While Apple Intelligence has been introduced, features like Siri and Apple’s AI capabilities still lag significantly behind competitors such as OpenAI and Anthropic, particularly due to the lack of an Apple chatbot. To address these shortcomings, Apple has brought in an experienced software veteran to steer its AI initiatives in a new direction. Mark Gurman from Bloomberg reports:
Kim Vorrath, an Apple executive known for her ability to revive struggling products and launch significant projects, has taken on a new role: refining the artificial intelligence and Siri experience.
As a vice president overseeing program management, Vorrath has recently transitioned to Apple’s artificial intelligence and machine learning division, becoming a key deputy to AI leader John Giannandrea, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Gurman notes that Vorrath played a crucial role in launching Apple Vision Pro recently. Previously, she was part of the original iPhone software team managing projects. He mentions that she had been advising the group under Giannandrea prior to her new appointment.
Before joining Giannandrea’s group, Vorrath spent weeks advising Kelsey Peterson, the prior program management head. Peterson will now report to Vorrath, along with AI executives Cindy Lin and Marc Schonbrun. Giannandrea, who joined Apple from Google in 2018, made the announcements in a memo to team members.
Apple still needs to launch the AI-enhanced version of Siri that was showcased at the iOS 18 preview during the developer conference in June 2024. The existing integration remains quite basic, and we anticipate this version of Siri to be available in beta soon after the release of iOS 18.4, as iOS 18.3 is set to be rolled out to the public shortly.
Here’s a glimpse into what features the new Siri will offer following the Apple Intelligence upgrade:
Siri will gain onscreen awareness, enabling it to comprehend and act upon users’ content in a wider variety of applications over time. For instance, if a friend sends a user a new address via Messages, the user can respond with, “Add this address to their contact card.”
With Apple Intelligence, Siri will be capable of executing hundreds of new actions both within Apple and third-party applications. For example, users could instruct Siri, “Show me that article about cicadas from my Reading List,” or “Send the barbecue photos from Saturday to Malia,” and Siri will handle those requests.
Siri will deliver personalized insights drawing from the user’s on-device information. A user might say, “Play that podcast Jamie recommended,” and Siri will effortlessly locate and play the episode, eliminating the need for the user to recall if it was referenced in a text or email. Alternatively, they could inquire, “When does Mom’s flight land?” and Siri will fetch the flight details, cross-referencing them with live tracking to provide an accurate arrival time.
However, iOS 18.3 highlights some hurdles in Apple’s AI development. For instance, Apple has chosen to disable notification summaries for news and entertainment alerts due to a series of misleading summaries that confused users. Other notification summaries will be formatted in italics to clarify the distinction between the summary and the original notification text.
For the complete story, check out the latest report from Bloomberg.
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