Worrying prospects! Apple is reported to be facing significant setbacks in the AI field

According to media reports citing sources familiar with internal discussions at Apple (AAPL.US), the company's ongoing struggles in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) could undermine its dominant position in the smartphone market and jeopardize its broader ambitions ranging from robotics to next-generation hardware.

Although Apple sparked expectations for its AI strategy in 2018 with a high-profile personnel appointment, the tech giant's AI journey now faces significant obstacles. In 2018, Apple hired former Google (GOOGL.US) executive John Giannandrea to lead its AI strategy. This appointment was seen as a key turning point, especially against the backdrop of Siri lagging far behind competing voice assistants.

Initially, John Giannandrea integrated Apple's fragmented internal AI teams and established a unified leadership structure. There were widespread expectations that he would completely transform Siri and lead Apple into the AI era. However, years later, Apple still struggles to keep pace with competitors in the fields of generative AI and large language models (LLM).

In 2024, Apple plans to launch "Apple Intelligence," promising smarter writing tools, summarization features, and an upgraded Siri. Although this news has generated much discussion, the launch process has been plagued by delays. Some features failed to go live as scheduled during the iPhone 16 release, and the improved Siri has yet to appear. Internal testing revealed serious flaws, leading to an indefinite postponement of the release and a class-action lawsuit filed for alleged misleading marketing.

Lack of Progress in AI

The slow progress in AI at Apple can be attributed to several factors, including reluctance from top management to make large-scale investments in AI, internal cultural resistance to AI, and strict data privacy policies—these factors limit the training of AI models. Unlike Google or Meta (META.US), Apple has set extremely strict limitations on data access, thereby restricting its ability to build competitive large models. Reports indicate that Apple has also been slow to acquire key hardware GPUs needed for training advanced models.

Currently, Apple is undergoing a structural reorganization. John Giannandrea has lost control over the development of Siri and related products, with leadership transferred to Mike Rockwell, head of the Vision Pro headset project. Apple is also seeking partnerships with external AI companies, such as OpenAI and Anthropic, to enhance its capabilities.

Testing Chatbots

Meanwhile, engineers are reconstructing Siri's architecture to create a new system entirely based on large language models. Apple is also internally testing its own chatbot, aiming to reach a level comparable to ChatGPT. In terms of marketing, Apple plans to distinguish Siri from the broader "Apple Intelligence" brand to repair Siri's damaged reputation Looking ahead, Apple is expected to adopt a conservative strategy at the 2025 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), focusing on showcasing incremental improvements in AI rather than releasing groundbreaking new features for Siri.

Despite numerous challenges, insiders at Apple remain confident that the company has the potential to catch up, citing its advantages in hardware integration, a large global user base, and brand influence. However, many also admit that in the field of AI, Apple can no longer afford to play the role of a "latecomer."