By Mark GurmanApple Inc. 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, according to people with knowledge of the matter.The new Siri, details of which haven’t been reported, uses more advanced large language models, or LLMs, to allow for back-and-forth conversations, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the effort hasn’t been announced. The system also can handle more sophisticated requests in a quicker fashion, they said.MORE: Apple unveils iPhone 16, watch with bigger screen and sleep apnea featureRevamping the 13-year-old Siri service is part of Apple’s efforts to become a force in artificial intelligence. The company debuted its much-ballyhooed Apple Intelligence platform last month, but it still lacks many of the features offered by other tech giants.The new voice assistant, which will eventually be added to Apple Intelligence, is dubbed “LLM Siri” by those working on it. LLMs — a building block of generative AI — gorge on massive amounts of data in order to identify patterns and answer questions.Apple has been testing the upgraded software on iPhones, iPads and Macs as a separate app, but the technology will ultimately replace the Siri interface that users rely on today. The company is planning to announce the overhaul as soon as 2025 as part of the upcoming iOS 19 and macOS 16 software updates, which are internally named Luck and Cheer, the people said.Like Apple Intelligence this fall, the new features won’t immediately be included in next year’s crop of hardware devices. Instead, Apple is currently planning to release the new Siri to consumers as early as spring 2026, about a year and a half from now. Given that Apple is still several months away from announcing the plan, the timing and features could still shift.A spokesperson for Cupertino, California-based Apple declined to comment.The revamped Siri will rely on new Apple AI models to interact more like a human and handle tasks in a way that’s closer to ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini. It also will make expanded use of App Intents, which allow for more precise control of third-party apps. And the software will be able to tap into features from Apple Intelligence, such as the ability to write and summarize text.Though Apple heralded “the start of a new era” for Siri when it first unveiled its AI platform in June, the company has yet to truly overhaul the software. The upgrades that accompanied Apple Intelligence were mostly cosmetic, including a new glowing interface that shows users when they’ve triggered the assistant. There’s also an option to type commands — rather than speaking them — and the ability to better understand users.Siri will get additional tweaks in the coming months as part of iOS 18, the iPhone’s current operating system. The software will be able to draw on customer data to provide context for commands and take action using the information on a user’s screen. The iOS 18 version relies on a first-generation Apple LLM to determine if requests should use the existing Siri infrastructure or be routed to a second LLM that can handle more complex queries and tap into third-party apps.The next-generation LLM planned for iOS 19 will be a new, end-to-end system that provides more advanced, ChatGPT-like capabilities.While the company works on that new technology, it will add ChatGPT to Apple Intelligence next month. Later, Apple plans to offer additional chatbot options, such as Gemini. The idea behind the new Siri is to bring these kinds of capabilities in-house, while emphasizing user privacy. But the company could still continue to offer access to third-party AI systems that provide specialized abilities or information.
In recent weeks, Apple has posted job listings that hint at its plan for a more conversational Siri.“You will join a team that is redefining computing, creating groundbreaking conversational assistant technologies for both large-scale systems and new client devices, and with the people who built the intelligent assistants,” one listing reads. Others ask for candidates with knowledge in conversational AI interfaces and underlying technologies.Apple has been looking to give Siri more conversational abilities for several years but struggled to find the right technology. Over a year ago, Apple moved the team responsible for the way Siri interacts with users from the company’s AI division to its group responsible for software interfaces. The team is now led by Alan Dye, the company’s vice president of human interface design.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com©2024 Bloomberg L.P.
Originally Published: November 22, 2024 at 9:09 AM PST
