In a world where technology is increasingly conspiring to steal our focus and attention, my goal is to teach you how to be more productive with Apple technology. I want to help you achieve what is most important to you and enjoy your life at the same time using technology instead of becoming another one of its victims. Pretty much everything I make points at that North Star. I believe in this message so much that I’ve staked my livelihood on it.
Apple's AI Woes
|
Hi Friend, For years now I’ve been writing and talking about the trouble with Siri. This problem became even more acute for Apple with the rise of large language models (LLMs) and the world’s collective realization at just how useful a smart artificial intelligence can be. Last June, it seemed as if Apple finally found religion about making Siri better. At WWDC 2024 they outlined the “Apple Intelligence” strategy that made a lot of sense. While I never expected Apple to build something on par with one of the frontier models, like ChatGPT, I continue to think they don’t need to. If Apple’s AI could remain private and access all my data, that alone makes it more useful than most artificial intelligence. Moreover, as the platform owner, a smart Siri could act as an AI traffic cop, sending more complex requests to the appropriate outside models. So I think Apple has the right vision, but I’m starting to question their ability to execute on it. Apple has yet to release even a beta of the iOS 18 version with, as one Apple employee explained to me, the “Siri Brain Transplant.” Indeed, Apple recently announced that the advanced Siri features won't ship in iOS 18 after all. So the brain transplant has been postponed. Late last year, there was a rumor that Apple is working separately on an LLM-Siri for iOS 19 that will really show how good Siri can be. The fact that there is already a rumor of a new thing when we don’t yet have the improved old thing doesn’t inspire confidence. It gets worse, though. Mark Gurman, a reliable source, now reports the new LLM Siri is also behind and its conversational features may not release to consumers until 2027. Ugh. If true, Apple’s failure to deliver on Siri is epic at the Apple Maps and MobileMe launch levels. The current LLM leaders are evolving weekly. Can you imagine how good they are going to be by 2027? I honestly can’t. If these rumors are true, Apple is in trouble. It’s not the 1995 Apple-will-they-go-out-of-business-trouble, but it is trouble nonetheless. M.G. Siegler suggests that if Apple truly is this far behind, they should just default to ChatGPT until they can get their act together. That would be incredibly embarrassing for Apple, but this whole situation is exactly that. It looks like Apple’s AI initiative has a long way to go. Back in the day when the MobilMe launch failed so miserably, people joked that Steve Jobs was walking through the hallways at Cupertino with a flame thrower strapped to his back asking everyone he met, "Do you work on MobileMe?". When it comes to AI, I think Apple is approaching a flame thrower moment. John Gruber agrees. Your pal, |
David Sparks (MacSparky)
In a world where technology is increasingly conspiring to steal our focus and attention, my goal is to teach you how to be more productive with Apple technology. I want to help you achieve what is most important to you and enjoy your life at the same time using technology instead of becoming another one of its victims. Pretty much everything I make points at that North Star. I believe in this message so much that I’ve staked my livelihood on it.
A MacSparky Dispatch Hi Friend, In productivity, we worship efficiency. The fastest way to clear an inbox. The most automated way to track a project. The most frictionless method to organize our lives. I’m going to suggest something different. When it comes to your goals and plans, efficiency is the enemy. I learned this the hard way last year. Trying to be hyper-efficient, I dictated my quarterly review and used AI to organize the text into a structured plan. The resulting document was...
A note from MacSparky Hi Friend, For several years now, I've been getting back into woodworking. It's a hobby I love, but through 2024, I kept running into the same problem: I never felt like I was getting enough time in the shop to actually make things. During my regular reviews, I'd look at my role as a creative person and feel disappointed. I was talking about woodworking more than I was doing it. By the end of 2024, the gap between intention and action had grown so wide that I genuinely...
A Note From MacSparky Hi friend, There's a lot of head-scratching going on outside Apple right now with all the management changes over the last few weeks. Many of these changes were predictable. As people get older, they tend to retire and want to spend some of their Apple wealth enjoying life. John Giannandrea's departure was also predictable, given the public criticism following the problems with Siri. The only real surprise has been Alan Dye. The reaction from the cheap seats has been...