Siri Still Struggles to Answer Very Basic Questions

[m4mario]

Like they moved from MobileMe to iCloud, Apple should move from Siri to something else, joking along the way how bad Siri was.
That's the only way forward. It would be worth $100 billion for Apple to get this right.

 

[TechnoTiger3000]

Okay Siri could be way better - but the suggestion of the article??

"Maybe before Apple re-writes Siri to fix it, they should fix Siri"

Isn't really the best suggestion.

Exactly. The article is boomer peek problem solving.

 

[darthbane2k]

Mods will probably remove this comment, reprimand or ban me but I truly believe Cook needs to go now. Siri has always been bad but has got notably worse in recent years. There needs to be some accountability. Jobs would not let this slide.

 

[Don0]

Started to use Le Chat and I like it. Apple could make Siri removable, at least for EU users - and let the user to choose which AI assistant she/he would use.
Dear Apple, this solution is much, much cheaper, actually costs nothing. Check your cash pumped into Siri.

 

[contacos]

They bought Siri back in the day, the initial team left Apple shorty after and I feel like they somehow just haven't managed to find any skilled people in that area since or may not even understand the code they purchased. Probably too many iterations of changes and no one even understands what the previous guys did and they are just poking around, trying to solve it

 

[Fll01]

What irritates me, why let them slip through with this for 14 years?

 

[Don0]

They bought Siri back in the day, the initial team left Apple shorty after and I feel like they somehow just haven't managed to find any skilled people in that area since or may not even understand the code they purchased. Probably too many iterations of changes and no one even understands what the previous guys did and they are just poking around, trying to solve it

I think the Siri situation is the same as with Apple Translate. I use DeepL which is incomparable better to Apple original.

 

[platinumaqua]

Siri back in 2011 was pretty fine (though I still disabled it after a month as I think talking to a phone is less efficient than just physically do what I need it to do). Has it gotten dumber over the years?

 

[cocoua]

Also dictation works much better on Google Apps when using Google's mic feature. Even in ChatGPT app, using iOS own dictation, ChatGPT understand better than Siri

 

[Stiss]

Siri is terrible.
There’s not much more to say on the subject

 

[Ashcanwin]

If you think Siri is dumb just ask Alexa… anything! You’ll quickly see that it isn’t an apple only issue. I wanted to take a nap so I asked Alexa to set an alarm for 6 PM and she asked me is that 6 PM tomorrow? No you stupid piece of crap, 6 PM today! Also when I ask to clear my notifications she sometimes says “I didn’t get that” or “Hum, I’m not sure.”

 

[fonzy91]

Well, this year’s WWDC is shaping up to be real interesting 😅 I’m curious to see how they approach any Siri/Apple Intelligence subject.

 

[ddhhddhh2]

Siri back in 2011 was pretty fine (though I still disabled it after a month as I think talking to a phone is less efficient than just physically do what I need it to do). Has it gotten dumber over the years?

Yes, Siri wasn’t as bad in the past. It was never great, but at least it wasn’t as dumb as it is now. I’m not sure exactly when it started, but at some point, it noticeably became more stupid. Sometimes, it can’t even handle simple tasks like setting a basic countdown timer. I just say, “Hey Siri, set a timer for two minutes,” and somehow, it finds multiple ways to misinterpret “timer” and “two minutes.” So, when it comes to Siri, I think the best approach is just not to use it—unless you want to end up getting mad at an inanimate "The Thing."

 

[ddhhddhh2]

My friend uses Siri only for timers while cooking hands free. The kicker is, I proofed on more occasion that cleaning and drying my hands and setting up the timer is faster than arguing with Siri listing to their commands.

This is why I completely disabled Siri on my 13 mini.

Yeah, this has been my absolute minimum use case for Siri in recent years. I used to occasionally have it set alarms, but even that would sometimes get messed up. In the end, the only thing left was using it for kitchen timers. But even that… it still does terribly. It has just one simple job left, and it still can’t get it right. What an absurdly overpriced piece of junk!

 

[Javert24601]

What irritates me the most,

WHY has it not be criticized every day by every apple fan news site, until they achieve something?

Why let them slip through with this for 14 years?

Siri has been constantly criticized, but Apple has somehow been blind to or allow the entire situation to fester. It is absolutely frustrating. They started ahead of the pack and has now fallen to behind the pack.

 

[Bungaree.Chubbins]

My favourite part of all of this is the volume of negative responses to anyone saying they used Siri successfully for a task. 😆

People are angry!

 

[AppleFeller]

Not only iPhone 4s, Siri is basically the same as Voice Command from iPhone 3GS.

Siri literally worked better back in iOS 5/6 days. It’s absolutely regressed over time for an unknown variety of factors.

 

[b-dogg]

“How long will it take me to get to work today Siri” - Siri googles “work”

Ask the same question ok Android and it pulls up directions to your work.

Basic basic stuff. Never ever use Siri for anything bar setting a timer or triggering scenes on HomeKit. It’s unusable and embarrassing. Apple intelligence will be DOA if not major behind the scenes changes. I’m not holding my breath.

 

[TechRunner]

I laughed when I saw the headline. Not exactly breaking news.

 

[LeMo]

"Hey Siri, how do you spell Stwawbewwy?"

 

[TwoBytes]

Even Google AI says basically Siri can't answer, and you have to DIY it yourself!

The day I don't hear: "I found some web results, I can show them if you ask again from your iPhone" is the day Siri is improved.

 

[Javert24601]

Pizza solves every heartache.

Except if it is 16,000 km away.....

 

[fizzyfizz]

I think they should move away from Siri branding, it’s already too stained and even if it’s fixed eventually most people won’t even give it a try.

If they fix they should rebrand it to Apple Assistant or something like that.

Yes! This exactly.

 

[AnTaR3s]

The other day I asked Siri about the weather during the coming night. She told me it's going to be sunny...not kidding, sadly...!

 

[Javert24601]

I don't get it.

How is it that a $3T company that makes the most wholesome user friendly software is unable to match AI features made by startups like Mistral AI founded in 2023?

hard to believe when Apple first released siri in 2011 it felt like something from the Jetsons and 13 years later everyone surpassed it. Thank god they didn't create the self driving car!

As I posted in another thread, it is almost like Apple can only focus on one or two projects at a time. It is absolutely insane that a company with this many employees and this much money in the bank cannot maintain development of all of its products simultaneously.

Another user explained to me it is because Apple is a design company is essentially controlled by its small core design team. This is clearly an utter fail by Tim Cook for either 1) not enlarging the design team or 2) not changing the development process. Being "guided" by a small design team works if a company has 10-15 products, but Apple probably has 100 different products (I don't know the exact number), so it should have evolved. Insane!