Apple’s AI Siri Delay Sparks Internal Discontent

Apple’s recent delay in enhancing Siri with AI capabilities has not only affected its stock price but also led to a significant morale drop within the Siri team, as reported by Bloomberg.

Well, here’s a twist no one saw coming—or maybe everyone did, given how these things usually go. Apple just hit the pause button on rolling out those fancy AI upgrades for Siri, and let’s just say, it’s caused quite the stir. Not just in the market, but inside Apple’s own walls, where the Siri team’s morale has taken a nosedive. Talk about a rough week.

Bloomberg spilled the beans on Robby Walker, a bigwig in Apple’s Siri division, who had the unenviable job of breaking the news to the team. In a meeting that probably felt longer than it was, Walker got real about the team’s mix of anger, embarrassment, and just plain exhaustion. And who could blame them? Imagine having to dodge questions from every Tom, Dick, and Harry about why your project’s gone sideways. Ouch.

This hiccup has also thrown a spotlight on Apple’s marketing mojo—or lack thereof. They’d been hyping up these Siri enhancements like the next big thing, with a June release date stamped on it. Part of the Apple Intelligence suite, these features were supposed to be the iPhone 16’s crown jewel. Now? It’s anyone’s guess when they’ll see the light of day.

Walker did toss out a glimmer of hope, suggesting Apple’s still aiming to bundle the new smarts with iOS 19 this summer. But here’s the kicker: the current version of the Siri feature only works right 66% to 80% of the time. That’s like a weather app that can’t decide if you need an umbrella or sunglasses. Not exactly confidence-inspiring.

But here’s a plot twist: a December 2024 survey by SellCell found that 73% of iPhone users couldn’t care less about Apple’s new AI features. So maybe this delay is more of a ‘meh’ than a disaster. Still, the race to supercharge voice assistants with AI is on, with Amazon and others also in the mix. Because let’s face it, who doesn’t want a virtual assistant that actually gets them?