Apple Making Big Hiring Push in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

[nagromme]

Another thing that's going to stop Apple beating Google in areas like this is it's reluctance to throw money at experimentation and blue skies R&D (all that stuff they nixed on Job's return).

Evidence?

Because their continuing stream of widely varied patents, their continued entry into new areas, and their hiring (cars!) are all are evidence to the contrary.

If you have solid proof info that Apple no longer spends money on anything that doesn't end up shipping, that would be an amazing glimpse behind their corporate secrecy. And it would mean they have a time machine to predict the future, which would be pretty cool.

 

[Juan007]

Nice to see Apple stepping up the R&D here. When Siri first launched, it was years ahead of the competition, but there have been no improvements since. Now the competition has caught up and even passed Siri. It's time for Siri 2?

 

[Gasu E.]

I really appreciate Apple's emphasis on privacy, especially in this post-Snowden era. It's what keeps me away from great but creepy services like Google Photos.

This is one reason I don't begrudge Apple's high prices and large margins. Every company is in it for the money-- that's the nature of business. The real question is-- what is their business model, and can you live with its implications? Apple's business model does not depend on exploiting my private data-- on the contrary, the fact that they don't is a differentiator for them. In contrast, every Android-based phone includes a "free" operating system. "Free" is just another word for "the cost is hidden."

 

[Gasu E.]

NICE, maybe in 5 years i will not need anymore a girlfriend or wife.I will have a very complex virtual woman who will please me.So no more money throw away on materials women

It's not as if you will be giving anything up; so it sounds like a win for you all around.

 

[npmacuser5]

The main reason I have been an Apple products user since 1982 is their controlled environment. I use their products for specific tasks, do not need to challenge the technology envelope, and as such they offer a high level of comfort for my needs. Glad to see they are continuing with this practice.

 

[2bikes]

Remember this....

Siri is Skynet!

 

[Gasu E.]

I firmly believe that this is the best piece about Apple's push for privacy: Privacy vs. User Experience

TL;DR is Apple hasbuilt a straw man argument that seriously impacts their ability to deliver a good "assistant" feature.

This writer states there is a line between what Google actually does with your data and true invasions of privacy. The flaw in his argument is that it is a very thin line; and just who is really monitoring Google (both inside and outside the company) to ensure that it is never crossed? would you even know if it were crossed? While you could also ask who is monitoring Apple, Apple's ostentatious principles present a much higher internal and external barrier to true invasion of privacy. The cost of Apple, or an Apple employee, violating those principles is just much, much higher.

 

[Weaselboy]

Does anybody knows how to delete comments on Macrumors?

You can't do it yourself, but you can report your own post to a moderator and ask them and they will do it for you.

 

[69Mustang]

This is one reason I don't begrudge Apple's high prices and large margins. Every company is in it for the money-- that's the nature of business. The real question is-- what is their business model, and can you live with its implications? Apple's business model does not depend on exploiting my private data-- on the contrary, the fact that they don't is a differentiator for them. In contrast, every Android-based phone includes a "free" operating system. "Free" is just another word for "the cost is hidden."

What is it you think Google does that Apple doesn't? I've asked this question of several posters who espouse a similar belief as you. None ever answer. Your posts tend to be very well written. Maybe you can help me see the difference between what the companies do with data. I'm not talking about the oft quote "their business model". I'm talking about actual customer data. Let's use our data, Gasu E. and 69Mustang, as examples. What would either company do with it?

 

[kironin]

I firmly believe that this is the best piece about Apple's push for privacy: Privacy vs. User Experience

TL;DR is Apple hasbuilt a straw man argument that seriously impacts their ability to deliver a good "assistant" feature.

Pure BS. Good luck on putting that kind of trust in a company like Google, but no thank you.

 

[keysofanxiety]

About time. Siri is useless, and lack of offline features means that the iPhone 3GS's primitive voice controls are actually more useful when you want to make a call and you've got flaky 3G (when driving for instance). Why everything has to be bounced off Apple's servers is beyond me.

But hey, I guess little Easter eggs and sports news are more important to the Siri designers than practicality, function, or usefulness.

 

[JHankwitz]

Siri is a sirious flop.

I beg to differ, but Siri, though currently not the best on the market, is amazing because of what it can do. A "flop" is when something doesn't succeed at anything.

 

[AngerDanger]

What did you ask it for the stopwatch, out of interest? Normally "Set my timer to x" Siri can do.

I simply asked it to start the stopwatch. Yep, I use Siri to set timers, and it can do that competently.

Siri's functionality seems to be growing slowly. You'd think there would be a small team at Apple who's job is to work rapidly through the list of things like "Siri, turn the volume down" type commands, even if there are other people working on more advance stuff.

Yes! I can't figure out why simple commands are taking so long to be implemented. The annoying this is, I actually like and use Siri often; I just wish it did more.

About time. Siri is useless, and lack of offline features means that the iPhone 3GS's primitive voice controls are actually more useful when you want to make a call and you've got flaky 3G (when driving for instance). Why everything has to be bounced off Apple's servers is beyond me..

Since Siri was added to the fifth generation iPod touch, I haven't been able to ask my iPod to play music without a Wi-Fi connection. Apple took a step back by removing persistently stored commands.

 

[dannyyankou]

They should spend more time working on their maps database. All I wanted was a sandwich and this came up:

 

[JHankwitz]

About time. Siri is useless, and lack of offline features means that the iPhone 3GS's primitive voice controls are actually more useful when you want to make a call and you've got flaky 3G (when driving for instance). Why everything has to be bounced off Apple's servers is beyond me.

But hey, I guess little Easter eggs and sports news are more important to the Siri designers than practicality, function, or usefulness.

Servers are needed and used because you couldn't afford or have the strength to carry a device that has the power needed to run Siri.

 

[JHankwitz]

I simply asked it to start the stopwatch. Yep, I use Siri to set timers, and it can do that competently.


Yes! I can't figure out why simple commands are taking so long to be implemented. The annoying this is, I actually like and use Siri often; I just wish it did more.


Since Siri was added to the fifth generation iPod touch, I haven't been able to ask my iPod to play music without a Wi-Fi connection. Apple took a step back by removing persistently stored commands.

You need to adjust your settings to either allow it to store your music on your devise or access the data through your phone service provider.

 

[keysofanxiety]

Servers are needed and used because you couldn't afford or have the strength to carry a device that has the power needed to run Siri.

I'm not talking about everything, silly. I just mean things like 'call xxx', 'text xxx', 'set a reminder for ...'. Simple commands that are going to be used most often. Those could all be offline, quite easily.

 

[FactVsOpinion]

I simply asked it to start the stopwatch. Yep, I use Siri to set timers, and it can do that competently.


Yes! I can't figure out why simple commands are taking so long to be implemented. The annoying this is, I actually like and use Siri often; I just wish it did more.


Since Siri was added to the fifth generation iPod touch, I haven't been able to ask my iPod to play music without a Wi-Fi connection. Apple took a step back by removing persistently stored commands.

You can shut Siri off and use the old voice command system.

 

[keysofanxiety]

You can shut Siri off and use the old voice command system.

And then lose the functions that Siri is actually useful at. AD mentioned that he uses Siri often. It's just frustrating when Apple don't consider these things that seem to be second-nature to most people here.

 

[JHankwitz]

Does anybody knows how to delete comments on Macrumors?

One needs to learn and understand that anything sent to the Internet will live to haunt you for eternity. Think twice before hitting that 'send' button.

 

[recoil80]

Since Siri was added to the fifth generation iPod touch, I haven't been able to ask my iPod to play music without a Wi-Fi connection. Apple took a step back by removing persistently stored commands.

Siri should be able to work offline for some commands, like call X, send a message to X, play/stop songs, take a picture (so you can place the phone far from you and have a group shot), open an app, do a search on the phone, set a reminder or an event in the calendar app.
If the command is not a standard one is ok to send it to Apple's server that has the power to understand the question. Is really annoying to read "Siri is not available" when you don't have a connection because your wi-fi is off or you travel abroad and you don't want to spend money for roaming.

 

[JohnApples]

"I'm really sorry about this, but I seem to have lost my internet connection."

What I hear 90% of the time I try to use Siri off of wifi. I'll blame that partly on Sprint's awful service, and partly on Siri/Apple for not implementing simple offline commands such as "Play [song]".

 

[springsup]

What did you ask it for the stopwatch, out of interest? Normally "Set my timer to x" Siri can do.

Siri's functionality seems to be growing slowly. You'd think there would be a small team at Apple who's job is to work rapidly through the list of things like "Siri, turn the volume down" type commands, even if there are other people working on more advance stuff.

Sometimes Siri enforces Apple "policy" of how you should use your device despite understanding what you meant.

For example, sometimes I'd like a one-off notification at a particular time. I don't want an alarm; that stays in a persistent list which I need to clear later. So I try to set the timer to go off at a particular time (I could calculate the duration, but this is an easier way to say it). Siri refuses, tells me to make an alarm instead.

That drives me nuts.

 

[JHankwitz]

Apple is late to the innovation game again. [Sigh]

Apple's introduction of Siri was extremely innovative. They are the best at taking new or floundering technology and making it useable and useful.

 

[Glideslope]

Let me know when they hire John Conner. Stephen Hawking was correct about AI. This is a dangerous path for Apple Users.