Apple’s AI projects teams have unsurprisingly missed deadlines to deliver solid features that perform as desired more than two-thirds of the time.
While the iPhone is technically capable of running small AI models, they rip through the battery & hallucinate regularly. Usability, speed & reliability remain evasive at this juncture of mobile phone hardware & AI progress.
In the long run, Apple’s slower approach to integrate AI into their products will likely result in a feature set that feels mature upon release. However, amidst mounting market pressure to demonstrate a path to profits from AI capital expenses, Apple’s discipline will be read as weakness.
There are far fewer eyes on the prospects of MLX — the compute accelerator for Apple’s hardware. It competes with Nvidia’s CUDA, and permits M-Series chips’ to usefully run supercomputer sized models on consumer hardware. Apple’s potential to be the conduit for billions of people’s AI experience is still very relevant.
Sources & Excerpts
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Apple’s Siri Chief Calls AI Delays Ugly and Embarrassing, Promises Fixes
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"Now it’s looking to add them as an update as early as the iOS 19 software cycle next year.
Walker also raised doubts about even meeting the current release expectations. Though Apple is aiming for iOS 19, it “doesn’t mean that we’re shipping then,” Walker said. The company has several more priorities in development, and trade-offs will need to be made, he said.
Walker said the decision to delay the features was made because of quality issues and that the company has found the technology only works properly up to two-thirds to 80% of the time" -
Apple Delays Siri Upgrade Indefinitely as AI Concerns Escalate
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"The delays — especially of announced features — are embarrassing for Apple and add more evidence to the idea that the company is struggling in artificial intelligence. They also threaten to set back work on future improvements.
Apple had been planning to make Siri more ChatGPT-like and conversational next year. But now only the initial underpinnings for that upgrade are expected to be ready by 2026, during the iOS 19 release cycle. The actual interface that users experience likely won’t arrive until iOS 20 in 2027, the people said."