Apple Inc. is undergoing a significant internal restructuring aimed at enhancing its artificial intelligence capabilities, particularly focusing on improving Siri. The company has appointed Kim Vorrath, a 37-year veteran known for her meticulous project management skills, to lead the AI team under John Giannandrea, Apple's AI chief. Vorrath's move from the AR/VR team, where she worked on the Vision Pro headset, to the AI division underscores Apple's commitment to closing the gap with AI leaders like OpenAI and Anthropic. This leadership change comes amid criticism of Siri's performance and Apple's AI features, such as the Apple Intelligence Notification summary, which has faced issues with accuracy.
Vorrath's appointment is seen as a strategic move to address these challenges, with plans to improve Siri's infrastructure and Apple's in-house AI models. The company is also working on integrating advanced AI features into Siri, with updates expected in iOS 18.4 and iOS 19. These updates aim to enhance Siri's contextual awareness and personal context understanding, allowing for more natural language processing and interaction with both Apple and third-party apps. Despite these efforts, Apple is temporarily removing certain AI-powered features in the upcoming iOS 18.3 update due to ongoing accuracy issues.
Apple's stock closed at $222.78 on January 24th, down 0.39% from the previous close of $223.66, with a slight after-market decline of 0.11%.