How Does Apple’s Siri Compete In an Agentic World?

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

This podcast is sponsored by McKinsey. Companies are moving faster than ever to integrate AI across operations. But while 90 percent of companies use AI somewhere in the business, research from McKinsey indicates only six percent are seeing material value. Later, join McKinsey to learn how AI can truly be used as an engine for growth.

Danny Lewis (0:24)

Welcome to Tech News Briefing. It's Friday, October 16th. I'm Danny Lewis for the Wall Street Journal. We've officially entered the era of the personal AI agent, and it feels like every other day, another tech giant launches their entry into the bot race. But one name is noticeably missing from the hype, Apple.

Today, we're bringing you a conversation with cybersecurity reporter Bob McMillan, personal tech columnist Nicole Nguyen, and Apple reporter Rolfe Winkler to break down why Apple is so far behind on AI and what it would take for them to catch up.

And before we get started, a quick note. News Corp, owner of the Wall Street Journal, has a commercial agreement to supply news through Apple services. On to the show.

Bob McMillan (1:08)

Hi, I'm Bob McMillan. I'm a cybersecurity reporter here at the Wall Street Journal, and I'm joined today by my colleagues, Nicole Nguyen and Rolfe Winkler.

Danny Lewis (1:16)

Hi, Bob.

Nicole Nguyen (1:16)

Hello.

Bob McMillan (1:17)

Good to have you guys here. You know, I was watching this show, Ted Lasso. Have you ever watched that show?

Nicole Nguyen (1:22)

I haven't actually.

Bob McMillan (1:23)

You haven't watched?

Nicole Nguyen (1:24)

I haven't watched Ted Lasso.

Rolfe Winkler (1:25)

You're an Apple, you're a person who covers Apple and you haven't watched Ted Lasso?

Bob McMillan (1:29)

It's one of my favorite characters, Keeley Jones. There's a scene in the show where she picks up her phone and she talks to Siri, and she asks it sort of like a chat GBT kind of question, like, you know, will I be a good mom kind of thing? And I was like, it's so weird to see somebody use Siri for something that's not just like directions or send an email. You know what I mean? And that's how you know it's an Apple show. You know it's an Apple show because they had to get the product placement.

But I don't use Siri. And do you use Siri?

Nicole Nguyen (2:02)

I use Siri about a bazillion times a day to set timers, and almost nothing else. I think in testing this new revamped upgraded Siri, when Siri AI rolled out last month, I had to force myself to use Siri, but I often just reverted to using chat GBT or Claude to answer the question.

Rolfe Winkler (2:21)

Yeah, I guess what do I use it for? When I'm driving my kids around, I want to play a song on Spotify with my voice as opposed to having to look down at it, or call a phone number, and it works most of the time, but it's about the same for those use cases as the old Siri. If you wanted to do a Chatbot experience and ask it questions and have a conversation the way you do with ChatGPT or Claude, it can do that now, and it can give you competent answers, but the goalposts have already moved.

Bob McMillan (2:56)

Well, this is the theme, I think. If there's a theme to our episode today, it's Apple, the AI company, and to me, Siri is the premier example of Apple as an AI product, even though they didn't invent it, and it's not widely used in the way that other chatbots are used. But I want to first start, Nicole, we're going to talk about some of the stuff from the week, and you had this great story about Apple's new, the iHome, what's the name of it?

Nicole Nguyen (3:26)

It's called HomeView, and it looks like a giant Apple watch or a baby iMac G4. Do you remember from the early aughts that domed, white domed iMac with the articulating display?

It's like a little baby mini version of that. It has a 7-inch square display, and it's supposed to replace the iPad as a smart home hub.

Bob McMillan (3:48)

Wait, so is that the end of the iPad or just as a hub?

Nicole Nguyen (3:52)

Just as a smart home hub. But it's also a way for Apple to expand its reach of Siri AI into your living room or kitchen or bedroom.

Rolfe Winkler (4:01)

How many people actually use any of the HomeKit, you know, smart home products from Apple? Apple is a distant third in smart home.

Nicole Nguyen (4:12)

That's true, although nobody in Apple land can still mean millions of people. So I think in the relative scheme of things, Amazon and Google are years ahead of Apple in terms of adoption, the number of smart home devices that are compatible with their respective hubs and their respective ecosystems.