Apple to Ramp Up Generative AI Research With New Hires and Investment

[krspkbl]

"jUst PuLl oUt oF thE Uk!" - 99% of MR posters

Hopefully Apple use this towards making Siri better. I'd love a "ChatGPT" option built into iOS. the ChatGPT app is fine but Apple could do better. I do believe Apple has been caught off guard by AI but they will likely become the biggest player in AI over the next few years.

 

[coolfactor]

Considering Apple has been ahead of the curve using AI (by a different name) for years on things like the cameras and photos app, it’s interesting that most of the comments people make are about Siri. Yes, AI can make conversation with bored people, but there are more uses than asking Siri trivia questions.

The term "AI" is being way over-used. It's a very broad term. What is an intelligent being? One that can actively learn and self-correct.

The intelligence built into Apple devices to date has been just a subset of AI — Machine Learning (ML), and the knowledgebase that it pulls from is static, not active.

If Siri was truly AI, and not just ML, we'd be able to actively teach it.

For example, Siri GPS continues to mispronounce a road name in our area. It would be nice to say "Siri, the correct way to say that word is _______", and its knowledgebase would be updated.

But that's dangerous. Imagine the malicious ways people would abuse that, hence why Apple has proceeded very carefully.

 

[mdriftmeyer]

That's kind of the point of AppleGPT. It's eventually going to replace Siri. Siri isn't generative AI, it's really old tech that's a burden to update. There's essentially zero reason for Apple to attempt to fix Siri, that projects needs to be rebuilt from ground up as a generative AI and not a crazy DB lookup.

large language models interoperate with relational databases

 

[wilhoitm]

Yup, I can think of half a dozen companies that would kill for this kind of “late.”

You guys are forgetting that the iPhone was late to the smart phone market! The iPhone was so late that none of the smart phones that existed before it exist now! Think Different! Where is Microsoft's smart phone now?

 

[Tagbert]

How do you know that it's a burden to update, and how do you know Siri is just a "crazy DB lookup?"

Various reports over the last few years. Here is a recent one.

Apple in disarray amid reported AI and Siri team infighting

No wonder Siri is getting left behind.

www.imore.com

 

[Tagbert]

If this was your area of expertise and research, why would you work at the company that forces Siri on its users?

Because you want to improve Siri.

 

[Tagbert]

Real life Apple AI experience this week while making a sandwich:

“Hey Siri, set a timer for 3 minutes.”

“Ok, I’ll set your alarm for 3AM.”

They are so far behind, it’s hard to have hope.

And I used that same command almost every day and it works. Siri does have a problem with repeatability but does it never work for you? That seems odd.

 

[Tagbert]

Yes, exactly. But do you want Siri to do lookups to existing articles or do you want Siri to generate its own answers which could be wrong?

This is the problem, all GPT-like AIs produce wrong answers. A classic example is to ask GPYT about "George Washington's grandchild Susan". Of course, Washington had no children. But some GPT-like AIs will make up an answer. The GW case is obvious but there was another example where a law firm ask GPT for case law that would suport a certain opinin. GPT simply invented a case frm thin air. GENERATING answers is very different from looking up answers.

This is a so-far unsolved problem and something Apple and Google and others are looking into. The problem is ot insurmountable.

Is there a need for Siri to be a GPT-style answerbot? That seems like the wrong direction for Siri. The focus should be more on understanding intent and responding to requests for action and being flexible when doing those actions. Things like setting timers, setting up reminders, adding things to the calendar, opening applications and doing an action, and so on.

 

[bankshot]

AI should be able to filter spam from Apple Mail

AI should be able to filter unwanted robocalls from iPhone

AI should be able to Clean out my unwanted photos in Photos

AI should be able to find music I'd like in Apple Music

I would add spam filtering for notifications. I’m so tired of shopping apps sending me ads in notifications! I have them enabled because I want to get order status, delivery notifications, etc. But every damn one of them now abuses that permission to send me unsolicited ads for stuff I don’t care about.

 

[crawfish963]

Considering Apple has been ahead of the curve using AI (by a different name) for years on things like the cameras and photos app, it’s interesting that most of the comments people make are about Siri. Yes, AI can make conversation with bored people, but there are more uses than asking Siri trivia questions.

Because the article is about AI and Siri is far and away the biggest weak spot in Apple's armor. I would never have guessed that Apple would fall so far behind Microsoft but here we are.

 

[HDFan]

“Hey Siri, set a timer for 3 minutes.”

Just say 3 minutes. Don't need all of the other words. Don't think she's ever misunderstood me in that form.

 

[TechnoMonk]

Siri doesn't need to be able to access private information while being able to use AI to give more and better responses. If Siri's only purpose is to set timers and turn on lights, that's not enough, imo. And I'm shocked at how often it gets basic requests wrong. I have 12 HomePods in my house, and I interact with Siri probably 10 times per day. I'd say 25% of those requests don't result in good outcomes. That's simply not good enough.

My comment had nothing to do with what Siri can’t access or capabilities or lack there of. My concern is Siri has access to private information, and it should be separate from what ever GPT/Conversational AI Apple comes up with in the future.

 

[TechnoMonk]

Because the article is about AI and Siri is far and away the biggest weak spot in Apple's armor. I would never have guessed that Apple would fall so far behind Microsoft but here we are.

Siri is hardly AI, it’s glorified voice assistant.

 

[StudioMacs]

Because the article is about AI and Siri is far and away the biggest weak spot in Apple's armor. I would never have guessed that Apple would fall so far behind Microsoft but here we are.

You may have been thinking about Siri, which could explain your confusion, but it would be difficult for the article to be "about AI and Siri" when the article doesn't include the word "Siri," personal assistant, or any reference to the various technologies Apple brands as "Siri." The article does mention Fall Detection, Crash Detection, Auto Correct, and chatbots.

 

[picpicmac]

Not sure if Kosh utterances would be any more helpful.

 

[picpicmac]

It’s really a frenzy unlike anything I have seen.

Finance and investment houses were doing that in the 1990's with physics and math Ph.Ds, all trying to out algorithm each other as automated trading became so important. Most Ph.Ds in these fields, that I have known, were not really cut out for that kind of job (in a major corporation with all their dress codes and such). But those who could make it could roll in the $$$.

Back in the 1970's, before universities and colleges became diploma mills and handed out degrees to just about anybody, if you had a Master's in Computer Science you were a hot thing. Had a relative who was such.

 

[Fraserpatty]

On that we agree.

But Spotlight has access to that information. Why shouldn’t Siri have it? I’d much rather have her read that out to me then search it in Spotlight, however, if it’s all on device information, why should it matter?

 

[svish]

Apple has a lot of catching up to do. Siri needs a lot of improvement.

 

[MuppetGate]

Real life Apple AI experience this week while making a sandwich:

“Hey Siri, set a timer for 3 minutes.”

“Ok, I’ll set your alarm for 3AM.”

They are so far behind, it’s hard to have hope.

I do this a few times a day, and I’ve yet to see your “real Apple AI experience.”

I suggest that you try the command — without a mouthful of wallpaper paste.

 

[HDFan]

This is the fundamental problem with Siri, however. We have to learn how to communicate with her.

Yes.

 

[JulianL]

Siri is hardly AI, it’s glorified voice assistant.

They’re not mutually exclusive. Some voice assistants definitely incorporate more AI than others. I only use Siri for timers and starting workouts on my watch so I’m not familiar with its capabilities and limitations but I do use both Alexa and Google Assistant smart speakers quite extensively at home. There I find Google Assistant significantly smarter than Alexa in how it infers intent in order to answer questions directly and how it correctly resolves anaphoric references.

 

[TechnoMonk]

They’re not mutually exclusive. Some voice assistants definitely incorporate more AI than others. I only use Siri for timers and starting workouts on my watch so I’m not familiar with its capabilities and limitations but I do use both Alexa and Google Assistant smart speakers quite extensively at home. There I find Google Assistant significantly smarter than Alexa in how it infers intent in order to answer questions directly and how it correctly resolves anaphoric references.

Google and Alexa are virtual assistants. Not dumb voice assistants. I don’t care about either, I don’t use Google or Alexa. Siri isn’t AI/Virtual assistant. Apple calls it digital assistant. Just coz they are assistants and can do voice, doesn’t mean they are same.

 

[JulianL]

Google and Alexa are virtual assistants. Not dumb voice assistants. I don’t care about either, I don’t use Google or Alexa. Siri isn’t AI/Virtual assistant. Apple calls it digital assistant. Just coz they are assistants and can do voice, doesn’t mean they are same.

Wow. Talk about randomly re-purposing terminology to make some sort of point although I'm not sure what. They're all voice assistants just with differing degrees of sophistication.

 

[TechnoMonk]

Wow. Talk about randomly re-purposing terminology to make some sort of point although I'm not sure what. They're all voice assistants just with differing degrees of sophistication.

I didn’t repurpose, that’s how companies position their assistants. It’s like saying Moto Razr and iPhone are same, coz they are all phones.
Edit: Point is Siri isn’t Ai, hardly if any. Google and Alexa are in different league when it comes to AI.

 

[0339327]

My experience is that Siri if far worse now than it’s been in years. I mean Siri is getting the basics wrong all the time now:

“Hey Siri, what’s the weather like today?”

“Here’s some information on Floyd Mayweather.”

It would be funny if it wasn’t an actual example.