Did Apple make a mistake?

Before the rumor of developing an AI chatbot similar to ChatGPT, Apple is likely only releasing it internally to test the new version of Siri.

Apple Intelligence advertisement at Apple Store. Photo: Bloomberg .

Apple is still struggling in the AI ​​race. After a disappointing year, the company is trying to catch up with its rivals with many upgrades revolving around its Siri assistant, even developing its own chatbot.

Based on rumors, Apple's chatbot may only be released internally for testing. In a Power On article on Bloomberg , analyst Mark Gurman emphasized that this could be a mistake by Apple in its new strategy.

Apple's mistake

Last year’s launch of Apple Intelligence was less than successful. While it received some praise from loyal fans, analysts stressed that Apple had fallen behind.

Most reviews show that Apple Intelligence is not very impressive, with many features performing worse than competitors. This greatly affects the company, which has always positioned itself as a market leader.

According to Gurman, Apple's mistake comes from its approach of integrating AI into core iPhone features, instead of providing an experience similar to ChatGPT.

In June 2024, Apple made headlines by resurrecting its Macintosh-era “for the rest of us” slogan, positioning generative AI as a suite of tools. Users can categorize emails, create emojis with Genmoji, or use Writing Tools to edit and summarize text.

“Apple may be right that the future of AI is a series of integrated tools. However, their constant assertion that users will not care about chatbots is a big mistake,” Gurman emphasized.

Icons of some popular AI chatbots. Photo: Bloomberg .

In fact, Apple may have realized the problem by integrating ChatGPT into Writing Tools and Siri. However, the integration is quite superficial and lacks interactivity. In other words, users just need to open ChatGPT instead of calling through Siri assistant.

Bloomberg 's writer emphasized that if a chatbot using its own AI model had been launched last year, it would have been a disaster similar to what happened with Apple Maps in 2012.

A year later, Apple appears to have admitted its mistake. To deliver the best generative AI experience, the company needs to develop features similar to ChatGPT, with the ability to mine information from the internet.

In August, Apple reportedly established the Answers, Knowledge and Information team to develop a product that synthesizes general knowledge, the strength of current AI chatbots.

Which is the right decision?

By September, Gurman revealed that Apple was developing an AI-powered search engine, bringing the company closer to an experience like ChatGPT or Perplexity.

In fact, Apple’s new strategy still revolves around an improved version of Siri, internally known as Project Linwood. Expected to launch as early as March 2026, Siri will be completely transformed by combining an external AI model (possibly Google Gemini) with technology developed by the Foundation Models team at Apple.

In addition to web search, Project Linwood includes features promised by Apple last year, including tapping into device and screen data to power Siri, allowing iPhones to be controlled entirely by voice.

To test the new technology, Gurman revealed that Apple has developed an internal chatbot, codenamed Veritas, to send queries without voice interaction.

The application allows entering requests, receiving information and chatting back and forth similar to ChatGPT, in addition to some in-app tasks such as editing photos, retrieving personal information...

Advertisement for a new Siri feature. Photo: YouTube .

In fact, Apple has been experimenting with chatbot-like tools that only work on the web instead of as standalone apps. However, Gurman's source said that Apple has no plans to release chatbots to the public, instead using them to test the effectiveness of the new Siri.

“This may be a mistake on Apple’s part. While improvements to Siri may narrow the gap with competitors, services like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini are proof that users still want a proper chatbot experience,” the Bloomberg writer emphasized.

Even though it operates as a chatbot, ChatGPT or Gemini can still support a variety of tasks such as information gathering, research, and image creation.

“After years of complaints about Siri and slow upgrades, Apple's groundbreaking AI technologies could be overshadowed if they are only integrated with existing platforms.

Overall, releasing chatbots as standalone apps could attract more interest,” Gurman said.

Source: https://znews.vn/apple-lieu-co-sai-lam-post1589347.html