Paul Stenhouse: Apple's Siri replacement is behind schedule, and the AI wars are heating up

A smarter Siri? You'll be waiting a little longer..

Apple initially launched - or should that be teased? - the launch of Apple Intelligence in June, 2024. It was thought that March might be the month, but there have been further delays. Bloomberg is reporting it could be May before the start of the launch that is now though to be spread over several releases. iOS27 might see the bulk when it comes out in September. The issue is apparently that Siri doesn’t always properly process queries or can take too long to handle requests. The ability for Siri to access personal data - like text messages or emails, the key selling point of Apple Intelligence - are the most likely to slip.

Anthropic has raised a fresh round of funding

The new round has more than DOUBLED its value from September. They've got an additional $30 billion in cash, which takes their post-money valuation to $380 billion. It's the second largest private tech funding round on record second only to OpenAI. Anthropic's Super Bowl ad which mocked Open AI's plan to add ads to their free tiers pushed Claude into the App Store's top 10 apps. OpenAI in turn effectively said Anthropic is elitist and ads allow broad access to everyone.

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