https://9to5mac.com/2023/04/27/apple-employees-siri-struggles/ Skip to main content Toggle main menu Go to the 9to5Mac home page Switch site * * * * * * * * * * Toggle social menu * * * Toggle dark mode Toggle search form Search for: [ ] Submit * 9to5Toys * 9to5Google * Electrek * DroneDJ * Space Explored * About * Privacy * Exclusives * Store * iPhone + iPhone + iPhone 12 + iPhone 13 + iPhone 14 + iOS 15 + iOS 16 * Mac + Mac + MacBook Pro + MacBook Air + iMac + Mac mini + macOS Monterey * Watch + Apple Watch + Apple Health + Apple Watch Series 7 + Apple Watch Series 8 + Apple Watch Ultra + Apple Watch SE + watchOS 8 + Apple Fitness+ * iPad + iPad Pro + iPad Air + iPad mini + iPad + iPadOS * Music + Apple Music + AirPods + HomePod * TV + Apple TV 4K + Apple TV + tvOS 15 * Guides + Reviews + How Tos + AAPL + Apple Store + Apple Arcade + Apple Card + Apple Silicon + Apple One + CarPlay + Siri + HomeKit * * * * * * * * * * * * * Toggle dark mode * AAPL Company * Siri Even Apple employees hate Siri and are skeptical of its future, new report says Avatar for Chance Miller Chance Miller | Apr 27 2023 - 8:55 am PT 28 Comments Siri new voice 5 A new report from The Information today goes in-depth on the apparent chaos inside teams at Apple working on Siri and artificial intelligence. According to the story, "organizational dysfunction and a lack of ambition" have plagued Apple's efforts to improve Siri and the backend technology that powers it. This dysfunction has led to Apple falling further and further behind competitors like OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google, leading some Apple employees to question the future. [INS::INS] Today's report is based on "interviews with more than three dozen former Apple employees who worked in its AI and machine learning groups." The report follows a similar story from The New York Times earlier this month, which explained how Siri is built on a "clunky" database that ultimately leads to it taking "weeks" for Siri to be updated with "basic features." One of the major problems facing the Siri team, which is led by former Google executive John Giannandrea, is employee retention. According to The Information, Apple lost three of its Siri engineers to Google: Srinivasan Venkatachary, Steven Baker, and Anand Shukla. These employees initially joined Apple in 2019, when Apple acquired their startup Laserlike. These three engineers had been working on Siri search features but were swayed by Google as they believed the company would be a better place to work on large language models, or LLMs. This is the technology behind platforms like Google Bard and ChatGPT. The report today explains that Google wanted these three engineers "badly enough that its CEO, Sundar Pichai, personally wooed the group." On Apple's side, CEO Tim Cook also "tried to persuade them to stay," but ultimately proved unsuccessful. Inside Apple, this report suggests that "Siri remains widely derided" by employees. At one point, the team working on Apple's Reality Pro headset reportedly became so frustrated with Siri that it considered "building alternative methods" for controlling the headset with voice technology. Inside Apple, Siri remains widely derided for its lack of functionality and improvements since Giannandrea took over, say multiple former Siri employees. For example, the team building Apple's mixed-reality headset, including its leader Mike Rockwell, has expressed disappointment in the demonstrations the Siri team created to showcase how the voice assistant could control the headset, according to two people familiar with the matter. At one point, Rockwell's team considered building alternative methods for controlling the device using voice commands, the people said (the headset team ultimately ditched that idea). One of the bottlenecks faced by Siri is that "top executives" at Apple are wary of Siri making major gaffes in its responses. This, as we've seen in regards to ChatGPT, can lead to embarrassing headlines and overall bad press for a platform. In an all-hands meeting, leaders of Apple's AI and machine-learning team addressed the tensions, agreeing that mistakes were bound to happen and that it was their job to educate Apple's top executives about how machine-learning models improve. In one example, Giannandrea and the search team led by Venkatachary were finally able to reach a compromise with the Siri design team by creating a button that allowed users to report a concern or an issue with the content of a Siri answer, a former Siri employee said. In fact, multiple incidents that have affected Siri have led to employees being "skeptical" that Apple will ever be successful in matching the technology behind things like ChatGPT: The incidents explain why many former employees in Apple's AI group are skeptical that the company will be successful in developing the next wave of AI products based on LLMs. The company's senior leaders haven't shown much stomach for the kinds of headline-grabbing gaffes ChatGPT and similar services have stumbled into over the last several months. The full report from The Information is well worth a read. It offers a comprehensive look at the current state of Siri and how Apple engineers are working to improve the platform, despite some of the baggage and internal strife. Follow Chance: Twitter, Instagram, and Mastodon Add 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More. [750_150-1] You're reading 9to5Mac -- experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don't know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel Featured from 9to5Mac [15-Pro-CAD-Hero] Exclusive: Latest iPhone 15 Pro CADs reveal 'Action button' and camera changes Avatar for Ian Zelbo Ian Zelbo Apr 26 2023 2023 Pride Apple Watch Here's a first look at the 2023 Apple Watch Pride face and band Avatar for Filipe Esposito Filipe Esposito Apr 25 2023 iMessage Windows 11 Microsoft Phone Link Microsoft rolling out iMessage on Windows 11 support, here are the pros and cons Avatar for Michael Potuck Michael Potuck Apr 26 2023 Most popular iPhones 2023 These are the most popular iPhones so far in 2023, study reveals Avatar for Michael Potuck Michael Potuck Apr 26 2023 [INS::INS] Check out 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news: Comments Expand Close comments Expand Close comments Guides AAPL Company AAPL Company Breaking news from Cupertino. We'll give you t... Siri Siri Siri is Apple's personal assistant technology th... Author Avatar for Chance Miller Chance Miller @ChanceHMiller Chance is an editor for the entire 9to5 network and covers the latest Apple news for 9to5Mac. Tips, questions, typos to [email protected]