Apple's AI-powered Siri digital assistant can't come soon enough for the consumer electronics company because its current Siri just got a failing grade. Meanwhile, Apple stock is in a slump.
Deepwater Asset Management on Friday gave Siri a score of "F" against generative artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT, which scored an "A."
"We know the current Siri is well behind ChatGPT and wanted to quantify that gap," Deepwater analysts Gene Munster and Brian Baker said in a blog post. "We tested the two and left with a new perspective: Siri isn't an AI assistant. It is still just a voice-activated search tool."
Apple's planned upgrade to Siri, with AI smarts, has been delayed. It probably won't arrive until June 2026, Munster and Baker said.
To test Apple's Siri and OpenAI's ChatGPT, Deepwater asked the digital assistants 50 real-world questions to see how well and quickly they responded.
"Siri on its own is stuck in the last decade," the analysts said. "It functions more like a voice-activated Google search than a true AI assistant. Rarely did Siri provide a clear, useful answer, either via voice or text."
Apple Stock Down Nearly 20% Year To Date
It is critical that Apple gets the AI-powered Siri right, they said.
"Apple's AI future hinges on the next version of Siri," the analysts said. "It must rival ChatGPT in intelligence, usefulness, and security to stay competitive."
On the stock market today, Apple stock rose a fraction to close at 201.08. Year to date, Apple stock is down 19.7%.
Follow Patrick Seitz on X at @IBD_PSeitz for more stories on consumer technology, software and semiconductor stocks.
