There was a lot riding on what came out of Apple’s big developer conference in the US this week. It needed to contain a meaty announcement on artificial intelligence – which didn’t materialise.

Instead, Apple’s series of announcements were a bit stale or floury, and flowery, given much of the news focused on making the tech giant’s various devices look prettier.

The extent to which shareholders were underwhelmed was reflected in the company’s share price, which was anything but crisp, ending Monday’s session on Wall Street down 1.2 per cent.

Apple chief executive Tim Cook isn’t the flavour of the month any more in Trump’s White House.Credit: Bloomberg

The phone maker needed to show shareholders, customers and app developers that it was making up ground in the AI arms race against its competitors.

Having promised a year ago that its AI bona fides were a whisker away from taking a giant leap forward, the company has since had to walk back its promises.

Apple needed Siri to get smarter, and quickly. But, as one tech commentator suggested, Siri hasn’t grown up and is as dumb as she was at birth 15 years ago.

As one tech commentator suggested, Siri hasn’t grown up and is as dumb as she was at birth 15 years ago.

The lack of progress........

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