Apple eyes Anthropic or OpenAI o boost Siri performance
Apple Inc. is exploring the possibility of integrating artificial intelligence technology from Anthropic PBC or OpenAI to enhance Siri.
This marks a significant pivot away from its own in-house AI models as the company seeks to revitalize its struggling AI initiatives, News.Az reports, citing Bloomberg.
The iPhone maker has talked with both companies about using their large language models for Siri, according to people familiar with the discussions. It has asked them to train versions of their models that could run on Apple’s cloud infrastructure for testing, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations.
If Apple ultimately moves forward, it would represent a monumental reversal. The company currently powers most of its AI features with homegrown technology that it calls Apple Foundation Models and had been planning a new version of its voice assistant that runs on that technology for 2026.
A switch to Anthropic’s Claude or OpenAI’s ChatGPT models for Siri would be an acknowledgment that the company is struggling to compete in generative AI — the most important new technology in decades. Apple already allows ChatGPT to answer web-based search queries in Siri, but the assistant itself is powered by Apple.
Apple’s investigation into third-party models is at an early stage, and the company hasn’t made a final decision on using them, the people said. A competing project internally dubbed LLM Siri that uses in-house models remains in active development.
Making a change — which is under discussion for next year — could allow Cupertino, California-based Apple to offer Siri features on par with AI assistants on Android phones, helping the company shed its reputation as an AI laggard. Making a change — which is under discussion for next year — could allow Cupertino, California-based Apple to offer Siri features on par with AI assistants on Android phones, helping the company shed its reputation as an AI laggard.
Shares of Apple rose as much as 3% after Bloomberg reported on the deliberations.
Representatives for Apple, Anthropic and OpenAI declined to comment.
The project to evaluate external models was started by Siri chief Mike Rockwell and software engineering head Craig Federighi. They were given oversight of Siri after the duties were removed from the command of John Giannandrea, the company’s AI chief. He was sidelined in the wake of a tepid response to Apple Intelligence and Siri feature delays.
Rockwell, who previously launched the Vision Pro headset, assumed the Siri engineering role in March. After taking over, he instructed his new group to assess whether Siri would do a better job handling queries using Apple’s AI models or third-party technology, including Claude, ChatGPT and Alphabet Inc.’s Google Gemini.
After multiple rounds of testing, Rockwell and other executives concluded that Anthropic’s technology is most promising for Siri’s needs, the people said. That led Adrian Perica, the company’s vice president of corporate development, to start discussions with Anthropic about using Claude, the people said.
The Siri assistant — originally released in 2011 — has fallen behind popular AI chatbots, and Apple’s attempts to upgrade the software have been stymied by engineering snags and delays.
A year ago, Apple unveiled new Siri capabilities, including ones that would let it tap into users’ personal data and analyze on-screen content to better fulfill queries. The company also demonstrated technology that would let Siri more precisely control apps and features across Apple devices.
The enhancements were far from ready. Apple initially announced plans for an early 2025 release but ultimately delayed the launch indefinitely. They are now planned for next spring, Bloomberg News has reported.
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