Apple Pivots AI Focus: Major Siri Overhaul and Chatbot Push Coming in 2025

Apple Pivots AI Focus: Major Siri Overhaul and Chatbot Push Coming in 2025

Apple is making a dramatic shift in its artificial intelligence strategy, moving away from its previous dismissal of chatbots to embrace them as a core part of its AI future. The tech giant is overhauling Siri and developing new chatbot-like experiences after recognizing that its current AI approach has fallen short of expectations.

What's Changing at Apple

According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple's AI strategy has been "less than impressive" since its unveiling last year. The company's superficial integration of ChatGPT into Siri has driven users to seek genuine chatbot experiences elsewhere, forcing Apple to rethink its approach.

Key developments include:

• Project Linwood: A completely redesigned Siri expected to launch as early as March 2025
• AKI Team: New "Answers, Knowledge and Information" division focused on general knowledge retrieval
• AI-Powered Search: Development of a web search tool to compete with ChatGPT-like experiences
• Veritas App: Internal chatbot for testing new Siri functionality (not planned for consumer release)

The New Siri Experience

The revamped Siri will merge external AI models (likely Google's Gemini) with Apple's own Foundation Models technology. This hybrid approach aims to deliver three key capabilities: powering web search, handling Siri requests using on-device data, and enabling complete iPhone navigation through voice commands alone.

Why This Matters Now

Apple's previous resistance to chatbot-driven AI has proven costly as competitors like OpenAI and Google gained ground. By embracing chatbot experiences and investing heavily in Siri's overhaul, Apple is positioning itself to reclaim its competitive edge in the rapidly evolving AI landscape.

The success of this strategic pivot could fundamentally reshape Apple's role in artificial intelligence and determine whether the company can catch up to rivals who embraced conversational AI earlier.

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