Apple's AI Overhaul: Rebuilding Siri and Reshuffling Leadership

Apple is trying to get 'LLM Siri' back on track

Wes Davis is a weekend editor who covers the latest in tech and entertainment. He has written news, reviews, and more as a tech journalist since 2020. Apple Intelligence has been a wreck since its first features rolled out last year, and a big new report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman details why -- and how Apple is trying to piece things back together. And much of its effort hinges on rebuilding Siri from the ground up. Gurman has reported in the past that Apple is working on what it's internally calling 'LLM Siri' -- a reworked, generative AI version of the company's digital assistant. Apple's previous approach of merging the assistant with the existing Siri hasn't been working. Gurman describes in great detail a number of reasons why, but here's a quick summary: Now the company is trying to rejigger its approach. Part of that is a total overhaul of Siri, rather than just trying to make generative AI work in concert with the old Siri. According to Gurman, Apple has its AI team in Zurich working on a new architecture that will "entirely build on an LLM-based engine." Gurman reported in November last year that the company was working on this, and the idea is that it will make the assistant "more believably conversational and better at synthesizing information." Another part of the solution is leveraging iPhones and differential privacy to improve Apple's synthesized data -- comparing fake training data with language from iPhone users' emails, but doing so on-device and sending only the synthesized data back to Apple for AI training. And one way the company is discussing improving Siri is letting the LLM version loose on the web to "grab and synthesize data from multiple sources." Basically, Siri as an AI web search tool not unlike Perplexity, which is one of the companies Apple has approached about partnering for AI search in Safari. Whatever the outcome, apparently Giannandrea won't be a direct part of it, having been taken off of product development, Siri, and robotics projects in the spring. According to Gurman, Apple execs have talked about putting him "on a path to retirement," but are concerned that some of the research and engineering folks he brought with him would leave with him, too. Whatever the case, Gurman says Giannandrea plans to stick around, "relieved Siri is now someone else's problem."

Giannandrea to boost Apple's AI before stepping back

John Giannandrea is focusing on finally making Siri a more competitive AI engine. Apple may have started late, and hit some speedbumps along the way, but Apple's Senior Vice President of Machine Learning and AI Strategy, John Giannandrea, wants to beat Apple Intelligence into shape before handing over the reins to a successor. Giannandrea is still in charge of AI and Large Language Model (LLM) research, AI analysts, and integrating those technologies into the larger OS infrastructures. A report from Bloomberg suggests that some Apple executives would like to see his role reduced further, ahead of a near-future departure. Apple leadership reportedly wants to put Giannandrea on a path to retirement and the eventual naming of a successor. That said, the executive still attracts top engineers and researchers to Apple, so for now he's staying put. Giannadrea has acknowledged delays on AI and Siri development. The general perception among insiders is that he wasn't hands-on enough, and more focused on underlying technologies such as machine learning rather than user-facing features like Siri. A month ago, Apple moved Siri development to its Vision Pro head, Mike Rockwell. The move has taken some burden off Giannandrea, freeing him to complete his efforts on Apple's AI engine. Apple has also been buying some smaller AI-focused companies to supplement its own efforts. These acquisitions are expected to improve both user-facing features as well as core technology. Ahead of his next assignment -- or possible departure from Apple -- Giannadrea has focused on upgrading the existing AI engine to take better advantage of future Apple hardware, including improved neural engine chips that will appear in the next round of Apple products. Rockwell, by contrast, has always seen Siri as having the potential to be the main way users interact with Apple's various OS es. He's seen as someone who can marshal the resources to rebuild Siri into a true assistant engine -- similar to ChatGPT and Google's Gemini. "[Giannandrea] should have been much, much more aggressive in getting funding to go big. But John's not a salesman. He's a technologist," said an unnamed employee quoted in the report. Apple's engineers are known to be pushed to complete assignments rapidly, given the strong competitiveness of the technology industry and a fear of being seen to be falling behind. It's not clear that Giannandrea was enforcing that unspoken rule. Furthermore, the report cited Giannandrea's team as being coddled inside the headquarter walls. Perks were extended to Giannandrea's team that other teams did not get, which may have led to some friction. "I know it sounds stupid, but Apple does not do free food," one employee reportedly said. "They shipped a year after everyone else and still got free lunch." While Giannadrea saw Siri as an assistant for controlling devices like Apple TV or HomeKit-compatible devices, Rockwell is said to be focused on improving the overall interaction experience with users by giving Siri access to wider sources of information. This would effectively make the technology both more flexible with user requests and more capable of interactions with other engines, which users are sure to appreciate. What's not yet clear is how long it will take for users to see noticeable improvements in Siri's ability to act as both a voice-oriented search tool and interactive assistant.