Apple pushes Siri engineers into AI coding bootcamp as delays stretch toward WWDC 2026

Explore with AI:

Apple is trying to fix Siri from the inside out. After missing its promised timeline for a major upgrade, the company is now sending its own engineers back to training, focused on AI-driven coding.

Apple retrains nearly 200 Siri engineers to speed up development

According to a report from The Information, nearly 200 engineers working on Siri will attend a multi-week internal bootcamp to learn AI-assisted development. The aim is to increase output and reduce friction in building complex features as modern coding workflows shift toward agent-driven tools.

Alongside this, Apple is restructuring how work is split. Around 60 engineers will stay on core development, while another 60 will focus on evaluating Siri’s performance. The rest rotate through training, creating a loop between learning, building, and testing.

Two-year delay forces a reset in how Siri is built

Apple first outlined a more context-aware Siri at WWDC 2024, with expectations around multi-step actions and more natural conversations. That version has yet to ship, and the delay has exposed gaps in both execution speed and technical approach.

The bootcamp reflects a deeper shift. Apple is moving from traditional development toward workflows where AI tools generate, refine, and validate code. This is already shaping how teams across the industry operate, and Apple is aligning with that reality.

Also read: Vibe coding is overwhelming Apple’s App Store review system

Leadership changes and external AI signal a broader shift

The Siri project is now led by Mike Rockwell, known for the Vision Pro, replacing former AI head John Giannandrea. This change points to a more product-focused push, with tighter control over delivery and execution.

Apple is also expected to rely partly on external models. Future updates to Apple Intelligence may involve Google Gemini, suggesting Apple is willing to fill gaps in its own stack rather than wait to build everything internally.

WWDC 2026 becomes the next real checkpoint for Siri

Apple is expected to present the updated Siri at WWDC 2026 on June 8. The target is clear: handle multi-step tasks reliably and respond in a more conversational way that feels closer to modern AI assistants.

The challenge is timing. Competing assistants already handle reasoning, coding, and context in ways Siri does not yet match. Apple’s bet is that retraining its engineers and rebuilding its development process will close that gap fast enough to matter.

The bootcamp is not just about learning new tools. It marks a shift in how Apple expects software to be built going forward, where knowing how to work with AI systems becomes as important as writing code itself.

Explore with AI: