At Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC25), the tech giant unveiled significant updates including a revolutionary "Liquid Glass" interface and refreshed naming conventions. Yet the event's most conspicuous absence was the promised AI-powered version of Siri, leaving industry watchers questioning Apple's artificial intelligence roadmap.

During his keynote, Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, offered only vague assurances about Siri's future: "We're continuing our work to make Siri more personalized. This requires additional time to meet our quality standards, and we expect to share more next year." This carefully worded statement suggests users shouldn't expect major Siri advancements before 2026 - an eternity in today's rapidly evolving AI landscape.

The personalized Siri initiative, first announced at WWDC24, was touted as Apple's next-generation digital assistant capable of understanding users' personal contexts - from relationship dynamics to daily routines. The upgraded assistant promised unprecedented functionality across applications, potentially revolutionizing how users interact with their devices.

Behind the scenes, technical hurdles appear to have derailed Apple's timeline. Bloomberg reports reveal that while the new Siri functions properly about 66% of the time, these reliability issues forced executives to postpone its release. The March announcement delaying Siri's launch now appears more significant than initially recognized.

Apple has responded with organizational shakeups. John Giannandrea, previously leading machine learning and AI strategy, has been replaced by Mike Rockwell from the Vision Pro team. This leadership change signals Apple's urgent efforts to refocus its AI development as competitors like OpenAI and Google continue advancing their offerings.

The company isn't standing still technologically. Its partnership with OpenAI allows Siri to seamlessly hand off complex queries to ChatGPT when needed. iOS26 will integrate enhanced AI capabilities including an upgraded Image Playground feature now powered by ChatGPT technology.

WWDC25 did showcase other AI advancements:

• Developer tools for on-device model access
• Real-time translation improvements
• Enhanced Genmoji creation
• Advanced visual intelligence features

These incremental updates suggest Apple is building toward its vision of comprehensive AI integration - just not as quickly as many hoped.

Key Points

1. Apple postponed its next-gen Siri reveal at WWDC25, pushing major updates to 2026 or later
2. Technical reliability issues reportedly plague the new system, functioning correctly just two-thirds of the time
3. Leadership changes reflect Apple's intensified focus on catching up in the AI arms race
4. Strategic OpenAI partnership provides stopgap solutions while Apple develops proprietary technology
5. Other announced AI features demonstrate progress in specific areas despite Siri delays