Another Apple AI Exec Just Quit - Siri's Still Going to Suck

Robby Walker was the guy in charge of Siri until earlier this year, and now he's quitting Apple entirely. Sources say he's frustrated with how slowly Apple moves on AI, which is corporate speak for "Siri is embarrassingly bad and nobody wants to fix it properly."

Here's the brutal reality: I can ask ChatGPT to write a Python script to analyze my expenses, help me plan a vacation, or explain quantum physics. I ask Siri to set a timer and she gives me web search results about "timer meditation techniques." It's 2025 and Apple's AI can't reliably understand basic commands that Google Assistant handled in 2018.

The Technical Reasons Siri Is Broken

Apple crippled Siri from the start with two decisions that seemed smart at the time but are now killing them:

1. Privacy-first on-device processing: While Google and Amazon were building massive cloud-based AI systems that could learn from millions of users, Apple insisted on doing everything locally on your phone. This sounds great for privacy, but your iPhone doesn't have the processing power of a data center.

2. Rigid command structure: Siri was built around predefined commands and specific phrase patterns. You have to learn to talk to Siri in specific ways - "Hey Siri, set a timer for 5 minutes" works, but "Hey Siri, remind me in 5 minutes" might not. Modern AI should adapt to how humans naturally speak, not the other way around.

Apple's Cultural Problem with AI

Walker's departure highlights a deeper issue: Apple's perfectionist culture is toxic for AI development. They want to ship polished, finished products, but AI improves through iteration and user feedback.

Google releases "beta" AI features that get better over time. Microsoft integrated ChatGPT into everything and iterates based on user behavior. Apple launches AI features that feel like they went through 3 years of committees, legal reviews, and focus groups - which kills any innovative spark.

I know people who worked on Siri teams. They describe endless meetings about edge cases, compliance reviews for every new capability, and feature requests that take months to approve. Meanwhile, ChatGPT went from idea to 100 million users in 2 months.

What Actually Needs to Change

Apple Intelligence (their new AI initiative) is supposed to fix this, but early demos look like more of the same - limited, careful features that won't offend anyone and won't be particularly useful either.

What they really need to do:

• Admit Siri is broken and rebuild it from scratch using modern large language models
• Accept some cloud processing for complex queries - privacy is important but usability matters too
• Ship beta AI features and iterate based on real usage instead of internal testing
• Compete on AI capabilities instead of just talking about privacy

But this requires a fundamental culture change that Apple has shown zero willingness to make. So we'll keep getting incremental Siri improvements while ChatGPT, Claude, and Google Assistant get exponentially better.

Walker probably got tired of fighting this bureaucracy and decided to join a company that actually wants to build good AI. I don't blame him.

Walker's departure exposes the ugly truth about Siri: it's fundamentally broken at the architectural level, and Apple doesn't want to admit it. When Siri launched in 2011, Apple bought a startup that was already behind the state of the art. They've been patching that foundation for 14 years instead of starting over.

The Technical Debt Nightmare

Siri's built on old garbage and Apple won't start over. It runs on some rule-based system from 2011 that maps specific phrases to specific actions. Modern AI assistants use language models that can understand context and have actual conversations.

You can't just bolt ChatGPT onto Siri's old architecture. It's like trying to add internet to a typewriter. Apple would need to throw away most of Siri's code and rebuild it, but they won't admit they got it wrong.

But Apple won't do this because it would mean admitting they got it wrong for over a decade. So Walker's team was stuck trying to make a 2011 chatbot compete with ChatGPT-4. No wonder he quit.

The Privacy Excuse Is Bullshit

Apple loves to claim privacy constraints prevent them from building better AI. This is mostly bullshit - a convenient excuse for their technical limitations.

Google processes voice queries in the cloud but doesn't store them permanently. Microsoft runs ChatGPT queries through Azure but anonymizes the data. There are proven ways to build powerful AI while respecting privacy.

The real constraint is that Apple built Siri to run entirely on-device because their cloud infrastructure was garbage in 2011. Now they're locked into that architecture because changing it would require rebuilding everything.

The Cultural Problem Is Real

Everyone I know who worked there says it's meeting hell. Features need approval from tons of different teams, legal reviews take forever, product managers are afraid to ship anything that might fail, and engineers spend more time in meetings than coding.

Meanwhile, at OpenAI or Google, engineers can ship experimental features and iterate based on user feedback. Apple treats AI like it's a medical device that might kill someone if it makes a mistake.

What This Means for iPhone Users

Walker was supposedly working on a major Siri overhaul for iOS 19. With him gone, expect more of the same incremental bullshit:

• Siri will get slightly better at understanding accents
• They'll add 5 new languages and call it "AI advancement"
• Apple Intelligence will handle some basic writing tasks but nothing truly useful
• Competitors will keep pulling further ahead while Apple talks about privacy

The fundamental problem remains: Apple won't admit Siri needs to be rebuilt from scratch. They'll keep applying band-aids to a broken foundation while Google Assistant and ChatGPT become actually useful.

Walker probably realized he was fighting a losing battle against Apple's bureaucracy and technical debt. Smart move leaving - his career doesn't need to go down with Siri's sinking ship.