I feel like Siri got worse in multiple respects about a year ago.
I mainly noticed it when I upgraded to an iPhone 16 Pro Max, I think.
First, I noticed that the Siri voice sounded unenthusiastic, bored, or flat. There are 5 options (in American English), and they all have a similar problem with tone. The 5 voice options are not equally good at pronouncing words, if anyone is interested I think I wrote a list of words that some Siri voices have trouble with. "Disinter" is definitely one of the problem words.
Second, Siri is worse at answering questions. An example: "Hey Siri, when did the US enter World War One?" Siri: "The US entered WWI in 1914." Nope, wrong. It didn't even say "WWI began in 1914", which would be correct but not what I asked. Siri replies as if answering the question I asked. "Hey Siri, using ChatGPT, when did the US enter WWI?" Siri does not read the answer, only shows it on screen: "April 6, 1917", looks correct. Siri reliably gets this question wrong, even if I change the words, "when did the US begin fighting", etc.
Third, Siri can no longer add songs to "Up Next" a.k.a. "The Queue", it either begins playing the song immediately or it says "okay" but then throws away the song I requested. I used to do this habitually without opening my eyes while lying in bed, or otherwise relaxing. It used to finish the current song then play the song I requested, but now it simply cannot. You can also see the Queue or Up Next in the "Music" app, and I can add songs with my fingers, but you can't actually voice search while music is playing, so it's an especially important time for Siri to work.
These problems seem similar with Apple Intelligence turned on and turned off, although Siri is sometimes better with Intelligence turned on, especially because I often add that magic phrase "using ChatGPT" and then Siri is suddenly competent - but far less privacy-respecting.
Especially the tone of Siri used to be so much better, more chatty, lively, friendly. Now it is disinterested.
Have other people noticed this? Has Apple talked about it?
I mainly noticed it when I upgraded to an iPhone 16 Pro Max, I think.
First, I noticed that the Siri voice sounded unenthusiastic, bored, or flat. There are 5 options (in American English), and they all have a similar problem with tone. The 5 voice options are not equally good at pronouncing words, if anyone is interested I think I wrote a list of words that some Siri voices have trouble with. "Disinter" is definitely one of the problem words.
Second, Siri is worse at answering questions. An example: "Hey Siri, when did the US enter World War One?" Siri: "The US entered WWI in 1914." Nope, wrong. It didn't even say "WWI began in 1914", which would be correct but not what I asked. Siri replies as if answering the question I asked. "Hey Siri, using ChatGPT, when did the US enter WWI?" Siri does not read the answer, only shows it on screen: "April 6, 1917", looks correct. Siri reliably gets this question wrong, even if I change the words, "when did the US begin fighting", etc.
Third, Siri can no longer add songs to "Up Next" a.k.a. "The Queue", it either begins playing the song immediately or it says "okay" but then throws away the song I requested. I used to do this habitually without opening my eyes while lying in bed, or otherwise relaxing. It used to finish the current song then play the song I requested, but now it simply cannot. You can also see the Queue or Up Next in the "Music" app, and I can add songs with my fingers, but you can't actually voice search while music is playing, so it's an especially important time for Siri to work.
These problems seem similar with Apple Intelligence turned on and turned off, although Siri is sometimes better with Intelligence turned on, especially because I often add that magic phrase "using ChatGPT" and then Siri is suddenly competent - but far less privacy-respecting.
Especially the tone of Siri used to be so much better, more chatty, lively, friendly. Now it is disinterested.
Have other people noticed this? Has Apple talked about it?
