After criticism of Siri debacle: Apple rejects traditional WWDC interview
At WWDC, Apple's head of software traditionally answered questions from a commentator. After the latter criticized, there is no longer an interview.
Three top Apple managers took part in the talk show on the sidelines of WWDC 2024.
(Image: Screencap The Talk Show Live From WWDC 2024)
John Gruber's "The Talk Show" will probably take place at Apple's WWDC developer conference this year without top managers from the company. He had invited Apple as usual, but "they declined for the first time since 2015", said commentator and host John Gruber, without giving any further details. Recently, Apple's head of software Craig Federighi has been a regular guest of Gruber, and in 2024 –, following the announcement of Apple Intelligence, the head of AI John Giannandrea was also invited.
Sharp criticism of Siri vaporware
Gruber recently sharply criticized Apple for improvements to the Siri voice assistance system announced last year, which the company has not yet been able to implement. At the last talk show, the topic of Siri was only mentioned in passing, but the fundamental innovations promised at the time were not discussed. Apple presented a Siri system that records the user's contextual information on the device and should also be able to carry out actions across multiple apps. Apple advertised one of the announced functions in a commercial at the launch of the iPhone 16 last September.
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In March, Apple tersely admitted that the manufacturer needed more time to implement the Siri functions and that they would not be released until "next year". Gruber called on Apple to demonstrate the announced Siri capabilities live and in concrete terms. The company "promised too much (if not outright lied)" at the last WWDC, said Gruber.
Problem child Siri
Siri has long been regarded as a problem case; the system works inconsistently and, in contrast to the increasingly sophisticated conversational skills of its AI competitor, only provides answers to a few questions. Apple Intelligence can now be used to request ChatGPT via Siri, but the external AI model cannot control any device functions and only provides text responses.
Apple is apparently trying to get a grip on the debacle with a major management shake-up. Now it remains to be seen whether the company can not only implement the announced Siri functions, but is also in a position to fundamentally improve the voice assistant system.
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