Questionable Rumor Claims Siri iCloud Integration and Contextual Learning Coming in iOS 11

[keysofanxiety]

it's been what, five years now? Thanks, but I'll keep using Google. You can continue to wait for plausibly accurate dictation engine from Apple.

For what it's worth, it is pretty accurate when I use Siri. Siri makes my life a little easier with setting alarms, timers, or dictating texts/calling people when I'm driving. That's it, though. Just a little easier.

Siri's not particularly smart. Neither is Google's solution, though; nor Amazon's, nor Microsoft's. None are anywhere close to what we've seen in science fiction. Until some serious advancements are made, I'll happily take a bit poorer recognition, iOS integration, and user privacy in the interim.

So yeah, I'll continue to wait. So will you, by the way. It's not like Google's current system rivals the Enterprise computer.

 

[RickInHouston]

This seems like a good next step for AI. As always, Apple isn't promising the sky and underdelivering, but instead putting out a refined product when the technology is ready. This will be a solid improvement.

I'm so tired of this VERY TIRED argument. This is simply a case of if the shoe fits.

 

[M2M]

I turned Siri off. Comically bad compared to Google's natural language processing engine.

Apple's obsession with privacy will never allow their offering to be good as Google's; you need collectively analyze all human speech to actually develop something that will understand all dialects, intonations, and nuances of a spoken language.

Don't think so. Humans can learn language without getting data from thousands of people. I think a couple of hundreds are enough. Also I think for dialects etc there could be Siri instances for each language.

 

[nviz22]

Apple better not skimp out on improving Siri only on the next generation iPhones. Google pushed its Assistant onto devices with Marshmallow and Nougat. Siri is a labtomized virtual assistant.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Apple is upgrading some lonely guys' only partner....

More like only kid -- you ask her to do something and sometimes she will do what you ask. Other times she'll either get sassy with you, misinterpret what you asked, pretend she doesn't understand, or ignore you all together.

 

[itsmilo]

Big problem with each of those assistants = the talking part

Am I the only one too lazy to think of commands, the actual having to talk part itself lol and the double checking if she got everything right? I rather click a few buttons that become natural after a while and be done with it

Its sorta like going shopping, no i dont wanna talk to the staff to find me nice pants. Ill just look for it myself

 

[69Mustang]

AI and speech recognition is in the very, very, very early stages. The war hasn't been won yet; it hasn't even begun. AI today is what the original Macintosh was to raw hardware performance.

Agreed. AI is in it's infancy. There's a long way to go and it will definitely improve.

Apple's staunch stance on privacy means they'll be going the longer and more difficult route, which I maintain will be the better approach in the long term. This is because the core recognition will evolve to recognise any speech and any language without having to reference lots of other data already collected.

Disagree. Apple's stance on privacy doesn't mean anything of the sort. People on MR seem to be unnaturally triggered when they see the word "privacy". It's as if Cook saying, "We don't sell your personal information" has been branded directly into the brains of Apple fans. Apple is taking a multi-pronged approach, just like the other members of the Partnership on AI. They are going to use the best ideas contributed by the members to create a rising tide that floats all the boats. Core recognition might evolve to recognize speech and language better, but recognition without referencing other data... you're talking about a distant future that has no connection to what's going on in AI today.

Yes, Siri does need a lot of improvement; nobody's denying that. But so do the others. With the leaps and bounds that technology makes every year, it's much too early to simply say that the only way forward in AI and speech/context recognition is data mining.

We have to get over this preconceived notion that data mining is inherently bad (blame Apple's marketing). It isn't and Apple uses a helluva lot it to improve their services, including Siri. That data mining is key to a lot of what Apple does. Specifically regarding Siri, analysis of data regarding what's being asked allows Apple to add to Siri's response bucket of answers. Data mining is essential in AI. Data mining is essential to Apple's business. Apple data mines. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

 

[M.PaulCezanne]

Siri is virtually useless. It's absurd how many obvious tasks it could perform but doesn't.

 

[shk718]

For the love of all that is holy, make her proactive!!

I agree - we need more proactive features. I also disagree with posts here that say because of Apples dedication to privacy SIRI can't be imporved. There is a ton of information about ourselves in the phone that SIRI can have access to that requires no outside intervention. Calendar, tickets, health, location... this list goes on and on. I hope, now that Apple has come up with its privacy policy, they can now begin adding more and more features. They've already dramatically increased the voice recognition part, and this is with the weak microphone on the phone. If they could some how improve that the accuracy would go thru the roof.

 

[cdarlington1]

It's pretty obvious that a Siri upgrade is coming. Just a question of when. iOS 11 would be the perfect time but whether it's ready for prime time.

Maybe it'll be only available on the anniversary iPhone?

 

[shk718]

I turned Siri off. Comically bad compared to Google's natural language processing engine.

Apple's obsession with privacy will never allow their offering to be good as Google's; you need collectively analyze all human speech to actually develop something that will understand all dialects, intonations, and nuances of a spoken language.

Will you put your money where your moth is ... ?
When the new OS, 10.3, is loaded it asks if you want to opt-into the differential analytics Apple is using to improve SIRI. Did/will you? I wonder how many will? So many have complained about SIRI's abilities because Apple wont collect information. Now we are provided with an opportunity to help improve it and maintain privacy. I have one friend who refused, yet uses google mail with out a care in the world.

 

[kemal]

I'm all for this as long as we don't end up with HAL 9000.

It's already there. Haven't you noticed how many times siri says "I can't do that."

 

[Otaviano]

Got to catch up to Alexa and Google Home somehow.

Catch up. How many languages are those services speak? How many countries are they available in?

I think they are ones who need to catch up.

 

[shk718]

For what it's worth, it is pretty accurate when I use Siri. Siri makes my life a little easier with setting alarms, timers, or dictating texts/calling people when I'm driving. That's it, though. Just a little easier.

Siri's not particularly smart. Neither is Google's solution, though; nor Amazon's, nor Microsoft's. None are anywhere close to what we've seen in science fiction. Until some serious advancements are made, I'll happily take a bit poorer recognition, iOS integration, and user privacy in the interim.

So yeah, I'll continue to wait. So will you, by the way. It's not like Google's current system rivals the Enterprise computer.

I agree 100% - none of these AI's are particularly intelligent. Google's AI maybe minutes ahead of Apple's - definitely not years.

 

[jdawgnoonan]

Siri needs any help that she can get. If I could replace Siri with the Google app for my assistant (and use Google Maps in CarPlay), the iPhone would be the perfect phone.

 

[xalea]

Let me know whenever it's a viable competitor to Alexa.

 

[litmag01]

I'm not sure how Apple's privacy policies prevent them from analysing "all human speech"? Could you explain/expand on that?

Agree... icanhazallpe should at least explain this a little better.
[doublepost=1490706965][/doublepost]

I turned Siri off. Comically bad compared to Google's natural language processing engine.

Apple's obsession with privacy will never allow their offering to be good as Google's; you need collectively analyze all human speech to actually develop something that will understand all dialects, intonations, and nuances of a spoken language.

Can you please explain this a little better? Thank you!

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

It's already there. Haven't you noticed how many times siri says "I can't do that."

You may be right. Just testing us on behalf of Rothchild"s ambitions. Then one day, the machines will ponce on mankind and take over.

 

[Urban Joe]

Siri is virtually useless. It's absurd how many obvious tasks it could perform but doesn't.

This is where I believe their Workflow acquisition might start to accelerate their progress. They can integrate all the custom workflows into Siri....basically crowdsourcing use cases and "soft" programming.

 

[now i see it]

Any time there's some new feature with this or that, one of the selling points seems always to be to push the "dining out" experience. I guess iPhone users need to dine out a lot and have no clue where the restaurants are.

 

[The Game 161]

Good it needs improving

 

[LordQ]

And for the love of whatever deity they believe in, remove the corny and sassy responses.

 

[Remy149]

Let me know whenever it's a viable competitor to Alexa.

Bought an echo out of curiosity but the only use I've found for it is controlling my lights and Siri is actually better at that function especially when it comes to changing the color or scene. I'm still trying to figure out what all the alexia hype was all about

 

[RogerWilco]

I don't know if Apple's emphasis on privacy is because they believe so passionately in it or if it is simply an excuse to gloss over the fact that Siri will never be as good as google now even if Apple didn't care about privacy, but if Apple can make this work, I feel it is a compromise I am willing to make.

And it seems every day we learn that Apple's "passion" for privacy is more in the vein of PR than in actual security for customer data.

 

[oneMadRssn]

I can't the only one who doesn't care about voice conversations with my iphone. The only time I use it is in the car or when I'm alone in a room, which is not very often. Even then, I use it mainly for dictating text messages, which is not a "smart" function.

Talking to your iphone is super awkward, and I hate it when people try to use a virtual assistant in public. Is it really that hard to just type in a search box?