In a series of interviews conducted after Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 25), Apple executives addressed questions surrounding the company’s advancements in artificial intelligence, particularly regarding the much-anticipated, personalized AI-powered Siri. Despite the absence of a launch for this technology, Apple firmly rejected claims that last year’s demonstrations were merely vaporware. When questioned by The Wall Street Journal as to why Apple, given its extensive resources and engineering talent, had not yet perfected the technology for market release, the company refrained from acknowledging any lag in the AI race.
Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, emphasized that artificial intelligence is a groundbreaking technology that Apple views as part of a “long-term transformational wave.” This wave is anticipated to have significant implications for the tech industry and society over the coming decades. “There’s no need to rush out with the wrong features and the wrong product just to be first,” Federighi remarked, underscoring Apple's commitment to quality over speed.
In interviews with Tom’s Guide and Techradar, Federighi elaborated on the reasons behind showcasing the new Siri at WWDC 24. He stated that the company recognized a strong public interest in understanding Apple’s vision for AI and its future direction. During the event, Apple presented the first version of its AI architecture for Siri, but as development proceeded, the team realized that to truly meet customer expectations, they would need to transition to a second version of the architecture. Federighi confirmed that this new version is on track for release in 2026.
Apple executives pushed back against the narrative that the technology demonstrated at WWDC 24 was non-functional. Federighi clarified to the Journal, “We were filming real working software with a real large language model with real semantic search.” Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, reinforced this point by stating that the idea of the demonstration being merely “demoware” was incorrect. He explained, “There’s this narrative out there that it’s demoware only. No, it was … something we thought, as Craig said, we’d actually ship by later in the year.” However, Apple ultimately decided against an earlier release due to an “error rate that we felt was unacceptable.”
During their discussions, the executives also outlined Apple’s broader strategy for artificial intelligence. Rather than focusing on creating a chatbot to compete with platforms like ChatGPT, Apple aims to embed intelligence throughout its operating systems. “This wasn’t about us building a chatbot … we weren’t defining what Apple Intelligence was to be our chatbot,” Federighi explained. “That was never our goal … We want to bring intelligence deeply integrated into the experience of all of our platforms in a way that’s ‘meet you where you are.’” This approach emphasizes a seamless user experience, avoiding the need for users to engage in a separate chat interface to accomplish tasks.
Ultimately, Apple’s primary objective, according to the executives, is to equip developers with the necessary tools to leverage Apple’s foundational models, enabling them to create more intelligent applications. By focusing on integrating AI into the core of its platforms, Apple is setting the stage for a future where technology enhances everyday experiences in a meaningful way.
