Apple's existential crisis: Can it build a future around AI?

Siri couldn't do any of the cool things Apple had promised. Then came the tariffs, chomping away at iPhone profits

- Joanna Stern

Tim Cook was having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year. First, Siri couldn't do any of the cool things Apple had promised. Then came the tariffs, potentially chomping away at iPhone profit margins. A judge suggested the company be investigated over antitrust violations. Its lucrative iPhone Google search partnership came under fire. And remember the Vision Pro? Anyone?

Tim sighed. "Hey Siri, will things get better soon?"

"According to the CDC," Siri replied, "most people with a mild case of Covid-19 will begin to feel better after about a week."

Welcome to Apple in 2025, where things could either get a heck of a lot worse or a whole lot more happily-ever-after. (And yes, that really is Siri's answer when you ask if things will get better soon.)

Of all those issues, AI might pose the biggest long-term threat. Apple built its trillion-dollar empire on great products—products that succeed because of a "deep integration of software, hardware and services," as Cook likes to remind us at every keynote.

Lately, those crucial software and services pillars lean into AI. And Apple isn't anywhere near the shortlist of companies leading the AI charge. Google. Meta. Microsoft. OpenAI. Every few weeks they share shiny new generative-AI tools and updates. Apple? At least it still makes the hardware to run everyone else's cool stuff, right? (Insert Genmoji-me shrugging.)

On Wednesday, during testimony in the Alphabet (Google) anti-trust case, Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of services, said the company is working with AI companies to integrate more of their technology into Safari and other products.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg and The Information report that Apple has made internal changes to clean up the Siri mess. An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment.

So what happens next? There seem to be two clear paths. Join me in playing Choose Your Own AI-Venture, Apple Edition.

Path 1: Apple fails at AI