A leaker with a mixed track-record says that Apple will use this year’s WWDC to announce some new Siri generative AI capabilities.

The post is vague, stating only that it will “add more personalization and natural conversations to Siri,” with just a few other elements …

Blogger yeux1122 posted.

This is the related developer source.

Recent progress on applying generative AI to Apple Siri.
this is the main content

Generated AI version of Siri on Apple’s Ajax-based model announced at WWDC
Adds more personalization and natural conversations to Siri
Add efficient management between devices such as various Apple iPhones

Added a new Apple-specific creational service
Adding linkage services between various external services
Some services or features differ between subscription services.

Bloomberg last year indicated that Apple had been working on its own ChatGPT-like generative AI project since 2022, which some are dubbing Apple GPT. Mark Gurman reported that the company is currently using the tool internally, with plans to launch some generative AI features to Apple users at some point this year.

It’s now working on several related initiatives — a cross-company effort between its AI and software engineering groups, as well as the cloud services engineering team that would supply the infrastructure for any significant new features. While the company doesn’t yet have a concrete plan, people familiar with the work believe Apple is aiming to make a significant AI-related announcement next year [ie. 2024].

WWDC would be the obvious time and place for a “significant AI-related announcement,” so this latest claim would be consistent.

The suggestion of “subscription services” is something about which we’ve speculated before.

Apple’s appetite for subscription revenue can’t be satisfied. You have to wonder what new ideas the company might be cooking up for turning generative AI into a revenue generator. Can you imagine a version of Siri with generative AI so good that people pay monthly for it? If it makes sense, it could make money.

9to5Mac’s Take

Yeux1122’s track record is mixed. They have gotten enough things right in the past to give some credence to their reports, but been part-right, part-wrong about both the iPad mini 6 and iPhone SE 3, wrong about the iPad Air storage tiers, wrong about the RAM in the iPhone 14 Pro, and only half-right about the iPhone 15 Pro storage. There’s likely a fair bit of guesswork involved in their posts.

At this point, guesswork is probably enough. It would be both surprising and depressing if Apple didn’t choose this year to make some substantial generative AI improvements to Siri. We’ve noted before that Apple has to exercise particular care here, but 2024 feels like time.

As for subscriptions, generative AI pioneer ChatGPT has both free and subscription versions – the latter available not just to generate revenue, but because there are very significant computing costs involved in operating this type of service. It’s certainly possible that Apple might adopt the same approach – though it for sure has to make some notable Siri improvements free for all.

Photo: The Blowup/Unsplash