Report Reveals Drama Behind Fake Siri Demo At WWDC 2024
The Siri crisis continues to unfold within Apple. A recent report from The Information delves into the drama surrounding Apple’s AI teams, the botched Siri demo at WWDC 2024, and the challenges that have plagued the virtual assistant’s development for years. Despite Apple’s reorganized Siri team leadership, tensions persist, and delivering a fully functional Siri remains a work in progress.
Leadership and Team Tensions
According to former employees, Siri’s development has been riddled with indecision. Initially, the team planned to create two distinct models for Siri: the “Mini Mouse” for on-device tasks and the “Mighty Mouse” to utilize cloud resources. However, in the end, Apple opted for a single large model that could handle everything. Unfortunately, this decision did not solve the underlying issues. Additionally, a growing tension between John Giannandrea’s team (focused on improving Siri) and Craig Federighi’s team (doing the technical work) made collaboration difficult.
With Federighi once again in charge of Siri, the report suggests that employees are now feeling more confident about the future of the assistant. Still, the past struggles of leadership and lack of direction have left lasting challenges that may take time to resolve.
The Fake Siri Demo at WWDC 2024
The WWDC 2024 keynote featured a demo of Siri with on-screen awareness capabilities, an exciting feature that turned out to be a mirage. Apple presented an unfinished product, leaving the actual Siri team members surprised and frustrated. According to sources, the only functional feature was a pulsing, colorful ribbon that appeared on the edges of the iPhone’s screen when Siri was invoked. The rest of the demo, which promised a new Siri experience, was never operational at the time.
This decision to showcase an incomplete product has added more fuel to the ongoing internal frustrations. As of now, Apple plans to release Siri with the on-screen awareness feature in 2026, but it’s clear that the journey to a fully functional and reliable Siri will be a slow one.
