When the iPhone 16 line-up was launched without most of the headline AI features, there was much criticism about the Apple Intelligence delays. The WSJ’s Joanna Stern has now sat down with Apple software lead Craig Federighi to ask him to explain why the roll-out is so slow.

In addition to the timeline of Apple Intelligence features, Federighi also talks about what we can expect from a smarter Siri …

Why the Apple Intelligence delays?

The exec said that ChatGPT isn’t a good basis for comparison, because Apple isn’t trying to replicate that.

We looked at this as not how do we build another chatbot bolted on the side of of our existing experience, but how do we create something that’s deeply integrated? Most importantly we view it as personal.

The bulk of the focus in chatbots historically has been around products that don’t know you at all. They’re powerful and interesting and they have some fantastic uses, but I think the real power of intelligence as it pertains to how our customers would use our products is intelligence that understands you.

With that comes a great deal of responsibility because to do that that intelligence has to track information that you’ve stored on your device and that means privacy is a tremendously important consideration.

Federighi contrasted Apple’s approach of on-device processing, coupled to Private Cloud Compute, with less secure chatbot servers.

He said that if you’re asking Apple Intelligence for a summary of a lengthy document you’ve received, that requires more power than is available on-device, but Apple’s approach is to use encrypted communication with a server the company built, and which doesn’t retain any of the information once the task is complete.

He said Apple isn’t trying to get everything done on day one, but is thinking more in terms of a process which unfolds over not just years, but decades.

Apple’s point of view is more like let’s try to get each piece right and release it when it’s ready […]

When we think about the road for any of our features, but certainly Apple intelligence, this isn’t a one-and-done kind of situation, this is a many year – honestly even decades long – arc of this technology playing out, and so we’re going to do it responsibly.

What is the future of Siri?

Asked when Siri will finally live up to the promise of being a truly intelligent assistant, Federighi said that there is no specific point at which you can say the potential of Siri has been realized.

The journey never ends […] As humans our expectations for what it means to use our voice to communicate and ask for things is almost unbounded.

The great news is Siri is useful today […] but it’s getting more and more useful because this power of Apple intelligence and large language models means that Siri can understand you better than ever before and is going to have access to more tools on your device to do more for you than ever before.

But is there going to be one moment where we say Siri is now my, you know, sentient pal? You know, no – it’s going to continue to get better and better.

[The smarter Siri] is coming in waves. With Apple Intelligence we’ve created this foundation that understands personal context and the ability to take action. Siri is adopting that in stages and will benefit in stages over the coming year.

You can watch the interview below.

Image: Apple and 9to5Mac