The Key to Siri 2.0 is "Third-Party AI" — Insider Perspectives and Global Reactions

1. Introduction: Where is "Hey Siri" Heading Next?

When "Siri" debuted with the iPhone 4S in 2011, many users felt that the voice assistant had brought the future with it. However, the rapid evolution of generative AI quickly pushed that "future" into the past. With the conversational capabilities demonstrated by OpenAI's ChatGPT and the multifunctionality of Google Gemini, Siri's presence is rapidly fading. theverge.com

2. Core of the Report: Seriously Considering External LLM Integration

According to an exclusive article by Bloomberg, Apple has determined that "the quality of its own models does not meet its goals" and has requested Anthropic and OpenAI to provide custom versions of their models to operate on the "Apple Private Cloud." Currently, Claude is considered the most promising candidate, but Anthropic is demanding licensing fees in the billions of dollars annually. Negotiations are ongoing. news.bloomberglaw.comground.news

3. What's Happening Inside the Siri Team?

The "Apple Intelligence" showcased at WWDC 2025 focused on small features like photo summarization and on-device editing, while a major update to Siri itself was postponed. According to sources, there have been numerous personnel shuffles in the AI department since the end of the previous year, resulting in an unusual structure with Mike Rockwell from the Vision Pro division taking the lead. axios.comen.wikipedia.org

4. Benefits and Risks of "External Dependency"

• Immediate Competitiveness Improvement: Integrating Claude or ChatGPT could leapfrog Siri's current natural language understanding by several generations.

• Privacy Concerns: Although encryption processing is guaranteed with "Private Cloud Compute" on Apple Silicon-equipped servers, there are strong concerns that using third-party models contradicts the company's principles.

• Cost Impact: The reported negotiation amount of "billions of dollars per year" could quickly offset the reduced fees from a portion of the App Store. finance.yahoo.comscmp.com

5. Industry Map and the "Musical Chairs" Theory

Axios describes it as a "musical chairs game over foundation models," noting that with Google=Gemini, Microsoft=OpenAI, Meta=Llama, and Amazon=Titan/Nova, there are limited "empty seats." Whether Apple can find a seat will directly impact its service revenue from 2026 onwards. axios.com

6. Stock Market Reaction

Immediately after the report on June 30, Apple's stock rose by +2.1% at the closing price. The evaluation of "practicality" outweighed the disappointment in "stalled in-house development." However, analysts are also expressing caution about the possibility of licensing fees squeezing gross profit margins. twitter.comtwitter.com

7. Voices on Social Media: Pros, Cons, and Humor

• Breaking News Advocates: "The moment Apple's pride broke" (Bloomberg @business) twitter.com

• Welcoming Advocates: "More options benefit users. I hope Gemini comes too" —@MaxWinebach twitter.com

• Critical Advocates: "In the end, they just couldn't overcome 'Not Invented Here'" —@techleadhd twitter.com

• Investor Advocates: "$AAPL +2%... Theory that stock prices rise if they don't do AI lol" —@ttvresearch twitter.com

• Developer Advocates: "If Claude + Xcode plugin comes, I'll switch!" —@rudrankriyam twitter.com

• Calm Advocates: "Can they ensure privacy? That's the key" —/r/apple thread member reddit.com

8. Technical Outlook: The Path to a Multimodal Siri

The "on-device + cloud hybrid LLM" strategy advocated by Apple Intelligence is an ambitious plan that integrates Tool Calling and Image Playground. By establishing an "abstract layer" that allows for the replacement of external LLMs, the plan also considers the possibility of using regional models like Google Gemini and Baidu Wenxin Yiyan in the future. en.wikipedia.org

9. Talent Drain and Cultural Clash

For Apple, known for its in-house development philosophy, coexisting with external AI is a culture shock. There have already been reports of cases where employees from the machine learning department have moved to competitors, prompting the management to urgently review the compensation system and research freedom. The Spanish newspaper Cinco Días expresses concern over the "decline in morale among in-house AI engineers." cincodias.elpais.com

10. Conclusion: Towards a "Redefinition of the Platform"

The background to Apple's challenge to rebuild Siri, even at the cost of bending its self-reliance policy, is the urgency of the leadership battle in the AI-first era. The introduction of external LLMs is only a short-term solution, with the ultimate goal being to reclaim the "Apple-like experience." Depending on the outcome of negotiations, the power dynamics of voice assistants could be reshaped. The announcement at the next WWDC 2026 will be a major turning point for the industry.