Monday, July 8, 2024

Apple Intelligence for Siri in Spring 2025

William Gallagher:

While many Apple Intelligence features will roll out with iOS 18 during the remainder of 2024, its much-awaited revamp of Siri will wait until iOS 18.4 in 2025.

[…]

Before then, there will be a new design to Siri. That will presumably include how Apple has shown that invoking Siri will bring a flare around the edges of the iPhone screen, instead of the current circle icon.

This is a rumor, but, if true, it’s the first time I can recall a key part of the WWDC announcements being so quickly pushed so far back in the release cycle.

It’s also interesting that the new engine is not tied to the new user interface.

Hartley Charlton:

The more capable version of Siri allows the voice assistant to control actions within Apps, allowing it to understand what is currently on-screen and determine what to do based on context.

That all sounds good, but when are they going to fix the basics?

Previously:

Update (2024-07-09): John Gruber:

If the usual pattern holds, it’s a safe guess that iOS 18.4 will arrive in mid-to-late March.

If generative AI weren’t seen as essential — both in terms of consumer marketing and investor confidence — I think much, if not most, of what Apple unveiled in “Apple Intelligence” wouldn’t even have been announced until next year’s WWDC[…]

Update (2024-08-14): Filipe Espósito:

One thing that really struck me watching the latest Samsung and Google events is how they emphasize that their respective generative AIs already work in many countries and regions. Apple Intelligence is expected to remain available only in the US until next year.

Update (2024-11-25): Mark Gurman (MacRumors):

Apple is racing to develop a more conversational version of its Siri digital assistant, aiming to catch up with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and other voice services. The company plans to introduce the revamped LLM Siri next year and launch it by spring 2026.

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“ That all sounds good, but when are they going to fix the basics?”

This is basically the tag line of every WWDC for over a decade.

I don’t know if it’s that they can’t admit their software isn’t perfect, or that they genuinely don’t experience the same pain points we all do.

I’ve heard that developers don’t want to fix “old” things , they only want to work on new things. That’s certainly how management feels.

I wonder how incentives could be aligned such that working on the basics is more respected and rewarded.


I remember back in the day when Android had Google Now on Tap. It could read emails and extract information and put meetings in calendars, track package etc

That had some machine learning, but I think most was just accepted.

I miss that functionality a lot. I think they removed it because it needed too many wizards behind the curtains, and their idea was probably that a neutral network world learn how to do all the things on it's own. That never happened. Just like Zuckerberg s M never learned shit.


New and improved Siri will be Apple's "Full Self Driving". Beta Software in eternity.


Anything building on generative "ai" will be stuck in eternal beta.

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