Siri, a permanent construction site: Vision Pro boss now to fix it
The outdated Siri is becoming an ever greater problem for Apple. A radical management shake-up is now set to change this.
(Image: Koshiro K / Shutterstock)
Siri is apparently coming under new management: according to a report, Apple CEO Tim Cook has lost confidence that top AI manager John Giannandrea will be able to get to grips with the increasingly massive problems of the voice assistant system. The Siri team will therefore be taken over by Mike Rockwell, who was most recently responsible for Vision Pro, according to the financial news agency Bloomberg, citing sources close to the matter.
Rockwell will report directly to Apple's head of software Craig Federighi, who is ultimately responsible for Siri. Apple has not yet communicated the far-reaching management change internally, it is said. However, the move has been in preparation for months.
Apple was unable to keep its big Siri promises
Siri has been considered a problem for years; inconsistent behavior and modest capabilities are increasingly annoying users – especially in contrast to competing systems that offer considerably more functions based on modern language models. Currently, a Reddit post is causing amusement, pointing out that Siri can't even name the current month. It remains unclear why Apple was never able to fundamentally reorganize Siri. The voice assistant system had been under Giannandrea's leadership since 2018, when he moved from a top AI position at Google to Apple.
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Last year, the company announced a major new start for Siri with Apple Intelligence. However, almost nothing has happened – apart from a colorful new animation on devices with Apple Intelligence support: Apple recently had to postpone the central innovations promised in June 2024; they will probably not appear until "next year". Apple does not provide a more precise time frame.
Will Siri ever get better?
The voice assistant system should one day be able to view personal data and carry out actions across apps, at least that's the promise. Extended capabilities for freer conversations, such as those offered by the audio mode of ChatGPT and Gemini, have not yet been announced for Siri. According to rumors, this is not expected until 2027.
According to Bloomberg, Vision Pro boss Rockwell, who is taking over the leadership of the Siri team, is considered a proven technology specialist – albeit less of an AI expert. What the change of top manager means for the future of the Vision Pro division remains to be seen.
(lbe)
