Apple sends Siri engineers to AI coding bootcamp ahead of major reboot at WWDC 2026

Apple Reportedly Plans to Send Siri Engineers to AI Coding Bootcamp

Expertise I have more than 35 years' experience in journalism in the heart of Silicon Valley. Apple plans to send dozens of Siri engineers to a multiweek AI coding bootcamp, The Information reported Wednesday. The move comes less than two months before the company is widely expected to unveil a new Siri experience as part of a broader AI reboot. A group of fewer than 200 engineers will be sent to the bootcamp, leaving approximately 60 members of the core Siri development team behind to continue working on Siri, while another 60 will evaluate Siri's performance, according to The Information. The outlet also reported that AI has grown in popularity in some Apple divisions, prompting some teams within the company to allocate large parts of their budgets to Claude Code. Apple representatives didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Siri, once a pioneer, has lagged behind its rivals in voice assistants. Apple had planned to roll out a smarter, AI-driven Siri in 2025 as part of its Apple Intelligence initiative, but executives delayed the launch until spring 2026, admitting the early version wasn't reliable enough to ship. For Apple, the move would mark another attempt to reset expectations around its AI strategy after repeated delays to its more advanced Siri ambitions. The news also comes as John Giannandrea, Apple's former AI chief, is reportedly leaving the company this week after stepping down from that role in December. The new Siri experience is expected to be introduced at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 8 and would arrive as part of iOS 27, iPadOS 27 and MacOS 27 later this year, according to a Bloomberg report in March. The report says Apple is testing out a new Siri that would make the assistant feel more like a standalone AI chatbot -- think ChatGPT or Claude -- rather than the current built-in tool.

Report: Apple to send Siri engineers to multi-week AI coding bootcamp - 9to5Mac

The Information reports that a group of Apple engineers who are working on Siri will be sent to a "multi-week bootcamp to learn to code using AI." Here are the details. According to the report, a group of "less than 200" engineers out of the hundreds currently working on Siri is headed to a "multi-week bootcamp" to sharpen their AI coding skills. From the report: The move suggests that Apple feels that a portion of the Siri organization needs to tune up its skills to take advantage of fast-moving changes in programming. AI coding assistants such as Anthropic's Claude Code and OpenAI's Codex have upended the programming profession, allowing experienced software developers to produce far more code than they have in the past. The Information says AI coding tools have taken off in some parts of Apple, such as its software engineering organization, prompting some teams to allocate large budgets for Claude Code. This aligns with recent industry reports, including another report from The Information earlier today that said Uber has already exhausted the AI budget it originally set for all of 2026. The report also says that the bootcamp will "leave around 60 members of the core Siri development team," adding that "an additional 60 will work in a group that evaluates how Siri is performing, including handling commands from users and whether it's meeting Apple's safety standards." The timing, of course, is notable given the proximity to WWDC26, set for June 8. Apple is widely expected to announce the long-delayed revamped, AI-powered Siri, which, as Apple confirmed last year, will rely on Google's Gemini models. This move followed several missteps in Apple's AI strategy, which in turn led to a wide-ranging reorganization of the company's divisions and initiatives related to AI, including Apple Intelligence and Siri. Just this week, Apple's former AI lead, John Giannandrea, left the company after stepping down from the role in early December. In the same shakeup, Apple brought in Amar Subramanya, who spent nearly two decades at Google and briefly worked at Microsoft, to serve as the company's VP of AI under Craig Federighi. The move also followed Apple's decision to place the Siri team under Mike Rockwell, who was widely seen at the time as the strongest choice to take over the effort, given his track record of leading technically demanding projects such as the Apple Vision Pro. Rockwell also currently reports to Federighi. As for the Siri AI bootcamp, it's still unclear what form it will take, including whether Apple will run it internally, or work with outside partners or frontier AI labs.

Apple wants Siri engineers to attend AI bootcamp ahead of WWDC 2026: Here is why

Apple is expected to unveil a next-gen Siri at WWDC 2026, with a wider rollout likely alongside iOS 27 later this year. Apple is said to be pushing up its effort to introduce enhanced Siri with a major focus on AI ahead of the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 2026). And as a part of this push, the company is said to be sending a group of Siri engineers to an internal AI coding bootcamp to improve their capabilities with development tools. As per the report by The Information, nearly 200 engineers from the Siri division will participate in this programme. This comes amid internal concerns that the team lagged behind other AI-focused groups within Apple. While many engineers will attend the training, a smaller group will continue to work on core development and performance evaluation, including ensuring the assistant meets Apple's safety and usability standards. This will help Apple as it has been struggling to keep up with the AI landscape. Many rivals, including Google, Microsoft and Meta, have already integrated advanced AI tools like coding assistants into their workflows. Many reports suggest that while some Apple teams have embraced such tools, the Siri division has been slower to adopt them. Also read: Apple threatens to remove Elon Musk's Grok from App Store, leaked letter reveals The restructuring follows challenges in delivering the previously announced AI-enhanced version of Siri tied to Apple Intelligence. The situation has led to leadership changes with Craig Federighi now overseeing AI initiatives while Mike Rockweiler leads the Siri team. Long-time AI head John Giannandrea is expected to step down. So looking ahead, Apple is said to preview a next-generation Siri at WWDC in June. The upcoming Siri is said to leverage Google Gemini and deliver more advanced context-aware responses and handle complex queries independently. The full rollout is likely to arrive with iOS 27 later this year, potentially alongside the next generation of iPhones- iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max and the iPhone Fold.