While other digital assistants like Google Assistant and Alexa have many useful skills, Apple’s Siri has not been able to do as much. It has been harder for Siri to find information and give the right answers based on context compared to other assistants. Google and Microsoft also started using a new type of AI called generative AI earlier than Apple. Now it seems Apple wants Siri to catch up to changes in artificial intelligence.
Apple is putting a lot of money and employees on improving Siri and other apps using generative AI. This type of AI can hold conversations like ChatGPT. John Giannandrea and Craig Federighi, who are in charge of AI at Apple, are leading these efforts along with Eddy Cue who runs Apple services. They plan to spend $1 billion each year on AI development.
Siri is expected to get a big upgrade soon with generative AI. This could make Siri smarter and allow it to do more tasks. A new version of Siri may be ready as early as 2025 when the iPhone 16 comes out. How well it can compare to Google Assistant’s new abilities is still unknown.
Apple Music may also get new auto-generated playlist features like Spotify has. Apple’s productivity apps like Pages and Keynote could gain skills powered by generative AI models. For example, Pages may help write better with suggestions. Keynote could automatically build slideshows.
Eddy Cue’s team is exploring how generative AI can improve creativity and productivity across Apple apps and services. It seems Apple finally wants to close the gap with competitors in the AI assistant space. Only time will tell if these investment plans can make Siri a much stronger smart assistant.
