In today’s Finshots, we explore how Siri might be holding Apple back in the AI (artificial intelligence) race, and whether that means it’s time to kill Siri already.

The Story

Exactly a year ago, Apple promised the world a ChatGPT-like Siri. But when the big reveal finally happened a few days ago, that futuristic Siri was nowhere to be seen. Instead, Apple announced a deeper integration with ChatGPT itself, the very tool it partnered with last year.

So… what happened to the smarter, sassier Siri?

Well, it looks like Apple may have lost it along the way. Because when people say, “Hey Siri, can you send a message please?” there’s often nothing but radio silence. And when it does respond, it’s rarely on the same page. For instance, Wall Street Journal journalist Joanna Stern even asked, “Hey Siri, are you still alive in there?” To which Siri blandly replied, “I’m Siri, your virtual assistant.”

That sure answers everything right? But hey, Siri was groundbreaking when it launched in 2011. So, what went wrong?

To understand that let’s go back to where it all began.

See, before Siri became Apple’s iconic voice assistant, it had a very different origin story. Back in 2003, a nonprofit research group called SRI International began working on a US government-backed AI project known as CALO (Cognitive Assistant that Learns and Organizes). Their goal was to build an assistant smart enough to learn from and adapt to its user.

That research eventually gave rise to Siri. In 2007, a few engineers branched out to launch Siri Inc., a startup focused on bringing this technology to consumers. By 2010, they released the Siri app for the iPhone. It let people do things like book cabs or make dinner reservations just by speaking to their phone. It was way ahead of its time.

But Siri Inc.’s independence didn’t last long. Within a couple of months, Apple stepped in and acquired it. The original team had plans to take Siri to Android and BlackBerry too, but Apple did something even smarter. It removed the app from the store and started building Siri directly into iOS.

Then in 2011, Siri made its official debut on the iPhone 4S. You could talk to your phone like you were talking to a person. Siri answered questions, sent texts, set reminders and even cracked a joke or two. And that blew people away.

But now Siri seems to have failed to catch up.

And the reason might be that Apple has always been more of a hardware giant than a software powerhouse. Sure, it built its own operating systems, but that was mostly by standing on the shoulders of Mac OS X, a stable, well-built foundation that let Apple offer a seamless experience to users and developers alike. But as the tech world shifted towards AI and rapid-fire software updates, Apple found itself facing three big hurdles.

First, Apple is a perfectionist. Really. It only ships products that meet its famously high standards. Clean design, minimalist interfaces, intuitive functionality — that’s the Apple way.

But in a world where new AI tools launch every other week, perfection can be a problem. The pace is too fast. The competition’s too bold. And waiting around for the perfect product could just mean getting left behind.

So when Apple started teasing the iPhone 16 with snazzy new features — like a smarter Siri that could use personal data (understanding things like “When is my next meeting with investors?”) and app context (for example, “Make this photo pop, and add it to the Goa 2025 vacation album”), or Apple Intelligence tools that summarise text, prioritise notifications, and edit photos — expectations ran high. But behind the scenes, engineers testing these beta features found something troubling… they didn’t always work.

Some even had to be rolled back after going rogue. Remember that summarisation feature that was supposed to help by condensing messages, news and notifications? It misfired pretty badly. There was this one case where someone got a text from their mum saying, “That hike almost killed me!” The AI’s summary? “Attempted suicide but recovered and hiked in Redlands and Palm Springs.” That doesn’t sound great at all.

Then there’s the fact that Apple hasn’t exactly been best friends with AI. You could say it’s been more cautious than curious. For years Apple largely refused to even use the word “AI”, until it did in a stubborn way by calling it “Apple Intelligence”. That might come from the fact that folks like Craig Federighi, Apple’s software chief, have reportedly been reluctant to throw big money at AI. For context, Apple has spent just $11 billion on capital expenditure over the past year. That’s barely about 15% of what its peers like Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet and Meta spent on average. Because from Apple’s point of view, it’s a high-risk game. Unlike hardware or traditional software updates where the outcome is more predictable, AI feels like a gamble. You pour in time and resources without knowing exactly what you’ll get in return.

Federighi didn’t exactly see AI as a “must-have” for personal computers or smartphones either. He didn’t want to pull resources away from what Apple’s already great at — rolling out those polished, annual upgrades for iPhones, Macs and iPads. In AI, it’s common to dive in without a clear picture of the final product, figuring things out as you go. But that’s not Apple’s style. Apple tends to work with a destination in mind, building with purpose rather than experimenting aimlessly.

That mindset, along with its deep-rooted focus on user privacy, is probably what’s kept Apple from jumping in headfirst like Microsoft, Meta or Amazon, all of whom have either built or acquired large language models (LLMs) or AI chatbots.

And that brings us to the biggest conflict — Apple’s famous commitment to privacy. Yup, it’s true that Apple’s privacy controls are far stricter than most of its competitors. But that strength also becomes a weakness when it comes to AI. Limiting the amount of user data it collects means Apple doesn’t have the same massive datasets that others rely on to train and improve their AI.

Even with its new ChatGPT integration, Apple insists on user consent before sending off queries. And OpenAI doesn’t get to keep the data either. That’s great for protecting privacy, but it also makes it harder for Apple to catch up.

Which leaves us wondering — should Apple just kill Siri?

Let’s face it, Siri’s reputation has taken quite a beating over the years. It’s been clunky, slow, and frustrating for users. And now, with Apple Intelligence in the mix, things have only gotten messier. Some basic features that used to work just fine, like sending a simple text, are suddenly glitchy. So maybe it’s time to stop clinging to the nostalgia of Siri and admit that the old assistant might be more of a burden than a badge of honour.

Maybe what Apple really needs is a clean break and a total rebrand.

After all, it wouldn’t be the first to do it. Google swapped out Assistant for Gemini. Microsoft shelved Cortana and bet big on Copilot. So why not Apple?

Of course, Apple being Apple might want to hold on, stick to its identity, do things its own way and be the perfectionist.

But if that’s the path it wants to take, it needs to move faster. Because in the world of AI, the clock doesn’t wait. And the competition sure won’t either.

Until next time…

P.S. As we were putting this story together, rumours started swirling that Apple might be quietly exploring acquiring Perplexity AI. If that happens, it could turn out to be Apple’s biggest acquisition ever.

Who knows… maybe they had a sixth sense that this story was coming. 😉

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