Siri Co-Founder Suggests Apple is 'Looking for a Level of Perfection They Can't Get' With Assistant

[4ubrey]

It would have a smaller remit, but it would learn it flawlessly, and then gradually extend to related areas.

This is why Alexa is so much better (I don't use Alexa or Google fwiw, but I appreciate that they are better assistants overall). They had Alexa do so few things to start and perfected them. No jokes, no easter egg nonsense. Just do the basic task and do it correctly - then expand. Really smart.

 

[chrisduketv]

Siri is just dumb as rocks. It's unbelievable how poorly this AI has performed over the years. Just try asking Siri some of the things that the video the original Siri did. It can't even do "what's happening this weekend around here" without spewing websites at you. It's completely useless half the time. 6 years old now? C'mon Apple... it's just as frustrating to use as it was 6 years ago, and just doesn't seem to be getting any smarter. I just use it less and less, and only use it for basic questions like "what time is it" or "add ____ to my grocery list". Anything beyond that seems to be a challenge. And I speak very clearly and enunciate -- I do a lot of voiceovers for a living. My only other experience is with Alexa, which seems to be far more intelligent, and I don't have to shout at it. I can just talk like a normal person.

And on another semi-related note, why can't "smart"phones announce the caller? "Call from Tim Allen". All we have are ringtones. Even my old Palm Treo could announce the caller by voice.

 

[Michael Goff]

It would have a smaller remit, but it would learn it flawlessly, and then gradually extend to related areas.

This is why Alexa is so much better (I don't use Alexa or Google fwiw, but I appreciate that they are better assistants overall). They had Alexa do so few things to start and perfected them. No jokes, no easter egg nonsense. Just do the basic task and do it correctly - then expand. Really smart.

Alexa is better because it’s taught us humans what to say.

 

[groove-agent]

I remember reading a few articles from MR in the past where Apple acquired at least one business to develop Siri yet Siri is regarded as the least sophisticated personal assistant.

It just seems that Apple develops and innovates at a snail's pace. Add in the lack of Mac Pro updates, Mac mini updates, no fix for the MBP keyboard after 2 years, the lack of "must have" features in MacOS etc etc - it just seems like they fail to move along at a reasonable pace despite the record amount of cash flow they have.

I'd hate to say it but it really looks like bad management. This company probably has many projects on the go but I don't think it's being conducted properly or deadlines are properly enforced. Also I think they pull their talent off of certain projects to work on others (which I also remember reading on MR) - this can cause big delays as well.

In all fairness, we'll never know what is actually going on behind closed doors, but there seems to be a re-occurring theme here.

 

[Art Mark]

The issue is more complicated than many involved in touting a particular vendors solution seem to admit. The issue is handing over all the info about your life, where you are in realtime and through habit, where you eat, who you are related to, having an 'always on cloud ear', and the fact that all the issues are solved off the device in the cloud. The more comfortable you are with all of this, the more you will expect from your 'digital assistant'. I think Apple is stuck in trying to protect a user from what Google and Amazon are doing which is making a product out of a user. I'm not saying this in a ranting way - it's a well known fact. So if handing over all elements of your life to the cloud, for processing and capture by, well, likely anyone who wants it, doesn't brother you, then being able to have your phone tell you where the nearest bathroom is will work as well as all kinds of tricks that can enhance ones personal life and your interactions with the digital world.

This aspect is not something I read about 30 years ago as digital assistants started being created and thought about. I'm not sure we understood the fact that the processing would all be off the device and didn't yet understand that a persons phone would be GPS equipped and people would be willing to hand over everything on the device for processing and storage on servers scattered around the world.

I use Siri sometimes, but I don't need a particularly robust personal assistant. I don't lead a very complicated life, maybe I'm boring enough to not need so much assisting. I have an unplugged Alexa at home - not because I 'fear' the always on ears, but because we never used it for anything other than a joke or playing a song which isn't all that life changing and after months of none of us using it it just went away. This is an issue of privacy expectations and comfort levels with a massive change in how our lives are lived and shared.

 

[apolloa]

I think absolutely without any doubt Siri’s development has been blocked due to Apples daft privacy policies, but as I understand they can work around those and still haven’t..
People still can’t accept the facts their life’s are out there in the digital world weather they like it or not! Don’t like it, stop using any form of tech full stop.

Siri is a dead duck now. Apple has failed to show any real commitment to it for several years and has been far surpassed by its competitors.
These assistants need to understand contextual questions which Google and Amazon do but Siri not so much, most likely why Alexa is being signed up by more and more car manufactures as it makes it easy for the driver to use which is what’s needed, concentrate on the road more then your assistant.

As some people say, Alexa and Google assistant read the information to you, Siri just shows you it, that small difference makes for a massive usability difference.

I’m really not surprised since the HomePod launch its been discussed in a negative way in the press.

 

[Goner259er]

Maybe Apple should focus on tech improvement instead of making a tv show about a monkey and his husband

 

[turtle777]

Was your phone in the living room?

No, I was in a room next to my living room.

My iPhone picked up the command, but Siri was not able to understand I didn’t want the iPhone to execute the command.

This is not rocket science. I specified “HomePod” and “Living Room” (that’s where my HomePod is assigned to in iOS app Home).

I’m feeling Apple is not even making an effort.

-t

 

[44267547]

Nope, Love it, use Siri several times daily without any real issues.

I use Siri for dictation all the time and it’s actually fairly accurate for what it is. Not only that, but the Apple Watch, AirPods and HomePod, Siri does really well for basic tasking and questions. That’s really what I need it for. And I think others are far too judgmental, could it use improvements in certain areas? Yes. But that’s the nature of artificial intelligence in general.

 

[The Game 161]

siri works fine for basic tasks. If you want more than yes it isn't smart compared to google or alexa

 

[jonnysods]

Privacy has nothing to do with things like reading Wikipedia information and conveying it to the user. Siri usually can’t even find basic information for me. When she does, she doesn’t read it out, she just says “Here, have a look.” Uh...if I wanted to just stare at my screen I wouldn’t have used Siri, I would have googled it myself.

Oh man I hate that one. "open on the web" - yes, thanks for that Siri.

I was meaning other things like calendar appointments too - Google Now would say "hey you better leave in 5 minutes because the traffic is bad" - so useful. Siri...? I can add reminders when I'm connected to the internet, it doesn't understand my accent (Australian), and a litany of other things.

 

[dk001]

The issue is more complicated than many involved in touting a particular vendors solution seem to admit. The issue is handing over all the info about your life, where you are in realtime and through habit, where you eat, who you are related to, having an 'always on cloud ear', and the fact that all the issues are solved off the device in the cloud. The more comfortable you are with all of this, the more you will expect from your 'digital assistant'. I think Apple is stuck in trying to protect a user from what Google and Amazon are doing which is making a product out of a user. I'm not saying this in a ranting way - it's a well known fact. So if handing over all elements of your life to the cloud, for processing and capture by, well, likely anyone who wants it, doesn't brother you, then being able to have your phone tell you where the nearest bathroom is will work as well as all kinds of tricks that can enhance ones personal life and your interactions with the digital world.

This aspect is not something I read about 30 years ago as digital assistants started being created and thought about. I'm not sure we understood the fact that the processing would all be off the device and didn't yet understand that a persons phone would be GPS equipped and people would be willing to hand over everything on the device for processing and storage on servers scattered around the world.

I use Siri sometimes, but I don't need a particularly robust personal assistant. I don't lead a very complicated life, maybe I'm boring enough to not need so much assisting. I have an unplugged Alexa at home - not because I 'fear' the always on ears, but because we never used it for anything other than a joke or playing a song which isn't all that life changing and after months of none of us using it it just went away. This is an issue of privacy expectations and comfort levels with a massive change in how our lives are lived and shared.

This is a very common heard excuse. I call BS.
If you want Siri to answer based on knowledge about you collected over times, your fav's, your past behavior, THAT is personal data and can be affected by privacy concerns.

• "Where's the nearest McDonalds?"
• "When does Fry's open based on my location?"
• "Set a reminder for tomorrow at 9AM to call my agent."
• "When does winter end?"
• "How far from my location to Santa Barbara Pier?"
• Getting a Siri list on your phone while driving...

These questions/requests require no personal information other than location, add a reminder (app access), business lookup based on location, Wiki knowledge, etc ... Unless Apple stores this under your name / ID, there are no real privacy concerns. Using privacy concerns as an excuse for poor performance for the latter set ... No.

 

[blasto2236]

I'm not really putting much stock in what this guy has to say given that his team was gobbled up by Samsung and created Bixby, arguably the worst of all the virtual assistants and near universally despised. Soooooo, maybe his pie in the sky visions of what an assistant can be aren't so realistic.

 

[joneill55]

Siri a big pile of steaming The only thing I can get it to do consistently is dictate to reminders. Siri does that task flawlessly. The rest, pretty much helpless/useless.

Maybe Apple will get seriuos and pay attention to Siri and have a major overhaul. Not holding my breath.

 

[9081094]

Unfortunately, Siri is just part of a whole host of software problems right now at Apple. I think Siri is more of a constant disappointment than anything else. I personally am not even upset with what she can and cant do...I take issue with her lack of speech recognition. When she came out, I understood it, but now that she is required to talk to my HomePod or Apple Watch, it is pathetic the number of errors she gets in speech. I tried whispering, shouting, holding my watch/phone closer, loud rooms, quiet rooms, airplanes, cars, crowded rooms, empty rooms, bathrooms, living rooms, hallways, stairwells, stadiums, boats...etc. etc.....she CANNOT understand me accurately enough no matter what the surrounding or device. I know my girlfriend regularly has the same issue (although admittedly a bit less than me). I think its one thing for recognition to be poor, but once you introduce a device (like the watch) that all but requires voice input....there are no excuses for poor recognition. Let’s not even talk about complex requests....

Not only Siri has gotten an embarrassment. How about maps? Remember fly over? Our country got three cities in fly over mode. In the meantime google managed to do our whole country in flyover.

How about the state of the Mac? They will deliver a new Mac Pro this year... sorry Apple, too little too late... all the professionals needing the power were already forced to shop elsewhere and have lost their faith in Apple as a professional solution (same for Final Cut Pro).

Mac mini? The MacBook and MacBook Pro with the ergonomic touchbar disaster? All über priced products and all technology speaking obsolete.

iPad Pro? Nice hardware but iOS makes it a toy.

The Apple Pencil? Why doesn’t it come included with every ipadpro and rethink of professional solution to charge it and magnetic click it to the iPad.

iWork? When was the last time we had an update on keynote, number and pages?

I can go on and on... but reality shows there is something wrong at Apple.

If it couldn’t rely on its brandname it would go downhill faster than you could siri getting to listen to you.

I feel embarrassed by the arrogance and stupidity Apple is showing these last years.

 

[Corie]

Since Siri's introduction in the iPhone 4s in 2011, responses to Apple's AI assistant have often weighed towards the unfavorable side, most recently in several HomePod reviews that specified Siri as one of the biggest downsides of owning the speaker. This week, Siri creator, co-founder, and former board member Norman Winarsky added in his own commentary about the assistant's current state, saying that he didn't think this is where Siri would be at this point (via Quartz).

In 2008 Siri began as spin-off of SRI International, where Winarsky was the President, and eventually launched as an app for iOS in February 2010. Two months later Apple acquired Siri, and just over a year after that introduced it within the iPhone 4s, shutting down the standalone app shortly thereafter. Seven years later, Winarsky said that Siri's capabilities have fallen short of his earlier predictions for where he thought the assistant, and Apple's development, would end up.

Specifically, Winarsky's comments focus on what Siri's intention was "pre-Apple" versus where the assistant is today. According to the co-founder, Siri was originally meant to be incredibly intelligent in just a few key areas -- travel and entertainment -- and then "gradually extend to related areas" once it mastered each. Apple's acquisition pivoted Siri to an all-encompassing life assistant, and Winarsky said that this decision has likely led Apple to search "for a level of perfection they can't get."
Last September, Apple VP of marketing Greg Joswiak commented on a few aspects of Siri's development, stating that Apple's aim from the beginning has been to make Siri a "get-s**t-done" machine. Joswiak did a series of interviews around the same time last September, after Siri leadership moved to Craig Federighi and before the assistant's six year birthday. In one, he discussed the claim that Siri development has been hindered by Apple's commitment to privacy, describing these reports as "a false narrative."

The original Siri Assistant iOS app​

Winarsky didn't specifically comment on Apple's focus on privacy and how that could be a factor in Siri's development, but he did state that there's one simple factor absent from Siri today: "Surprise and delight is kind of missing right now."

Article Link: Siri Co-Founder Suggests Apple is 'Looking for a Level of Perfection They Can't Get' With Assistant

 

[MrBat]

Anyone else has Siri disabled?

I do. Tried it with the IPhone 5, 6 Plus and now SE, still feels like a gimmick and I just keep it disabled.

 

[mono1980]

Anyone else has Siri disabled?

Siri is useful for me on my watch, AppleTV and iOS, but on the Mac I noticed that it was using over 600 MB of RAM and I hardly used it, so I disabled it.

 

[Corie]

While I have used Siri before, I honestly find it annoying! A lot of what I search for, Siri just gives me a link on the website of what I'm looking for instead of telling me what I want to hear. John Rettinger from Techno Buffalo posted a video yesterday hitting the major issues and problems with Siri with a hammer. I think if Apple really digs deeper into the AI of Siri, develops the AI with full integration over and above what it is now, it can be a viable Assistant for the Mac ecosystem.

The AI should be the same on all Apple devices and seemingly be able to transition from one device to another. Siri on homepod is different then on the iPhone or even the Mac. Why? I think if Apple goes to that next level with Siri, the AI will appeal better suited to what the consumers are wanting. An AI on Apple that does everything!

 

[JMO1]

I finally realized why people still post when they aren't saying anything new and they are like the 1,000th comment...Passion

That being said, SIRI IS TERRIBLE

 

[jokkedk]

Just ask Siri "When does winter end?" and see how smart she is. (For those not wanting to test it, she claims March 19th 2019.)

Technically she's right since winter already ended this year.

 

[Will.O.Bie]

What if Siri understood your body language to detect mood, people and animals in the room and know them by name, commenting on what is happening on your favorite TV show, or adding additional information to a news event, alarm going off in the morning and you are not getting up, all kinds of things.

That's called the significant other next to you...
[doublepost=1520625185][/doublepost]

I love Siri and i use it every day on my phone. It keeps getting better and better.

You forgot to add *sarcastic remark* at the end of your post

Or maybe not and you're serious?

 

[kaneda]

I never liked the name Siri. Hey Siri? Seriously? They should change it to "Yo Apple!" Make it brand identifiable like Okay Google.

Make it works then you will like the name. Lucky, Apple didn't make it "Yo Apple!" It would be really damaging to Apple brand, right now.

 

[adamski23]

I’m a google assistant user and my major complaint is the wake phrase “Okay Google”. It doesn’t not flow well when spoken compared to “Alexa” or “Hey Siri”. The later feels less robotic.

 

[mi7chy]

I’m a google assistant user and my major complaint is the wake phrase “Okay Google”. It doesn’t not flow well when spoken compared to “Alexa” or “Hey Siri”. The later feels less robotic.

For me, I find "Hey Siri" more of a tongue twister than "Ok Google" and "Alexa" is the easiest. I wish I can change "Hey Siri" to "WTF" so that she automatically retries when wrong or useless.