Apple développe Veritas, un chatbot interne pour tester une mise à niveau majeure de Siri

Apple prépare une révolution Siri avec son chatbot maison Veritas

La pomme secrète derrière l'assistant vocal

Apple teste en interne un chatbot baptisé Veritas - un projet confidentiel qui pourrait transformer radicalement les capacités de Siri. L'application interne sert de banc d'essai pour ce qui pourrait être la plus importante refonte de l'assistant vocal depuis son lancement.

Une course contre les géants de l'IA

Veritas représente la réponse d'Apple à ChatGPT et autres assistants conversationnels qui dominent le marché. L'équipe projet travaille discrètement depuis des mois sur cette technologie maison, évitant soigneusement les fuites qui pourraient avantager la concurrence.

Des enjeux techniques colossaux

L'intégration de capacités conversationnelles avancées dans Siri nécessite des tests rigoureux - d'où la création de Veritas comme environnement de développement contrôlé. Les ingénieurs évaluent les performances, la précision des réponses et l'adaptation contextuelle sur des milliers de scénarios d'utilisation.

Quand verrons-nous les résultats ?

Apple garde son calendrier de déploiement secret, mais les investissements massifs dans l'IA generative laissent présager une annonce majeure dans les prochains trimestres. Le timing sera crucial pour rester compétitif face aux avancées rapides de Google et Microsoft.

Une manœuvre typiquement Apple : développer en silo, tester méticuleusement, puis surprendre le marché avec une solution parfaitement intégrée. Les actionnaires espèrent que cette approche méthodique paiera mieux que leur dernière tentative ratée de voiture électrique.

Apple tests new large language model with Veritas

Veritas is running on a new backend system called Linwood, which uses a large language model trained by Apple’s Foundation Models team along with tech from an unnamed third party.

It works like popular chatbots; users can have multiple conversations, go back to earlier chats, ask follow-up questions, and interact with the system in longer exchanges. It’s all designed to test how well Siri can handle real human input.

The updated Siri was originally supposed to launch in spring 2024, but Apple had to delay the rollout after internal tests showed the features failed about one-third of the time. That failure triggered a leadership shakeup.

Apple’s AI chief, John Giannandrea, and several key deputies were sidelined, and Robby Walker, the executive who previously led the Siri team, is leaving the company in October. After losing control of Siri, Robby started a new internal team called AKI, short for Answers, Knowledge, and Information.

That group is now building new AI-based search features for Siri. Apple has already started building more features on top of Siri. The new version will be able to recognize what’s showing on a user’s screen and act on it; something the current Siri can’t do.

It’ll also allow users to move around their devices using just voice commands. Veritas helps test all that. It also includes tools that let engineers gather information from the internet and see AI-generated summaries.

Apple explores deals with AI firms while redesigning Siri

Apple isn’t doing this alone. It’s been shopping around for external help. Earlier this year, it held talks with OpenAI about using its models in Siri. Then came discussions with Anthropic, the makers of Claude. Now, Apple is deep in talks with Google about integrating a custom version of Gemini into Siri’s infrastructure. No deal has been finalized, but Apple is keeping its options open.

While all this testing is going on, Apple is also preparing a visual redesign for Siri. That new interface is expected before the end of 2025. The company is working on more AI features for HomePod, Apple TV, and even smart home devices that haven’t been announced yet. All of this is part of Apple’s broader strategy to stay in the AI race.

Despite all the internal activity, Apple isn’t planning to release Veritas to customers. That’s consistent with what Apple executives have said publicly. In June, Apple software chief Craig Federighi told Tom’s Guide that chatbots like Veritas are powerful, but “remain not our primary goal.” When asked about releasing something like ChatGPT, Craig said, “Time will tell where we go there.”

Siri’s delayed launch and the failed spring rollout forced Apple to rethink its entire AI strategy. The company knows it’s behind. When it launched the iPhone 17 this month, it didn’t even mention its in-house AI system. But Apple isn’t dropping the fight.

The Veritas app is being used to pressure-test every feature ahead of the 2025 release. Whether or not Siri catches up to its competitors, Apple is betting it still has time to fix its voice assistant before AI becomes the deciding factor in smartphone sales.

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