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Apple shuffles AI executive ranks in bid to turn around Siri

finance.yahoo.com

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Re: Apple shuffles AI executive ranks in bid to turn around Siri

#331

Post by thebytefairy »

dmix wrote: post #290
blindriver wrote: post #287

Siri is less than 50% useful when asked a simple question. My kids and I make a joke about it whenever we ask it something in the car. I don't understand how Siri is so exceptionally bad and why Apple didn't do something earlier. It's embarrassing in 2025.

Because there was no competition. Alexa similarly gave up trying to improve theirs after it launched. I've never tried Google's voice assistant but I assume it wasn't very interesting before GPT either. I'm not convinced it was a technical limitation, even stuff like voice parsing was not improved or basic functionality expanded horizontally.

As a user of all, Google Assistant and Alexa are miles ahead of Siri. Initially I just had Siri, and like you assumed they were all like that. Not the case. No more 'here's what I found on the web' or just not being able to help. Are they integral to my daily life, no, but definitely save time. Siri is just for timers and reminders for me.

Re: Apple shuffles AI executive ranks in bid to turn around Siri

#332

Post by thebytefairy »

troupo wrote: post #226
spinningarrow wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mine told me the entire date instead of just the month.

Mine told me "It was Saturday, March 1st 2025" today.

Impressive. Mine goes 'sorry, I don't understand', after multiple attempts at 'what month is it'. Google assistant understands.

Re: Apple shuffles AI executive ranks in bid to turn around Siri

#333

Post by lsllc »

infecto wrote: post #145

Apple Intelligence was a massive letdown. I'd love to read the post-mortem. They had a huge opportunity to leap ahead, but instead we got some fairly underwhelming, AI-generated images. I’m guessing the models they built—both on-device and in Apple’s cloud just aren’t very good? The integration should’ve been the easy part; they control both the OS and the apps.

Totally -- I signed up for the beta/preview when it was announced, and TBH after it was enabled, I couldn't (and still can't!) really tell what's different! If they just had Siri ask Claude or ChatGPT, it'd be way better!

Re: Apple shuffles AI executive ranks in bid to turn around Siri

#334

Post by FirmwareBurner »

MrBuddyCasino wrote: post #317
ksec wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plenty of examples. The problem isn't JG. It is Tim Cook. He is exceptionally poor at judging character. And I have been saying this for 10+ years. John Browett, CEO of Dixons. Anyone from UK have said WTF at the time. Angela Ahrendts, CEO of Burberry, the two together Apple has literally stopped expanding their Retail store despite having 10x as much customers. Rolled out many "changes" to Apple store when nearly ev…

As soon as Craig Federighi was taking over from Bertrand Serlet, quality started to decline. The only one to not notice is Tim Cook.

Because Cook is a supply chain mastermind not a software UX and QA guy. You can tell Steve Jobs is missing.

Re: Apple shuffles AI executive ranks in bid to turn around Siri

#335

Post by [deleted] »

dylan604 wrote: post #273
babyent wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it odd that I’ve never seen anyone say hey siri irl? And I’m in tech in Bay Area. And whenever they do use Siri, holding the button to talk to her, it is to set a timer.

Maybe not?? Pretty much everyone that I've seen using Siri are most definitely not techy people. I'm far from the echo chamber SV bubble, so I spend more time around non-techy people than techy people. Seeing how there are more non-techy than techy people, it feels like Apple has reached their target audience. If Apple depended solely on techy people, they'd need another bail out from MS or Googs to stay solvent.

[deleted]

Re: Apple shuffles AI executive ranks in bid to turn around Siri

#336

Post by runjake »

dieulot wrote: post #275
ksec wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plenty of examples. The problem isn't JG. It is Tim Cook. He is exceptionally poor at judging character. And I have been saying this for 10+ years. John Browett, CEO of Dixons. Anyone from UK have said WTF at the time. Angela Ahrendts, CEO of Burberry, the two together Apple has literally stopped expanding their Retail store despite having 10x as much customers. Rolled out many "changes" to Apple store when nearly ev…

> Craig Federighi […] merging iOS and macOS team together. What year was that?

In the absence of someone giving you a better answer, my hazy memory says 2015 or early 2016?

Given what we know about Apple's hardware platform direction, on hindsight, it seemed like a good strategy. Note: I am talking about the team merging, not merging macOS and iOS themselves.

Re: Apple shuffles AI executive ranks in bid to turn around Siri

#337

Post by bobbylarrybobby »

babyent wrote: post #262
dylan604 wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the number of people that do say "Hey, Siri", I'd suspect that people do want it. The concept is a nice one. Hands free. Remote control things with your voice. Super convenient by not having to have the device sitting next to you, just within earshot. Not even needing to be a mobile device. Just gizmo somewhere in the room. For non-technical people, it's utterly magic as a concept. For technical people, it's a p…

Is it odd that I’ve never seen anyone say hey siri irl? And I’m in tech in Bay Area. And whenever they do use Siri, holding the button to talk to her, it is to set a timer.

I know a good number of people (mostly older) that don't seem to know that they can hold the power button for Siri. They'll hold their phone up to their face, say “hey siri”, wait for the reply, and then start talking.

Re: Apple shuffles AI executive ranks in bid to turn around Siri

#338

Post by drewg123 »

diggan wrote: post #80
AnonC wrote: post #55

IMO, Craig Federighi is quite good at presentations and his own style of humor, but he doesn’t seem to have a good grip on the quality of software across all of Apple’s (buggy) platforms and apps. I don’t believe that moving Siri under him (i.e., his reporting structure) is a good idea. Only time will tell. There are far more bugs and issues that are to be fixed (but don’t get attention) than Siri. Anyway Siri has be…

> Nobody outside of Apple has any expectations on it. Well, apparently some people have at least some expectations, after Apple pushed ads touting Siri's new abilities (and Apple AI) but failed to launch them on time, and now Apple been hit with a federal lawsuit against them: https://www.axios.com/2025/03/20/apple-suit-false-advertisin...

I was hoping for more from the new Siri, but its just awful for me. Latest example:

My wife and I were watching Jeopardy late at night, and Pol Pot came up. I asked Siri something like "Siri, tell me about Pol Pot" and instead, it heard "Siri, Call Scott", and rang my friend at 1am.

Re: Apple shuffles AI executive ranks in bid to turn around Siri

#339

Post by eric-hu »

kstrauser wrote: post #291
ksec wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plenty of examples. The problem isn't JG. It is Tim Cook. He is exceptionally poor at judging character. And I have been saying this for 10+ years. John Browett, CEO of Dixons. Anyone from UK have said WTF at the time. Angela Ahrendts, CEO of Burberry, the two together Apple has literally stopped expanding their Retail store despite having 10x as much customers. Rolled out many "changes" to Apple store when nearly ev…

To be fair, I’d counter with Jobs picking Jony Ive. Ive made gorgeous, lustworthy art objects that sucked as computers. The nadirs for me were iPhone 6’s bendgate and the 2015 MBP. Damn the functionality, we’ll make these suckers so slim you can shave with them! No one was begging for a MBP so thin it had to have compromised keyboard switches. Also consider the mouse that couldn’t charge while you use it, and the tra…

Don’t forget the Touch Bars.

Re: Apple shuffles AI executive ranks in bid to turn around Siri

#340

Post by viraptor »

wtallis wrote: post #330
viraptor wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really hope it's not true, because that would just mean he doesn't understand how elements are placed on boards - there will always be some air unless you add extra filler. (and make everything run hotter)

> there will always be some air unless you add extra filler. (and make everything run hotter) Adding filler is how you make a passively-cooled device run cooler . Air that's not moving doesn't transport enough heat to be useful, and convection doesn't do anything in the narrow spaces between and above components on a circuit board. Thermal paste, graphite sheets, and vapor chambers are what phones these days do with…

It depends on the filler and whether you want other things around to get warmer or not. Radios for example are normally kept away from too much heat, then any temperature difference is monitored/compensated in configuration. Anyway, what I mean is - that heat is going somewhere - any extra filler will change where / how quickly.
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