In several recent interviews following Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, key executives have refuted claims that last year’s demonstrations of a personalized, AI-driven Siri were merely “demoware,” software showcased purely for demonstration purposes without actual substance or readiness for market. Apple pointedly dismissed suggestions that the technology was vaporware, clarifying that the product had simply not yet reached the quality and reliability benchmarks necessary for a consumer release.
Apple’s Senior Vice President of Software Engineering, Craig Federighi, addressed critiques regarding delays in bringing the innovative AI-powered Siri to market. Rather than admitting to trailing others in the AI technology race, Federighi emphasized that Apple views artificial intelligence as a profound evolutionary shift, one that will redefine both the tech industry and the broader society over a considerable length of time.
“We see AI as a transformational wave with long-term implications,” Federighi explained. “There is no advantage in being first to market if the product or its features aren’t right or complete.”
Federighi elaborated further during his conversations, noting Apple’s strategic decision at WWDC 2024 to demonstrate early concepts of the new AI-powered Siri. He argued that Apple wanted to give the tech industry a transparent overview of its direction and ambitions for AI, rather than prematurely rushing a product to market.
He acknowledged that Apple had initially developed two distinct architectures for Siri’s AI systems. The first version was presented publicly in demonstrations, but as development progressed and higher customer expectations emerged, the company’s engineering teams realized a migration to a more advanced second architecture would be essential. Federighi confirmed this refined version is targeted to debut sometime in 2026.
Several industry observers had speculated that Apple’s presentations involved only superficial or non-functional technology, a claim Federighi firmly countered. He described the demo as showcasing authentic software underpinned by a legitimate large language model and full-scale semantic search capabilities. “We displayed real, fully working technology,” Federighi insisted.
Greg Joswiak, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, vigorously supported this stance, voicing frustration over the narrative of “demoware.” Joswiak explained that Apple genuinely intended the demonstrated Siri capabilities to be delivered within that year, however, during internal testing, the product exhibited error rates the company deemed unacceptable for consumer standards.
Both executives took the opportunity of these interviews to clarify Apple’s broader strategy regarding AI. Rather than competing directly with generative chatbot tools—such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT—Apple intends to embed advanced intelligence seamlessly within the core experiences of its devices and platforms.
“This wasn’t about building another chatbot,” explained Federighi. “It wasn’t our goal to define Apple Intelligence as a chat-focused experience. Instead, we want to integrate deep intelligence into every aspect of our ecosystems, meeting customers precisely where they already are and delivering value without forcing users into a dedicated chat interface.”
Ultimately, according to the executives, Apple’s strategy is to furnish its vast developer community with robust tools and underlying AI frameworks. These resources will allow app creators to harness Apple’s foundation models, ultimately building more sophisticated, intelligent experiences for all users.
