The now-missing YouTube ad starred Game of Thrones actor Isabella Ramsey and was part of a trio released ahead of iPhone 16 pre-orders. In it, they asked Siri to recall a meeting from the previous month, showcasing the AI assistant’s supposed new capabilities. The ad also made its way onto Instagram, because, of course, nothing ever truly disappears from the internet. 

Apple had puffed up the ad with the usual marketing drivel, claiming Siri would gain "awareness of your personal context" what ever that means, provide better app integration, and superior language understanding.

Unfortunately for the cult’s devotees, reality is proving less generous. 

The new AI-powered Siri was flaunted at WWDC as part of iOS 18, but now Apple admits it won’t be ready until “next year.” Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reckons even that might be optimistic, with some insiders suggesting the whole thing might need to be binned and reworked from scratch. 

The biggest problem appears to be that Apple's AI dreams require more powerful hardware than its current iPhones can handle.

That leaves Cupertino with the unenviable choice of either watering down its grandiose promises or releasing a sluggish, half-baked Siri that struggles to keep up with even the most basic requests. 

Pulling the AI features has made buying the iPhone 16 an exercise in futility, as it can’t do most of the things that Apple claimed when it was sold. Some Apple fanboys, who purchased the chocolate teapot on Tame Apple Press hype that Jobs’ Mob was providing them with the same Android AI functions, have been understandably cross. In the US, this means that a class action is being considered.