Siri Creators Debuting New AI Assistant 'Viv' Next Week

This sounds like what I was hoping Siri would become. To the best of my knowledge Apple has made no effort to integrate connections to other services into Siri.
 
This is really disappointing. I've long felt that intelligent assistants are the next frontier; the tech that will really transform the 21st century. As soon as I saw the original Siri app in the App Store I knew this was huge tech. Then Apple bought them and took away many features, dumbing it down to basically be a text-to-speech interface for 3rd-party APIs and cheap parlor tricks. Sometimes Steve missed the mark and apparently Siri was one of those times.

This tech, if it lives up to what they describe, is exactly where Apple should already be at with Siri. Though Siri has improved quite a bit since it's introduction, Apple are still very behind Google and Amazon in terms of complex queries and holistic integration, and apparently Apple execs didn't give the Siri founders enough freedom to do cool stuff. I'm not surprised they would leave. Talent retention is so important in tech and Apple screwed themselves on this.
 
I don't hate Siri, but I'm new to iOS (2.5 weeks) so give me time, LOL. No, actually I do have a "dammit Siri" story. A little background. You know how movies tend to have the same logos (Paramount, Universal, etc.)? Well, same with anime. And seeing an anime have the Universal logo is about as crazy as, well, switching from Android to iOS. It's a little weird. So we're two episodes behind, and the Universal logo came up on the second of the two, and I just spout out, "This s—t again?" And Siri comes on, and says, "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that." The text it interpreted was, "Hey s—t again." I do have "Hey Siri everywhere" turned on. My wife and I had a good laugh. The new iPhone called me out for cussing. And my wife's looking at me like, "Yeah, never switching from Motorola." So it's kind of a shame there's no "I'm an adult" setting in iOS, but I knew going in that Apple was like the Disney or Nintendo of phones. I came from Android — "Walled garden" is definitely in my lexicon. I knew what I was getting going in.

So, Google Now is probably better than Siri? Or it is? I've heard it go both ways. Anyway, we can get Google Now on iOS. You can only get cheap Siri knockoffs on Android, and they really aren't good. I read all the complaints about Siri, and it makes sense that a company like Apple wouldn't give an AI project like Siri its best chance. And I'm not really sure if the Apple/Steve Jobs mentality in Cupertino wants that. The best chance for an AI to thrive is for it to be open to all. It's got to be on the web, and it's got to work on your PC or Mac, your Android, your iPhone, your Windows Phone, whatever tablet, whatever watch. It's got to dial into all those things, and reach everyone, and mix in with everyone's information.

So you ask about... I really don't keep up with movies... let's say the new Independence Day movie coming out next month. So Apple wants to keep that inquiry between you, Cupertino, and maybe IMDb or a similar service. What we need, if we want truly great AI, is something that taps into what everyone is saying. And unlike Microsoft's failed AI bot, it's got to filter out the trolls. It's got to have a right good BS filter like the wisest old Internet veterans. And going back to platforms, it's absolutely got to think like I (and others) do. You got an iPhone? Great! You got an Android phone? That's great too. Play to the strengths of whatever device. And interact.

Like if you change devices, it should be aware of that. Like, here's an example. Say you had an iPhone 5s, and your next phone is a Samsung Galaxy S7. So it comes up, "Oh hey, welcome back old pal. I see you went from the iPhone 5s to the Galaxy S7. Lots more room on this screen! Why'd you choose the S7, anyway?" And you tell it, "Well, I love a good camera, and Samsung has the best one right now." And it says, "Okay, that makes sense! It could tell you about the 12MP sensor in the new iPhones, but since you already bought a new phone, that's kind of pointless, but something a company with a vested interest like Apple would want to push. But what if, instead, the thing came up and reminded you, "Hey, you're awake and it's time for the sunset, maybe you want to take advantage of that camera?" But at the same time, we don't want Clippy.

And I know that all sounds like Skynet. Or HER. Or Ex Machina. And all of those are Bad Things. But until AI gets to that point, it's just a neat gimmick. I like when someone asks me about the weather, and I just say, "Hey Siri, is it going to rain?" And it just works for that. Or I might ask it what zero divided by zero is. That's always good for a laugh if somebody hasn't heard it before. (Though disappointing it's saying you have no friends and not using the GLaDOS voice. Huge missed opportunity there.)
 
I can't help but notice the name looks like someone shrugging their shoulders... \/|\/

If it's anything like Siri, pretty much the response to most questions then! ;)

viv-800x533.jpg
 
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Come on guys, Tim will make Siri better. Siri will come with Band options and maybe if we are lucky, and if Apple can spare it's best people.. Siri will come in ROSE GOLD!!

I think most people are aware that Siri has fallen quite behind compared to other voice systems... It's just another thing Tim will defend until he is fired.

And for all you Tim defenders, yes Apple is pulling in lots of cash, but it's all at the expense of long term gain.
 
To this day I don't understand why apple did not invest in and develop Siri further. From the assistants offered by the competition, it's fallen far behind.
 
Come on guys! You can't possibly believe in the Viv fraud. would you? There still is a hell of a distance to real AI. Viv will fail in many ways and will prove to be just as stupid. Real AI hopefully will arrive in a hundred years.
 
Kal-037 said:
I commend you on that clever comment, yes Kelix is infact more accurate but refuses to leave the fortress, so i'm stuck with Siri. ;)


Kallum.
[doublepost=1462412137][/doublepost]
Is it unreasonable or stupid to ask siri where to bury a body? ;) She used to have a good answer for when that particluar question was asked, now she says, "let me check on that" then opens up safari about info or the definition of a bog. lol ;)
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ENH! Wrong answer. I just asked her that same question and Siri replied "What, again?". That's pretty funny.
 
Problem seems to be here with what folks on this forum want.
If you have a secretly in RL that will help you plan your day, keep track of important things, remind you of things, tell you about new things you need to deal with, etc etc etc.
They you can't keep your data locked down and ultra secret.
You need to start scanning user data.
Like a secretly would have access to RL information.
If you tell your RL secretary nothing she can't do anything.
 
Piggie said:
Problem seems to be here with what folks on this forum want.
If you have a secretly in RL that will help you plan your day, keep track of important things, remind you of things, tell you about new things you need to deal with, etc etc etc.
They you can't keep your data locked down and ultra secret.
You need to start scanning user data.
Like a secretly would have access to RL information.
If you tell your RL secretary nothing she can't do anything.
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The issue is not around the intelligent assistant having access to the data, it's about the company having access to the data. If the AI can access data that's only stored on the device, that's not a problem. Or, if all of your personal data is stored in an encrypted format in the cloud and then unencrypted locally, that's not a problem either. If the rumors of Apple encrypting all iCloud data is true, perhaps we will see Siri being able to collate more of your data.

But let's be real – Siri and Proactive already have access to a ton of your daily information that's stored locally, and yet they both totally fail at taking advantage of it.
 
I use voice lot for dictation these days, my thumbs are just too damn big for the keyboard. The recognition is nearly always spot on, when it misses there is usually some ambiguity involved. I never can use Siri, the main downfall is that it is too quick to finish listening. When it does listen to a whole sentence it invariably disappears into its own world and does nothing useful.
 
ForkHandles said:
I use voice lot for dictation these days, my thumbs are just too damn big for the keyboard. The recognition is nearly always spot on, when it misses there is usually some ambiguity involved. I never can use Siri, the main downfall is that it is too quick to finish listening. When it does listen to a whole sentence it invariably disappears into its own world and does nothing useful.
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http://www.macworld.com/article/2048196/beyond-siri-dictation-tricks-for-the-iphone-and-ipad.html
 
Minor correction:
Siri is not "built into all of Apple's iOS devices". It's built into the software, starting with iOS 5, which began with iPhone 4S. It joined the 3rd generation iPad with iOS update 5.1.1, which included dictation. Siri didn't include full support until iOS 6 was released alongside iPhone 5 (September 21, 2012) and the 4th generation iPad and the iPad Mini (November 2, 2012). Siri is also integrated into watchOS and tvOS.

Irrelevant, but let's not forget when Siri was just another app in the AppStore.

MacRumors said:



Dag Kittlaus and Adam Cheyer, co-founders of Siri, the virtual assistant now built into all of Apple's iOS devices, are set to demonstrate their newest artificial intelligence project on Monday, reports The Washington Post. Viv, the name of the AI bot, is more advanced than Siri and is able to carry out complex tasks by mimicking the "spontaneity and knowledge base" of a human assistant.

Viv can, for example, set up a dinner reservation and purchase movie tickets all based on one query, parsing ticket prices to find deals and offering suggestions if a movie is sold out or a restaurant has no seating available. Completing the same task with Siri would require multiple commands and human interaction. In an example given by The Washington Post, the Viv team uses it to order pizzas from a nearby restaurant, with Viv parsing numerous voice-based topping and side dish orders without ever needing to open an app.

viv-800x533.jpg

Image via The Washington Post​
Much of Viv's functionality is enabled through integration with third-party apps like Uber, Florist One, SeatGuru, ZocDoc, and Grubhub, similar to Amazon's Alexa. The team behind Viv is in talks to bring on more partners and plans bring the Viv technology to a variety of Internet-connected devices like cars and TVs.
The goal with Viv, according to Kittlaus, is to offer a way for humans to interact naturally with services through complex human-to-human style conversations, a project Kittlaus and Cheyer have been pursuing since before the development of Siri.

Siri was built around the same premise, but underwent changes under Apple's leadership. "Steve [Jobs] had some ideas about the first version, and it wasn't necessarily aligned with all the things that we were doing," Kittlaus told The Washington Post.

Google and Facebook have already made offers to purchase Viv, but it is not clear if Kittlaus and Cheyer have plans to sell the technology. The Viv Labs team wants to see the technology built into a wide range of devices, and Kittlaus says the company will "pick the path that gets us there."

Article Link: Siri Creators Debuting New AI Assistant 'Viv' Next Week
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Does anyone else avoid voice assistance not because they're not useful, but because they just feel extremely odd talking to their phone? I just can't bring myself to say something to an inanimate object in the presence of other people, it makes me feel stupid. If I'm alone, then it's great, but I don't want someone overhearing me either.

Maybe this is because where I'm from, they don't speak English, and Siri only works in English (the point is it doesn't work in the native language here) so it just feels wrong. I can speak English to it but to people it seems out of place or like I'm showing off "hey I speak English to my futuristic phone, you guys wouldn't understand". Also on a packed bus, do you just pull out your phone and say something to it? I can't bring myself to do that. Especially not when you will probably have to repeat yourself and rephrase what you just said. Or the potential humiliation of Siri misunderstanding what I say out loud in front of everyone.

Also, here, Siri comes deactivated by default since it doesn't support the native language, so voice assistants are not ubiquitous, so maybe that's also why it feels odd. In the US, is it more normal?
 
Yeah, it seems like Apple really have stopped developing Siri a long time ago, especially in non english Siri versions, atleast the english version of Siri can directly answers questions like "How far away is the moon?" and alike, in the Swedish version though Siri basically just make a Google search for every single question...Apple could atleast have made a mixed mode that would make it possible to ask english questions even though you have choosen another language.
 
longofest said:
Hey guys... We got Apple to buy us once. Now that Apple isn't spending any money on Siri, let's split off and invent another AI, make it a bit smarter, and then sell it back to Apple again and make a crapton more money!
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"Google and Facebook have already made offers to purchase Viv, but it is not clear if Kittlaus and Cheyer have plans to sell the technology."

I sure hope Apple have the preferential option to purche this tech.
 
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