Apple's incorrect assumption about the public and AI chatbots is holding Siri back

There are times when you have to wonder what Apple has its finger on because, occasionally, it isn’t on the pulse of the public. A good example of this was mentioned by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in his weekly online Power On newsletter. For some reason, perhaps for self-preservation, some Apple employees in the tech giant’s AI group came to the conclusion that there was no reason why Apple should develop a ChatGPT-style chatbot for the iPhone.

Apple wrongly believes that consumers have a limited interest in using AI chatbots

According to today’s report, top executives in both the software and marketing units in Cupertino came to the conclusion that there is only limited consumer interest in chatbots. Perhaps what Apple isn’t seeing is that chatbots like ChatGPT and Gemini are great at answering your queries, something that Siri fails miserably at. The problem is that chatbots can’t set timers and alarms or handle any tasks related to your phone.

ChatGPT can be installed on your iPhone from the App Store. | Image credit-Phonearena

Apple does allow Siri to hand off questions it can’t answer to ChatGPT if the user agrees to this on a question-by-question basis. But the responses from ChatGPT are limited. If you rely on the Siri/ChatGPT combo to answer your questions requiring what Apple calls “world knowledge,” you might be better off installing the ChatGPT app and using it for all your queries. You’ll get more in-depth answers from the app than the responses that come from Siri/ChatGPT. In addition to ChatGPT, another app to install on your iPhone is Google’s Gemini.

Another area where AI makes a great tool is Search. Eddy Cue, Apple’s Services chief, testified in court that search via AI is where things are headed. Of course, Apple is in no hurry to replace Google, which pays Apple approximately $20 billion a year to be the default search engine on Apple devices. The DOJ might have something to say about this deal, and it is expected that the Justice Department will put the kibosh on the arrangement. This is quite worrisome for Apple as Cue says that growth in the Services unit is connected to the Apple-Google partnership.

Back in June, Gurman wrote that Apple was looking at teaming up with AI app Perplexity, whose iOS app is available through the App Store by tapping on this link. Its App Store listing says that Perplexity will allow you to “Cut through the clutter and get straight to credible, up-to-date answers.” That’s something that Siri users have always wanted from the digital assistant. With nearly 230,000 reviews from iOS users, the app has a 4.9 score out of a possible 5.

Apple is reportedly working on developing an “answer engine” to power Siri, Spotlight, and Safari

Apple has created its own in-house team called “Answers, Knowledge and Information,” also known inside the company as AKI. This team has been given the job of finding a new search tool that delivers a similar experience to ChatGPT. Gurman writes that he has been told that the AKI team is looking through in-house AI services to help it complete its task.

“Our work fuels intuitive information experiences across some of Apple’s most iconic products, including Siri, Spotlight, Safari, Messages, Lookup, and more. Join us in shaping the future of how the world connects with information!”

-Apple ad promoting a job opening

The team is said to be developing an “answer engine” that will crawl the web to answer general knowledge queries. Apple is considering developing an individual app in addition to using the answer engine to power Siri, Spotlight, and Safari. Owners of Apple devices can’t wait to see how all of this shakes out and whether the tool Apple does create is a big improvement over Siri.