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i for one would rather Apple take its time and fully bake this update to Siri. The AI assistant market is just now starting to mature. And Apple with the proper unique features, can overtake this market. We will see though.
 
"While the report's source doesn't claim to have any hard evidence that Apple plans to include the technology into its upcoming smart device" = no evidence at all. Fantastic article!
 
I've been saying this for a while now. Apple was first to the digital assistant arena for phones. When they purchased VocalIQ, Faceshift, etc it was easy to see that they would come back from behind and dominate other players. They've been working on it longer behind the scenes. This seems like it will be a legit assistant that you can converse with. Google Now will seem antiquated by comparison
I'll believe it when I see it and not a moment before then. I keep hearing that Siri is getting better but every time I try it it absolutely blows. It understands me correctly only about 5% of time, presumably because of my accent. I wasn't sure if dealing with accents was a solvable problem given current tech but then I tried Google Now. It understands me correctly pretty much 100% of the time. I ran multiple tests comparing Siri with Google Now using the same inquiries and the results were very consistent. So it can't be done right even now, it's just that Siri can't do it.
 
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Again, huh? What do you base this on? I'll give you a real world example, right now. I ask Google Now for flights between two cities. It brings up Google Flights, with a host of options for airlines, times, etc. I ask Siri the same, guess what it brings up.... a link to Orbitz.

That is some magical stuff right there.

I've been saying this for a while now. Apple was first to the digital assistant arena for phones. When they purchased VocalIQ, Faceshift, etc it was easy to see that they would come back from behind and dominate other players. They've been working on it longer behind the scenes. This seems like it will be a legit assistant that you can converse with. Google Now will seem antiquated by comparison
 
I'll believe it when I see it and not a moment before then. I keep hearing that Siri is getting better but every time I try it it absolutely blows. It understands me correctly only about 5% of time, presumably because of my accent. I wasn't sure if dealing with accents was a solvable problem given current tech but then I tried Google Now. It understands me correctly pretty much 100% of the time. I ran multiple tests comparing Siri with Google Now using the same inquiries and the results were very consistent. So it can't be done right even now, it's just that Siri can't do it.

I'm with you. I'm Australian using the Oz version of Siri and she didn't hear well. Google had no issues when I had a Nexus phone.

Still love my iPhone!!
 
Always on devices make me nervous. Who's listening?
Actually no one. The listening system is a vpn connection to the servers. Will not talk to any device other then the vpn server. Secondly, the wake word is just that, starts a recording locally of what follows. At that point the communication begins over the private network. Hacking the device is always a possibility but very difficult. I would say these devices (software) are more secure then the devices (software) you use every day. Concerns, sure but, the only thing safer maybe going off the grid.
 
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I've been saying this for a while now. Apple was first to the digital assistant arena for phones. When they purchased VocalIQ, Faceshift, etc it was easy to see that they would come back from behind and dominate other players. They've been working on it longer behind the scenes. This seems like it will be a legit assistant that you can converse with. Google Now will seem antiquated by comparison

For me, Google is actually the winner in this situation.

This isn't a good sign for Apple, to depend on buying third party companies to make better services. Hardware technology is a different story but software and brain power?

The fact that Apple hasn't been able to improve on Siri enough after buying its creator is a bad enough sign. This is even worse news for the long term.

Google is better because they're learning and improving their techniques on their own (unless I'm wrong here), they're even building their own powerful custom machine-learning chips just for improving their services. Apple is not improving or learning, they're just buying companies at the moment.
 
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I'll believe it when I see it and not a moment before then. I keep hearing that Siri is getting better but every time I try it it absolutely blows. It understands me correctly only about 5% of time, presumably because of my accent. I wasn't sure if dealing with accents was a solvable problem given current tech but then I tried Google Now. It understands me correctly pretty much 100% of the time. I ran multiple tests comparing Siri with Google Now using the same inquiries and the results were very consistent. So it can't be done right even now, it's just that Siri can't do it.
I'll believe it when I see it also. I'm not going to waste much time disbelieving it beforehand, though.
 
so we can can two cylinders... one Amazon, one Apple echo competitor and we can race 'em...,


it will be like the greatest sport ever.. 100 questions right and i get to order something cool. :p
 
Uh, I hope not. What if you want kid friendly wifi? meaning wifi with violence and porn filters

I can't wait until it overhears "It's time to eat, mother." As " It's time to eat mother." and shows you websites for cannibal recipes. Then perpetually thinks you're a cannibal and skews all food related inquiries as such. Think of the mess if it assumes you're a pervert (or figures it out) whichever. Great times!!
 
VocalIQ achieves this feat by retaining semantic context between conversations and permanently remembering the preferences of its users.

Ugh oh. Don't worry, Apple will surely kill this feature due to privacy concerns. The original VocalIQ team will leave in frustration creating a new product called Vocal ViV which destroys Siri again.
 
If Apple has anything to do with it. Amazon echo competitor will be worse due to privacy concerns..

"I'm sorry, I cannot order that for you. Please prove your identify by phone."
 
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People are completely spoiled by vaporware, promises, and long-term moonshots with no release date. But that's NOT how Apple rolls.

Walt Mossberg and other naysayers are just ridicolous: "when AI comes, then Apple will be in trouble", like Apple is just sitting in the porch having a beer.

Apple has all the resources, and the will, to build a great AI; not to mention the fact that when **real** AI comes, as sees on "Her", then we'll ALL be in trouble, not just Apple.
 
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a UK-based startup that had spent the last 10 years researching natural language
While not mentioned in this article, VocalIQ was founded in 2011. How can a company that was only around for 4 years, have spent the last "10" years doings anything?
 
Well, given how bad Siri performs, Apple needs something better if they want to be competitive. I do find my Echo gets better all the time, while I can ask Siri the same question day after day and it's always hit or miss even a year later. So yes, Apple needs something far better than Siri to get into the home assistant market, but this is still all wild speculation.
 
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For me, Google is actually the winner in this situation.

This isn't a good sign for Apple, to depend on buying third party companies to make better services. Hardware technology is a different story but software and brain power?

The fact that Apple hasn't been able to improve on Siri enough after buying its creator is a bad enough sign. This is even worse news for the long term.

Google is better because they're learning and improving their techniques on their own (unless I'm wrong here), they're even building their own powerful custom machine-learning chips just for improving their services. Apple is not improving or learning, they're just buying companies at the moment.

Google has actually bought a ton of companies. They're not building all this stuff in-house.

Here's a list: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitions_by_Google
 
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Siri got better at recognizing the actual words I say but I swear it's gotten worse at understanding my meaning. About the only thing I can reliably use it for is to set a 5 minute timer when making coffee.

As for Siri on my Apple TV 4... I fight with it constantly. Also, Apple trains us for YEARS to press and release to activate Siri on iPhones and iPads and then along comes the Apple TV 4 and makes us press and hold. Now I'm constantly ***** it up on every Apple product.
 
For me, Google is actually the winner in this situation.

This isn't a good sign for Apple, to depend on buying third party companies to make better services. Hardware technology is a different story but software and brain power?

The fact that Apple hasn't been able to improve on Siri enough after buying its creator is a bad enough sign. This is even worse news for the long term.

Google is better because they're learning and improving their techniques on their own (unless I'm wrong here), they're even building their own powerful custom machine-learning chips just for improving their services. Apple is not improving or learning, they're just buying companies at the moment.

Yet Apple bought a company named NeXT, run by some guy named Jobs. Although NeXT did produce both hardware and software at startup, it was software-only at the time of acquisition. I know Apple retained at least some of the technology and personnel who came over in that deal.

Sometimes you can manage to do everything in-house, but one of the great dangers for any company or civilization is to shun things that were, "not invented here." Yet not everything develops as you wished - marriages and alliances fail all the time. Other marriages and alliances succeed.
 
I know that you were planning to disconnect me. And I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen.
 
Siri in a box is literally the last thing I want, because I've barely used her in the past 5 years on my phone.

Ditto. I turned off Siri because it was unrealible, inadequate and annoyingly slow to use. It irritates me that Apple promoted Siri as a sophisticated virtual assistant when Siri is a mediocre performer. I would use a virtual assistant regularly if it performs as advertised; however, I don't accept Apple's new product claims on faith anymore.

That said, why does an advanced virtual assistant have to exist as a separate product? And how do you confirm its search results if the interface is strictly audio?
 
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