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More Advanced AI Siri Functionality Not Coming to iOS 18 Until 2025

Remember when big features were released with the new version of iOS dropped.... not 6-9 months later as an update...?


I'm starting a tech company called Banana. And let me tell you that aOS 15 is coming out this fall and it will be a huge overhaul of everything you know and love. But those features won't come out until the following Spring.... but be excited for this fall when we tease with what will come eventually!
 
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The people who think Apple will suddenly catch up in AI or that they’re just taking their time to do AI right are completely deluding themselves. Just like they told us that Apple Car would revolutionize cars.

Besides, some of the app controlling features this article describes is something Apple did with a 68040 and DSP in the Quadra AV some 30 odd years ago. Doesn’t sound very impressive to me. Doesn’t even sound like AI.
 
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brijazz said:
I understand what you're saying, but what's the value in having an A.I. search engine if it's going to give you bad information? Just to say 'hey, we're using A.I.?"

Anyhow, we don't know that Apple won't do it right. I'm skeptical myself, but let's at least wait and see.
Click to expand...
Because of Apple’s focus on privacy, there’s no way for them to compete. The other companies have the whole web to learn from, Apple can’t do it.
 
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We just saw how Google search powered by AI went. Telling people that eating rocks was good and pregnant women smoking was ok too. LLMs are not perfect whether by Google or Apple. Apple should take all the time it wants, this is the beginning of something, and there is no rush. Google's diminishing reputation was not helped by rushing AI into their products. Apple does not need a fiasco like that.
 
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So I have to put up with "Who's speaking?" at least twice a week until sometime in 2025? I had a scary thought today: What if Apple requires people to buy new upgraded HomePods and Minis to use the new enhanced Siri? Wouldn't that be a slap in the face for all of us that have put up with Siri's crap for the last x years!!! I have 4 HomePods (2 OG, 2 new) and 6 Minis.
 
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Populus said:
Apple should be careful new Siri doesn’t sound like Scarlett.
Click to expand...
Or sound like a valley girl. I hate that in fact, I have absolutely no problem with the way Siri sounds now. It’s the functionality that is the problem.
 
ipedro said:
The AI Agent feature I've been commenting about:



A scenario:

User:
Siri, I'd like to have dinner with my girlfriend tonight at that place I walked by last week with the red umbrella. I took a photo of it.

Siri:
Code: 
Looks at your Photos (offline), finds the red umbrella, geotagged,
locates the restaurant in Apple Maps (online),
brings up OpenTable (online) cues up a reservation after looking at your Calendar (offline).

That was Sandro's on College St. I've found you a reservation for 2 at 8pm. You get off work at 5, that should give you enough time to get home, get ready and head over to Sandro's. Ana's schedule also shows her free. Would you like me to book it?

User:
Yes... no, wait, can we do 8:30 instead? I'd like to get a bottle of wine, does Sandro's have a corking fee?

Siri:
Code: 
Looks up OpenTable (online) to see if there's an 8:30pm reservation.
Looks up Sandro's website (online) and searches for a corking fee.
Looks up Apple Maps for nearby wine stores,
finds one that's on the Ritual app (online) so they can can bag your wine for pickup,
finds that you've ordered 2 different wines via Ritual.

Sandro's has a $6 corking fee. I found you an 8:30 reservation. Would you like Mateus Rose or Wolf Blass - Yellow Label Sauvignon? I can reserve it at the Wine Cellar, a short walk from Sandro's.

User:
Let's do Mateus. Go ahead and book the reservation please.

Siri:
Code: 
Goes to OpenTable, places the reservation on your behalf.
Goes to Ritual, orders a bottle of Mateus Rose for pickup at 8pm.
Adds an event in your calendar with directions to the Wine Cellar
and another at 8:30pm with directions from there to Sandro's.
Creates a calendar invite for your girlfriend.

All set! Your Mateus Rose will be ready for pickup at 8pm, Sandro's at 8:30 on College St. and I've sent an invite to Ana.


Apple's advantage in AI is the App Store, far larger than any other platform. If Siri can operate those apps for you (and their published papers show us that's where they're headed) then it'll be far more capable than anything openAI has done.
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lol Siri can’t even start a workout on my watch without me having to unlock my phone first. Hell this idiot child can’t increase headphone volume without an internet connection.
I have zero confidence in her ability to do any of this anytime soon and certainly not without an internet connection.
 
ipedro said:
The AI Agent feature I've been commenting about:



A scenario:

User:
Siri, I'd like to have dinner with my girlfriend tonight at that place I walked by last week with the red umbrella. I took a photo of it.

Siri:
Code: 
Looks at your Photos (offline), finds the red umbrella, geotagged,
locates the restaurant in Apple Maps (online),
brings up OpenTable (online) cues up a reservation after looking at your Calendar (offline).

That was Sandro's on College St. I've found you a reservation for 2 at 8pm. You get off work at 5, that should give you enough time to get home, get ready and head over to Sandro's. Ana's schedule also shows her free. Would you like me to book it?

User:
Yes... no, wait, can we do 8:30 instead? I'd like to get a bottle of wine, does Sandro's have a corking fee?

Siri:
Code: 
Looks up OpenTable (online) to see if there's an 8:30pm reservation.
Looks up Sandro's website (online) and searches for a corking fee.
Looks up Apple Maps for nearby wine stores,
finds one that's on the Ritual app (online) so they can can bag your wine for pickup,
finds that you've ordered 2 different wines via Ritual.

Sandro's has a $6 corking fee. I found you an 8:30 reservation. Would you like Mateus Rose or Wolf Blass - Yellow Label Sauvignon? I can reserve it at the Wine Cellar, a short walk from Sandro's.

User:
Let's do Mateus. Go ahead and book the reservation please.

Siri:
Code: 
Goes to OpenTable, places the reservation on your behalf.
Goes to Ritual, orders a bottle of Mateus Rose for pickup at 8pm.
Adds an event in your calendar with directions to the Wine Cellar
and another at 8:30pm with directions from there to Sandro's.
Creates a calendar invite for your girlfriend.

All set! Your Mateus Rose will be ready for pickup at 8pm, Sandro's at 8:30 on College St. and I've sent an invite to Ana.


Apple's advantage in AI is the App Store, far larger than any other platform. If Siri can operate those apps for you (and their published papers show us that's where they're headed) then it'll be far more capable than anything openAI has done.
Click to expand...
That sounds like a nicely updated version of the Apple Knowledge Navigator as imagined in 1987. I hope that we get there eventually.

ninja’d by @xxFoxtail :)
 
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macduke said:
…

Apple, just fix Siri before you go gumming it up with all of this BS!!
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The problem is that the rule-based AI that was used to build Siri is too limited and too inflexible to be able to extend and refine. A full replacement based on a limited LLM model is the best way to “fix Siri”. There comes a time when you don’t want to remodel the house, admit that it is a tear down and move on.

I think they will end up using LLM techniques to interpret the user’s intent and to match that to available app functions using something like the App Intents interface. that should be enough to address most of the problems with the current Siri.
 
Last edited:
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Good to hear that Siri will become smarter. But expecting most of the changes only to be fully ready just before 2025 WWDC.
 
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klasma said:
What they should do is have the UI elements of any arbitrary app be recognized by AI and controllable by commands given to AI. That way you could operate anything and everything by spoken commands, and also could script UI workflows involving arbitrary apps.
Click to expand...
That is exactly the point of an article that Apple published a few months ago. It was about using an AI (called Ferret-UI) to look at the UI presented on screen, figuring out what the controls are and how to interact with them and then using UI libraries to take action with those UI elements. It is intended to allow automation of almost any app.

9to5mac.com

Apple teaching an AI system to use apps; maybe for advanced Siri

An Apple research paper describes how the company has been developing Ferret-UI, a generative AI system specifically designed to be...
9to5mac.com 9to5mac.com
 
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celtics_lucas said:
So iPhone 13 will not get any AI features? I am confused
Click to expand...
Some rumors suggest that newer devices will run more of the AI on device and older devices will run some of the AI on servers. It depends on how processor intensive each type of AI is. I don’t think you’ll be left out in the cold, but the interactions may be slower.
 
The moment I gave up on Siri was when the speedo in my car stopped working, I was approaching a speed camera, so I asked Siri what speed I was travelling.

Simply logic given inbuilt GPS, maps, Siri, Apple magic dust, etc.

Siri gave me a smart-ass response that I should look at my car's speedometer.

Was not amused.
 
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rchornef said:
How about Siri responding to questions about the weather on HomePod? In its current state it is the most pathetic piece of programming I have ever used in my whole life.
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My HomePod just gave me the forecast for tomorrow with no problem. It may not be consistent for you but it can do it. Since Siri is headed for a top to bottom rebuild, I’m not sure that current capabilities are much of a measure of what we can expect.
 
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now i see it said:
Does anyone remember all the hype around Siri when it was first revealed with the iPhone 4S? The promotional presentations made it look like it was going to be wonderful.
And we all know how Siri actually turned out.
Call me a skeptic, but I’m not holding my breath for Siri 2.0 ai.
Click to expand...

If you hunt back to old news articles at the time that Apple purchased Siri of it's original makers, you will find many stories about how Siri got dramatically worse than it originally was AFTER Apple purchased it 14 years ago, and started messing around with it.
 
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I anticipated this would happen. WWDC is going to be one big gaslight event about Apple’s “amazing AI features” (not) coming in September, then (not) coming in spring 2025, and then it gets postponed ad nauseam. Apple should just admit that they were sleeping, caught off guard and was outmaneuvered by the novel AI tech companies as Tim was too busy promoting Ted Lasso and his failing Vision Pro legacy.

It’s becoming more embarrassing each day.
 
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rp2011 said:
We just saw how Google search powered by AI went. Telling people that eating rocks was good and pregnant women smoking was ok too. LLMs are not perfect whether by Google or Apple. Apple should take all the time it wants, this is the beginning of something, and there is no rush. Google's diminishing reputation was not helped by rushing AI into their products. Apple does not need a fiasco like that.
Click to expand...
Agreed, I don’t think Apple will implement their own LLM until they have one that doesn’t hallucinate and create a potential PR disaster for them. I think that’s why they’d prefer to partner with openai, so they have a scapegoat when it gives inaccurate info

Everything Apple does is analyzed under a microscope, they don’t get the benefit of the doubt when they eff up like other companies, they get torn to shreds for the tiniest things, even if it affects 0.1% of users. They’d rather be “behind” than release something that’s a liability
 
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