On May 19th, according to Bloomberg's renowned tech journalist Mark Gurman, Apple is internally testing its self-developed AI chatbot project.
The report cited sources stating that under the leadership of the new AI head John Giannandrea, Apple's self-developed AI project has achieved significant technological breakthroughs in the past six months. Some Apple executives believe the current version of this chatbot is already comparable to the latest version of ChatGPT. If officially launched later, it could potentially break free from dependence on OpenAI services.
It is understood that Apple is also considering adding instant web search and information extraction capabilities to this chatbot, able to integrate information across sources, similar to mainstream AI chat services.
Apple employees recently revealed in media interviews that Apple executives hope to make Siri a strong competitor to ChatGPT. Although John Giannandrea, Siri's former chief executive, is reluctant to do so, the company's leadership is inclined to take this path.
For Apple, making Siri "smarter" has other benefits.
First, a better and more powerful Siri capable of search queries like ChatGPT could help offset some related costs. With Apple's $20 billion default search engine partnership with Google facing potential challenges, such as antitrust litigation pressure, Apple must take other measures to make its hardware and software more attractive. Developing a Siri with independent search and response capabilities could be Apple's solution.
Additionally, Apple previously announced that Apple Intelligence's Siri will deeply integrate with iPhone applications, triggering in-app operations through voice commands. Although the implementation date of this feature has been repeatedly delayed, it is still considered a key element in maintaining Apple's ecosystem. Especially as generative AI might replace some application scenarios, Siri's upgrade becomes more important.
However, according to Gurman's report, Apple is not expected to focus on Siri upgrades at the upcoming Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 2025). The AI-related portion might only include some new features of Apple Intelligence, such as an AI-optimized battery management system and launching the virtual health coach Project Mulberry.
Apple will deliberately separate its Apple Intelligence promotion from Siri to prevent the previously poor-performing Siri from affecting the brand image of the new AI chatbot. As for when Apple's AI chatbot will debut, there is currently no clear timeline, and Apple internally prefers to officially release only when the product functionality is near completion, avoiding over-promising.
This article is from "Jiemian News", reporter: Song Jianan, published with authorization from 36kr.
