Chaos and lack of vision: Apple’s Siri department has big problems

Siri does not have a particularly good reputation and is considered hopelessly neglected among AI systems. A new report paints a picture of the chaos and lack of vision in Apple’s development department. Even among employees, the language assistant is a “joke”.

Insider report: Siri also a “joke” among Apple employees

“Organizational grievances and a lack of ambition”: this quote probably best sums up what The Informant (via 9to5mac) published today in a detailed report giving a behind-the-scenes look at Apple’s development department for Siri. The journalists cite interviews with “more than three dozen former Apple employees” who worked in the fields of AI and machine learning.

As these sources unanimously report, Siri already has a major problem within the company: the language assistant is also “mocked” internally because of its lack of functionality and improvements. This reputation is also based on major difficulties in working with other departments: Siri is supposed to implement voice commands in Apple’s mixed reality headset. But that worked so badly in a demonstration that the use was completely questioned.

principles not understood

The former employees clearly see the problems with the group’s decision-makers. So far, they have shown little understanding of how advanced AI systems could be built within the Apple ecosystem. Large language models only reach their high level through fine tuning with user feedback. The Siri design team, for example, was only willing to integrate a simple button for user feedback into Siri after a great deal of wrangling.

Another major stumbling block in development: “Top executives” at Apple would “shy away” from mistakes that a smarter Siri could make when answering questions. As summarized by The Informant, in recent months key executives at the group “didn’t show much understanding of the sort of gaffes that have grabbed the headlines for ChatGPT and similar services.”

See also:

Apple, Logo, Audio, Speaker, Siri, speaker, Homepod, Apple HomePod, HomePod Mini