rivals leave Siri behind as Apple shifts towards OpenAI alliance

Apple's delay in bringing a fully upgraded Siri is timely with competition pushing ahead. OpenAI, Google, and Perplexity have all brought out voice assistants that are generally regarded as superior to Siri. Apple has tried to close the gap by merging ChatGPT with Siri, but this dependency serves to highlight the company's limitations at the moment.

Adding to the disruption of Apple's dominance, OpenAI has just unveiled a $6.5 billion deal to buy IO, the firm started by ex-Apple designer Jony Ive, to work on potential AI hardware competitors. Apple shares declined around 2 per cent on the news.

Privacy focus adds further complexity

Apple's rigid privacy position—executing AI locally instead of in the cloud—has created engineering trade-offs. Though consistent with Apple's brand identity, it requires its models to be more compact and less power-hungry, putting them at a disadvantage compared to cloud services from Google and OpenAI.

Even with some AI-enhanced capabilities, including writing assistance and camera searches, the most ballyhooed Siri enhancements are still missing. CEO Tim Cook recently confirmed the delays, stating that the technology is "taking a bit longer than we thought."

Outlook: race for AI leadership remains uncertain

Experts caution that Apple is currently three years or more behind in bringing a contemporary AI assistant to market, a timeline that could make it vulnerable in an increasingly crowded market. Whether the company can turn things around and catch up with growing expectations will be a question at the centre as developers and investors listen in on next week's WWDC.