Siri 2.0 features reportedly only working ‘two-thirds to 80% of the time’

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Report hints at why the Apple Intelligence upgrade has been pushed back.

Siri
(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

After whispers last month that the big generative AI upgrade to the Siri personal assistant was in trouble, Apple officially confirmed the delay last week.

As commentators have pointed out, it’s an embarrassing moment for Apple, because it suggests the demo of the improved Siri at WWDC last year was actually little more than a concept video.

Now, thanks to extremely detailed report of an internal meeting at Apple published by Bloomberg, we have some insights into why Siri 2.0 has been pushed back so dramatically. The good news is that it’s working; the bad news is that it’s not working consistently.

Reliability issues

The piece quotes extensively Robby Walker, a senior director at Apple, who describes the saga as “ugly.” The piece claims that the decision to postpone was because Siri 2.0 only works as intended two-thirds to 80% of the time, making a delay feel like a no-brainer.

“If you were using these features in the build, you were probably wondering: Are these ready?”, Walker is quoted as asking. “How do I feel about shipping these to our customers? Is this the right choice?”

While most people accept that AI makes mistakes, a one-in-three (or even a best-case one-in-five) failure rate is clearly not a great introduction to new technology, and a recipe for users to opt out. As such, Walker reportedly explained that the delay is to ensure the team “can make more progress to get those percentages up, so that users get something they can really count on.”

“These are not quite ready to go to the general public, even though our competitors might have launched them in this state or worse,” he’s quoted as adding.

Interestingly, we do get an insight into Siri 2.0’s functionality, and it’s the kind of thing that would certainly stump the current version. The report writes that the AI was “able to locate his driver’s license number on command and find specific photos of a child,” and that Siri could also “precisely manipulate apps” via voice. We’re told how Siri embedded content in an email, added recipients and made other changes.

Will it even make iOS 19?

iOS 19 logo on an iPhone

(Image credit: Future)

The expectation was that the new Siri would slip to iOS 19 and launch with the iPhone 17, but even that may be optimistic, with Walker stating that while that’s the aim, it “doesn’t mean that we’re shipping then.”

There are “other commitments across Apple to other projects” that may take priority, Walker reportedly said. “We understand those are now potentially more timeline-urgent than the features that have been deferred.”

While Walker concluded the meeting by stating his belief that Apple will “ship the world’s greatest virtual assistant”, the flashy announcement followed by public silence has echos of AirPower, Apple’s wireless charger that was announced at the company’s 2017 iPhone X and then abandoned, unreleased, two years later.

With Google Assistant being retired for Gemini, and Amazon introducing Alexa Plus to the world, Apple can’t risk a repeat of that with Siri 2.0.

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Alan Martin
Alan Martin

Freelance contributor Alan has been writing about tech for over a decade, covering phones, drones and everything in between. Previously Deputy Editor of tech site Alphr, his words are found all over the web and in the occasional magazine too. When not weighing up the pros and cons of the latest smartwatch, you'll probably find him tackling his ever-growing games backlog. He also handles all the Wordle coverage on Tom's Guide and has been playing the addictive NYT game for the last several years in an effort to keep his streak forever intact.

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