Last Siri Co-Founder, Tom Gruber, Retires From Apple

[ILikeAllOS]

So let's get this straight. Eddy Cue has been in charge of Siri for years and it completely stagnated under his leadership; so badly that it even impacted the launch and sales of the HomePod since Siri is integral to the operation of the device. Then last year Siri was assigned to Federighi and within a year they not only made some improvements to Siri and just introduced the Siri shortcuts feature/app, but in addition they have now made a good hiring choice to further improve Siri in the future.
This isn't the only time something has stagnated under Eddy's leadership. So can anyone tell me why the hell Apple doesn't just get rid of him? I understand he must be good at something, but so far it looks like all he is good for is providing meme's, like when he did that cringey dance on-stage to latin music.

 

[robbyx]

In hindsight I’m sure Cook wishes he’d never put Cue in charge of Siri. When Federighi took over last year, it didn’t take him long to realize they needed an expert to take it on.

They went and got “the guy”. A brilliant hire, of a brilliant man. And a guy who knows who the next dozen or hundred hires should be.

btw thanks for a relevant post, but we’ll be buried by the forum clowns.

Cue oozes incompetence. Apple’s video service better be a slam dunk or I sincerely hope they (finally) show him the door.

As for Siri, things can only get better from here!

 

[CarpalMac]

His last day with the Siri team (post-Apple purchase) was apparently like all the others that came before.

 

[Tech198]

With all original people retiring, what change would that make to Siri, i wonder.

 

[Shirasaki]

I still will be disabling it on all my Apple devices.

And probably forever for me as I am paranoid about the danger of using a virtual assistant. But that is another topic.
At the very least, allow me to say “play サクラバイバイ” without switching Siri language.

 

[ipedro]

For all put downs of Siri versus Google, let me tell you from personal experience that in practice, the grass is not greener on the other side.

Having grown used to using Siri on HomePod every day for the past several months, I was given an opportunity to live with Google Assistant. I won a Google Home in a raffle and decided to use them side by side.

For starters, the Google Home app is terrible. It’s confusing and cluttered as hell. I’m not in love with the iOS Home app but it’s leagues ahead of Google Home.

When it comes to voice interactions, I had taken for granted Siri’s human like voice prompts. When I get Siri’s attention, she acknowledges me with an “uh hum?” Google Home? Just silence. I’m not sure if she’s listening. These small things matter. It makes interacting with Siri more intuitive and natural. It makes a difference.

In comprehension, Google has gotten confused at basic commands like “Set the volume to 70”. No action, no response. I’m left wondering what, if anything, happened. “Set the volume to 70 per cent” works. What did Google think I meant by “70”? Set the volume to 70 elephants?

Speaking of animals, the built in games in HomePod were a novelty that I tried twice and got bored of. When it comes to search knowledge that Google is known to be better at, asking Google complex questions are a cool demo but in practice, if I’m going to research something, I’m going to pull out a phone or a tablet or a computer and visually look for my information, not ask Google Home.

When it comes to every day voice interactions, Siri on HomePod (clearly a more advanced version than what’s on iOS and will inevitably roll out to all Apple devices) in practice is far better than Google Assistant on Google Home. Living with both side by side, I learned that the grass is not greener on the other side. I miss Siri with every Google Home interaction. That settled it for me: I’m buying two more HomePods. With Shortcuts and now a dedicated AI department, I can’t wait to see where Siri goes form here.

 

[demodave]

Tom Gruber, who served as head of Siri's Advanced Development group and was one of Siri's original cofounders, has left Apple, reports The Information. His departure from the company was confirmed by an Apple spokesperson, who told The Information that he was retiring to pursue "personal interests in photography and ocean conservation."

Gruber created Siri alongside Dag Kittlaus and Adam Cheyer, releasing the original Siri as an app on the iOS App Store in 2010. Apple acquired Siri two months later, and Cheyer, Kittlaus, and Gruber all joined the company at that time.

Kittlaus left Apple in 2011 and Cheyer left in 2012,
[blah, blah, blah ...]

Gruber stayed on at Apple for several years after the other two Siri co-founders departed, but with his retirement, none of the original Siri creators are left at Apple.

Apple's Siri team is going through a leadership change at the moment with the May hiring of John Giannandrea,
[blah, blah, blah ...]

Prior to Giannandrea's hiring, Siri development was overseen by software engineering chief Craig Federighi, who took over from Eddy Cue in 2017. Apple has been facing increasing criticism ....
[blah, blah, blah ...]

Article Link: Last Siri Co-Founder, Tom Gruber, Retires From Apple

My guess is that, with Giannandrea‘a hiring, Gruber realized his ability to drive/protect his intellectual baby was waning. After the acquisition of Siri (inc.) and his decision to be loyal to his baby (no disrespect intended with this choice of words) and to Apple by not jumping ship, he had a “Siri-load” of money left over, so he could go do what he wanted.

In that position, I’d pursue photography and oceanography, too! “Boat drinks, anyone?” (Again, no disrespect intended. I’ve been a recreational sailor and photographer myself. Can’t blame the man for pursuing those passions.)

I hope it’s good for him, personally. Getting “back in” May be a challenge, but he’s probably still in a good position to do so if he chooses to.

 

[Shanghaichica]

Unfortunately, Apple has put themselves in a really tough situation when it comes to AI/Siri. One of the major contributing factors to Google's, and to a lesser extent Amazon's, dominance in AI virtual assistants is the massive amount of data they collect on their users. While I have no doubt that the underlying technology behind Alexa and OK Google is definitely better than Siri - having a near endless pool of data to build upon really makes a big difference. Hopefully Apple will be able to course correct Siri to an extent, to at least make it competitive. However, unless Apple drastically changes their stance on privacy (which I not only doubt they'll do, I really DON'T want them to - I love Apple's stance on privacy), I just don't see them ever being able to match or surpass the abilities of OK Google and Alexa.

With all of that being said, we are seeing Apple making strides in making Siri more useful. One of the more intriguing aspects of iOS 12 is the tight integration with Workflow - specifically in how it can integrate directly with Siri. While this doesn't resolve the underlying issues with Siri, it does go a long way in adding more and useful functionality to Siri. As far as I know, and I could very well be wrong, neither OK Google nor Alexa allow the amount of find grained control of how you want your AI to work for you as Workflow does.

I think you can use if this then that with Alexa but I think that’s only for 1/2 commands not multiple like workflow. Again with google assistant I think you can set custom commands which allow you to do one or two actions. I believe it’s the same with bixby, custom commands for one or two actions.

 

[dirtylilhobo]

Tom Gruber, the passing of an era...or was that error..

 

[Shanghaichica]

So let's get this straight. Eddy Cue has been in charge of Siri for years and it completely stagnated under his leadership; so badly that it even impacted the launch and sales of the HomePod since Siri is integral to the operation of the device. Then last year Siri was assigned to Federighi and within a year they not only made some improvements to Siri and just introduced the Siri shortcuts feature/app, but in addition they have now made a good hiring choice to further improve Siri in the future.
This isn't the only time something has stagnated under Eddy's leadership. So can anyone tell me why the hell Apple doesn't just get rid of him? I understand he must be good at something, but so far it looks like all he is good for is providing meme's, like when he did that cringey dance on-stage to latin music.

It’s the terrible shirts. That’s why he’s being kept on.

 

[IGI2]

In hindsight I’m sure Cook wishes he’d never put Cue in charge of Siri. When Federighi took over last year, it didn’t take him long to realize they needed an expert to take it on.

They went and got “the guy”. A brilliant hire, of a brilliant man. And a guy who knows who the next dozen or hundred hires should be.

btw thanks for a relevant post, but we’ll be buried by the forum clowns.

I would give Federighi even a bit more credit:

A. He figured it that they need an expert in this field.
B. He released Siri Shortcuts to narrow the gap in a short-term contest and keep up the interests about this product.

 

[Shanghaichica]

For all put downs of Siri versus Google, let me tell you from personal experience that in practice, the grass is not greener on the other side.

Having grown used to using Siri on HomePod every day for the past several months, I was given an opportunity to live with Google Assistant. I won a Google Home in a raffle and decided to use them side by side.

For starters, the Google Home app is terrible. It’s confusing and cluttered as hell. I’m not in love with the iOS Home app but it’s leagues ahead of Google Home.

When it comes to voice interactions, I had taken for granted Siri’s human like voice prompts. When I get Siri’s attention, she acknowledges me with an “uh hum?” Google Home? Just silence. I’m not sure if she’s listening. These small things matter. It makes interacting with Siri more intuitive and natural. It makes a difference.

In comprehension, Google has gotten confused at basic commands like “Set the volume to 70”. No action, no response. I’m left wondering what, if anything, happened. “Set the volume to 70 per cent” works. What did Google think I meant by “70”? Set the volume to 70 elephants?

Speaking of animals, the built in games in HomePod were a novelty that I tried twice and got bored of. When it comes to search knowledge that Google is known to be better at, asking Google complex questions are a cool demo but in practice, if I’m going to research something, I’m going to pull out a phone or a tablet or a computer and visually look for my information, not ask Google Home.

When it comes to every day voice interactions, Siri on HomePod (clearly a more advanced version than what’s on iOS and will inevitably roll out to all Apple devices) in practice is far better than Google Assistant on Google Home. Living with both side by side, I learned that the grass is not greener on the other side. I miss Siri with every Google Home interaction. That settled it for me: I’m buying two more HomePods. With Shortcuts and now a dedicated AI department, I can’t wait to see where Siri goes form here.

I do use my HomePod more but maybe that’s more about knowing what I want to do and what Siri is capable of. There are some tasks I’m unsure of whether google home can do like sending what’s app messages or reading me my messages. Probably would work better with an android phone but I don’t have a sim in my S9 plus at the moment to see if it can do those things. I only wish Siri would make calls like my google home mini can but at least I can transfer the call off to the HomePod after I’ve made it. I would also like the HomePod to control my Apple TV better. For example with the google home mini I can ask it to play a specific show and it will autoswitch to my chrome cast and start playing said show on Netflix. It can also do YouTube searches.

Also with reminders, I’d like the HomePod to alert me and read out the reminder rather than just handing it off to the iPhone.

I think there is definitely room for improvement with the HomePod. I didn’t expect Siri to ever reach the levels of the google assistant but that’s fine I just want it to gain some more functions.
[doublepost=1531984756][/doublepost]

I would give Federighi even a bit more credit:

A. He figured it that they need an expert in this field.
B. He released Siri Shortcuts to narrow the gap in a short-term contest and keep up the interests about this product.

But didn’t Apple buy workflow last year? Was this before or after Craig took over?

 

[EvilEvil]

So blame 3 individual guys- 2 of which departed long ago- on the seemingly lack of much progress of Siri?

Is MacMini being many hundreds of days old because a few guys are too lazy to put in some new chips?

Business as usual at Apple. People work there because it looks good on their resume, not to actually innovate products or software anymore. It's just circle jerks and egos all day.

 

[FromJamRock]

Siri is useless. Bixby has so much promise, but they both suffer from the same ailment that doesn’t Google doesn’t have...a lack of users. Bixby can do so many more intricate things with hardware handling that neither Siri or Google can do, but Google has hundreds of millions more users to teach it stuff. That’s the key. That’s why Google and maybe Alexa have an insurmountable edge. The more users you have the further ahead your AI can go.

 

[44267547]

Business as usual at Apple. People work there because it looks good on their resume.

Are you speaking for Apples entire company as a whole regarding their employees or this just some random broad stoked statement because you think you know every employee’s intentions? (Rhetorical)

not to actually innovate products or software anymore. It's just circle jerks and egos all day.

They don’t? What was the Airpods then? Or the Apple Watch? Both of those products have been extremely popular since they debuted. I don’t think you have the slightest idea of anything about this company given the contents in your post.

 

[Shanghaichica]

Siri is useless. Bixby has so much promise, but they both suffer from the same ailment that doesn’t Google doesn’t have...a lack of users. Bixby can do so many more intricate things with hardware handling that neither Siri or Google can do, but Google has hundreds of millions more users to teach it stuff. That’s the key. That’s why Google and maybe Alexa have an insurmountable edge. The more users you have the further ahead your AI can go.

Well Siri certainly has the user base. Maybe people got fed up with Siri and stopped using it. Bixby has come out far too late in the game. Most people with Samsung devices will probably continue to use google assistant. Also people remember how terrible S-voice was and Bixby probably gets unfairly tared with the same brush. I do agree that Bixby has the potential to do a lot more. The button gets on my nerves So I’ve had to disable it on my S9 plus. I don’t know why but it seems so trigger happy on my S9 plus. It wasn’t like this on the note 8.

 

[dantroline]

Most of the original Siri developers had left, and there have been first hand accounts that said that Siri is nothing short of technical debt and was a mismanaged disaster after it was acquired. Whether or not Google's former head of AI can course correct is still debatable. Tom Gruber could only ride the gravy train for so long before Apple realized that they better fix this since they are pivoting on Siri to be an influential part of their success. Apple already has issues hiring people to help with Siri because frankly not many want to "fix" or deal with this mountain of debt.

Let's see what happens in a year with Siri. My expectation: it will be no different than it is today, and I still will be disabling it on all my Apple devices.

Can anyone advise how to remove the Siri icon from the taskbar on my Mac?, I want to celebrate his retirement by removing it.
[doublepost=1531990902][/doublepost]

Well Siri certainly has the user base. Maybe people got fed up with Siri and stopped using it. Bixby has come out far too late in the game. Most people with Samsung devices will probably continue to use google assistant. Also people remember how terrible S-voice was and Bixby probably gets unfairly tared with the same brush. I do agree that Bixby has the potential to do a lot more. The button gets on my nerves So I’ve had to disable it on my S9 plus. I don’t know why but it seems so trigger happy on my S9 plus. It wasn’t like this on the note 8.

Every time I say Bixby, I end up spluttering on the screen and my dentures come loose.

 

[Marekul]

Unfortunately, Apple has put themselves in a really tough situation when it comes to AI/Siri. One of the major contributing factors to Google's, and to a lesser extent Amazon's, dominance in AI virtual assistants is the massive amount of data they collect on their users. While I have no doubt that the underlying technology behind Alexa and OK Google is definitely better than Siri - having a near endless pool of data to build upon really makes a big difference. Hopefully Apple will be able to course correct Siri to an extent, to at least make it competitive. However, unless Apple drastically changes their stance on privacy (which I not only doubt they'll do, I really DON'T want them to - I love Apple's stance on privacy), I just don't see them ever being able to match or surpass the abilities of OK Google and Alexa.

With all of that being said, we are seeing Apple making strides in making Siri more useful. One of the more intriguing aspects of iOS 12 is the tight integration with Workflow - specifically in how it can integrate directly with Siri. While this doesn't resolve the underlying issues with Siri, it does go a long way in adding more and useful functionality to Siri. As far as I know, and I could very well be wrong, neither OK Google nor Alexa allow the amount of find grained control of how you want your AI to work for you as Workflow does.

Maybe they should train SIRI in china... apple isn't really big on privacy there...

 

[Bswails]

Siri is obviously not as good as Alexa or google assistant, however its ok. I have it activated on all my devices and it generally works well enough for basic things. I think I’ve gotten to know what it can and can’t do over the years so when I do use it it generally works. On a few occasions it actually surprises me and does something I didnt think it could do.

However with new people at the helm hopefully it will improve. On the phone I think its ok but it really needs to improve more on the HomePod. If it could just make calls and control my Apple TV better I’d be more inclined to pick up a second HomePod.

The broadcast feature google and Amazon have is kinda cool also..but that doesn’t have anything to with Siri lol

 

[Shanghaichica]

The broadcast feature google and Amazon have is kinda cool also..but that doesn’t have anything to with Siri lol

Yeah it is. I only have one echo dot and one google Home mini at the moment so I haven’t used it before.

 

[Bswails]

With all original people retiring, what change would that make to Siri, i wonder.

Out with the old in with the new maybe? Maybe this is a chance for Apple to re make Siri from the ground up like they are with maps?

 

[interessiert]

"...he was retiring to pursue "personal interests in photography and ocean conservation"

Why I don't read this about Jony Ive!

 

[IGI2]

But didn’t Apple buy workflow last year? Was this before or after Craig took over?

But maybe Craig facilitated this quick roll out, integration, and his personal traits weren't an obstacle there and welcomed Workflow team with his arms wide-open. Instead of behaving as if you own this stage/place (Eddy).

 

[arkitect]

"...he was retiring to pursue "personal interests in photography and ocean conservation"

Why I don't read this about Jony Ive!

Indeed!
I wish he'd say, "My work here is done!" and move on.

He is an excellent designer — but, I do question his suitability as a computer designer.

Thinner isn't always the answer. And that seems to be Jonathan Ive's only answer these past years.

 

[Morgenland]

The original Siri team got rich for good technology at the time, and stopped working on the day they were bought. Hopefully the new young/hungry team can get things moving again.

I don't hope for simple a "young and hungry" team. That's naive popular thinking. I hope apple establishes wise and well-coordinated goals and structures in the long run. Only extremely good companies can do this...