Can Anthropic or OpenAI Help Apple's Siri Close the AI Gap?
In June, the tech world once again descended on Cupertino, California to attend Apple's flagship live event, the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).
In the past, Apple has use the WWDC to announce the latest products and innovations that its world-renowned design team has been developing. This was the place that Steve Jobs first announced the launch of Safari, Apple's own web browser, after all.
But for some industry professionals, this year's conference was a little lacklustre.
While Apple's rivals in the tech sector have been busy launching some truly ground-breaking AI innovations, Apple's announcements were limited to a fresh operating system and a new design philosophy that it calls 'Liquid Glass'.
However, that may all be about to change.
This week, Bloomberg revealed that Apple is actively exploring partnerships with AI leaders Anthropic and OpenAI — the companies behind Claude and ChatGPT — with the idea of completely revamping its voice-powered assistant Siri, getting it ready for the AI era.
In recent years, Siri (which was launched in 2011) has started to lag behind rival services, like Google Assistant and Amazon's Alexa, especially with regards to its conversational capabilities and its processing of queries and questions.
While striking up partnerships with either Anthropic or OpenAI could help Apple deliver a major boost to its products, it also represents an admission that Apple is finding it difficult to match its competitors in the rapidly changing AI economy.
A departure from convention
Traditionally, Apple has kept the development of its core technologies in-house.
According to Bloomberg, Apple has reached out to the creators of the ChatGPT and Claude chatbots to explore integrating their LLMs into Siri's framework, as it seeks to kickstart a new era for its products.
The iPhone manufacturer has requested that both organisations create tailored versions of their AI systems that can operate on Apple's exclusive cloud infrastructure for evaluation purposes.
This strategy allows Apple to retain some authority over user data whilst utilising more sophisticated AI capabilities than its existing in-house models offer.
Is leadership a factor for Apple?
It's possible that Apple's decision to field suitors in Anthropic and OpenAI is down to recent changes in the company's leadership, particularly within its AI teams, which has undergone a shake-up in the past 12 months.
Mike Rockwell (who used to oversee the development of Apple's Vision Pro headset) took charge of Siri engineering in March after restructuring.
Craig Federighi, Apple's Head of Software Engineering, is now sharing in the supervision of Siri, alongside Mike.
Both Mike and Craig have taken on these roles after John Giannandrea, Apple's Chief of AI, was moved aside following tepid responses to Apple Intelligence capabilities and ongoing delays in Siri enhancements.
Is Anthropic the preferred choice for the partnership?
According to Bloomberg, Apple's team has determined that Claude is the best fit for its products.
Reportedly, after a series of thorough assessments, Adrian Perica, Apple's VP of Corporate Development, opened official talks with Anthropic with the intention of licensing Claude for the iPhone and its whole portfolio.
But despite the compatibility between Apple and Anthropic's technologies, the two firms have reportedly failed to reach financial agreement thus far.
Anthropic is allegedly demanding a multi-billion-dollar annual licensing payment, with substantial yearly increases expected on top.
These demands have left Apple weighing alternative partnerships with OpenAI or other AI suppliers, should talks with Anthropic continue to stall.
Where is Apple in the AI race?
Bloomberg's report revealed that, by considering outsourcing R&D for the next era of Siri, Apple's own AI team has felt uncertain and shunned.
Certain engineers within the approximately 100-person foundation models team, headed by distinguished engineer Ruoming Pang, have reportedly voiced their worries about the company's seeming lack of faith in their efforts.
Bloomberg reports that some members have suggested they may pursue opportunities elsewhere, with rivals like Meta providing annual packages valued at US$11–44m to attract leading AI talent.
Beyond Sir Jony Ive, Apple has recently lost Senior Researcher Tom Gunter, who dedicated eight years to the company, which indicates that staff retention is becoming an issue for the California-based firm.
"Apple wants Siri to be smarter," says Jess Ahmet, Senior Data Analyst at Immersive, "but it can't do it alone anymore."
"Apple built its reputation on control, secrecy and moving at its own pace.
"But the world isn't waiting. Microsoft, Google, Meta — they're pushing out updates, grabbing headlines and redefining how we use AI every day."
It's hard to imagine Apple turning to Anthropic or OpenAI to effectively outsource its AI development, if Steve Jobs was still around," says Dylan Jones, Managing Partner at Boldsquare.
"Letting someone else's AI power Siri is more than a product decision - it seems to me more like a window into what Apple now believes it does well, and what it doesn't."
