Dear Craig: Your operating systems need some help, and we all know it. Hopefully, WWDC won't just be a massive AI push.
I know it's a bit weird writing to you, as you'd expect I'd be appealing to Tim Cook. He's in a bit of a transition period right now, probably telling John Ternus where the keys to the executive volleyball court are kept and other important matters.
At the same time, you are the most appropriate person to write to about WWDC. It's practically your event, since it deals primarily with big software changes that everyone will be able to use later in the year.
Then there's your comedy shenanigans, adding humor to a keynote that would in any other company be a dry affair. That, and it regularly turns you into a meme that lasts long beyond the week's end.
Face it: you are WWDC Santa.
Anyway, as you and your software engineering "elves" prepare for the keynote and the tsunami of complaints that ensues, I do have some wishes for what you end up presenting to the world.
Siri desperately needs its revamp.
The first and obvious thing is AI. I know the rumors have talked about things like more editing options in Photos, but the big one is the Siri revamp.
This is a thing that we were told was on the way two long years ago. Instead, we were given reports of delays, including an overhaul of the workforce and how Siri was managed.
I can appreciate you having an increased workload from that debacle.
Mockup showing what's expected to be the new design of Siri - image credit: Sam Hall, Bloomberg
We are all waiting for the smarter Siri, that can somehow determine who my mother is and what flight she's on from my emails and messages with her. Followed by looking up when the flight is landing at an airport, when I should leave to pick her up, and whether or not to bring an umbrella.
You know, Siri that's like the BBC interpretation of Sherlock Homes, or the main character from High Potential.
As it stands, Siri and all of the underlying functionality works, but really, it just "works."
We are still having to ask simpler questions to Siri, training ourselves to limit the queries to things it has a chance to answer, without going any further. Really, the training should be the other way around.
In comparison to the rest of the AI industry, Siri has to catch up to a massive degree. After using ChatGPT for a while and having a background of conversations, it can come up with fantastic responses tailored to my particular needs, based on that history.
If Siri can do the work to just half that level, it will be massive progress for Apple. At this stage, as Apple's effective frontman for its AI effort, it desperately needs to get there.
Also, as an aside, could you please fix which Siri gets activated if there are multiple Apple devices in a room? I have had successive Siri queries answered by a HomePod mini, an iPhone, and an iPad, without moving my head.
It's quite disorienting at times.
(A)I have had enough
Of course, Apple isn't going to just say that Siri has been updated. The rumors all point to it being a big song and dance about artificial intelligence in general.
Yes, the aforementioned Photos changes will be an item on the list. Visual Intelligence in the Camera app too.
But really, there's not much that's been talked about for Apple-specific AI projects that could set the world on fire. Siri revamp aside.
Sure, you've got lots to shout about with the whole Google Gemini deal thing to bring Apple Foundation Models into shape. You're also expected by the rumor mill to be embracing third-party AIs a lot more in your operating systems, too.
But, apart from Siri's revamp, there's not really that much to get excited about for AI, from a consumer perspective.
Craig Federighi peeking at way too much AI stuff ahead of WWDC - Image Credit: Apple
AI is the future, we all get that, but beyond what we already have and an improved Siri, we don't have any other tangible reason for using it fully on our devices.
What I want is for Apple to give me a reason to actually care about AI on my iPhone.
OpenClaw dominated the AI headlines with its whole "bringing AI locally to a Mac and agentic processing" thing. That was all manageable remotely, by AI enthusiasts whispering tenderly into their iPhones, using speech transcription to send commands over the Internet to their home server.
That is inspiring stuff. But I want it all done on the iPhone.
There's enough smarts to do onboard processing, or at least to process enough to issue commands to agents elsewhere to do the real work. Why can't we have that?
I want to yell at Siri to find a photo of someone from my iCloud, perform edits using Adobe Express or whatever software, and send that in an email to someone. All from one command.
Seriously. This would be a massive use of AI that would be astounding for Apple.
It's doubtful that your fantastic hair memes will be joined by something like that this year. But please, at the very least, make me really care about iPhone-based AI.
Breaking it down for the family
The last thing I ask for you to include in WWDC is quite simple. I want at least one big feature reveal that isn't AI-specific.
This sounds deceptively simple, and really, it is.
So far, the impressions from the rumor mill has you shepherding an operating system update that is chiefly about AI, but also about stability. Less about features, more about making what already exists work harder, better, faster, and somehow stronger.
Federighi memes are not discussable product features. - Image Credit: Apple
That's a perfectly fine thing to do, Craig. You did a lot with the whole Liquid Glass thing last year, so taking a moment to steady the ship and shore things up makes sense.
Indeed, with the whole MacBook Neo thing and a strain on memory pricing that will impact upgrades going on, this could be a good thing. Making the software work better without necessarily requiring a hardware update would be great from a consumer standpoint.
Though at the same time, it puts me in a bind.
Aside from our readers, I have to inevitably explain to my mother and other family members about what's new. So far, that breakdown consists of Siri's changes, nebulous AI stuff that probably won't matter, and that's really it.
Seriously, the whole conversation is about AI, which the public has a love-hate relationship with, and is chiefly dominated by New Siri.
Just throw me a bone here and include something, anything that makes this operating system update a thing I can talk about.
I mean it. If the main talking points are just Siri and AI in general with everything else being minimal, I will have little choice but to make up an entertaining lie for her.
"Halfway through the presentation, that software chief with the hair had an impromptu paintball game, and Cook declared that no one would take him down," I said.
Give me something to talk about, Craig. Please.
Sincerely, Malcolm. Not aged 9.
Last week's Sunday Reboot covered Apple's iPhone-recorded MLS match, Epic Games' confusing messaging, and Plex's expensive decision.
