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Walt Mossberg Calls Siri 'Too Limited and Unreliable' to Compete in 'Coming AI Wars'
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I have also pretty much given up on Siri. After reading this story, though, I tried to set a reminder on my Watch:
Then I tried on my phone:
It so frustrating when basic functionality like this doesn't work as expected between connected devices
I briefly thought about un-pairing and re-pairing to see if that would make a difference, but my Watch and iPhone are synced correctly, and I get all my notifications & messages to my Watch correctly, so I don't necessarily want to do that as something else will invariably break. And, TBH, I'm just not enthused enough about Siri anymore to try.
I remember when Siri was first introduced and how groundbreaking it seemed at the time. Shame on you, Apple for running this great tech into the ground.
- Me (to my Watch): Set a reminder to call Chris at 3 o clock
- Siri: I wasn't able to create your reminder. Sorry about that.
Then I tried on my phone:
- Me (to my iPhone): Set a reminder to call Chris at 3 o clock
- Siri "OK I'll remind you"
It so frustrating when basic functionality like this doesn't work as expected between connected devices
I briefly thought about un-pairing and re-pairing to see if that would make a difference, but my Watch and iPhone are synced correctly, and I get all my notifications & messages to my Watch correctly, so I don't necessarily want to do that as something else will invariably break. And, TBH, I'm just not enthused enough about Siri anymore to try.
I remember when Siri was first introduced and how groundbreaking it seemed at the time. Shame on you, Apple for running this great tech into the ground.
It's useless for non-Americans:
"What's the US dollar to GBP exchange rate?"
£0.82
"What's the GBP to US dollar exchange rate?"
"Here's what I found on the web."
WHY?! If it knows what "GBP" and "US dollar" are, and can give me the exchange rate from USD to GBP, why not the other way round?
"What's the US dollar to GBP exchange rate?"
£0.82
"What's the GBP to US dollar exchange rate?"
"Here's what I found on the web."
WHY?! If it knows what "GBP" and "US dollar" are, and can give me the exchange rate from USD to GBP, why not the other way round?
Another problem is that the servers are actually a bunch of iPad Pros at Timmy's insistence.
I think that with the high volume of iPhone sales, Apple has had no incentive to make a serious investment in improving Siri beyond where it is today. Remains to be seen, true, but the core functionality hasn't changed much since its debut forcing us to only speculate.
I've mostly stopped using Siri after they removed the audio feedback chime. Without the cue I either end up speaking too early (if the device hasn't loaded Siri yet) or too late (where it tells me it didn't hear anything).
The thing is she didn't even ask. She assumed what I really wanted was 3,500 miles away just because I said "Road" instead of "Drive"... a common human error.
The entire selling point of the voice assistants is that they are supposedly "intelligent" to a certain degree. That they can understand and take context into account. When Apple introduced Siri years ago they make a BIG DEAL about her ability to understand context and follow the thread of a conversation. And a smartphone can provide a lot of context. My phone KNOWS where I'm physically located. It should take that into account if I present it with a location-based query that's lacking context (i.e. I didn't specify city or country).
Yes maybe I really DID mean "Rocky Lake Road" instead of "Rocky Lake Drive". Maybe I really am embarking on a 3 day coast-to-coast road trip. But if she does a search and finds three matches, 2 perfect matches 2500 KM and 5000 KM away and one very close match that's 1 KM away... chances are I'm looking for the close match. Not the perfect match. And the least she could do is ask. Instead she immediately, without question, said "Ok David, getting directions to 220 Rocky Lake Road, Washington".
The point is, context is key. My current location is the most basic and fundamental context for a location-based query and she should be "smart" enough to consider that and fuzzy match the street suffix if I've given incomplete information (i.e. no state, province or country). Other context she could be aware of and possible consider: Am I currently moving? Am I walking or driving? What is my current direction of travel? What is my average distance travelled by car? I suspect part of the problem might be Apple's dedication to privacy. Much of this context may be unavailable to Siri as a result. But the bottom line is a horrific user experience for anything other than "Set a timer for 10 minutes"
I think it takes no more compute than face recognition, that Apple has happen entirely on the phone.
I also think it is amazing that we had Dragon Naturally speaking back in the 90's that worked with no internet connection. Here we are with phones more powerful than the computers were of that day, and we are being told that they can't process speech as well.
This also applies to Apple Maps. I've complained to the Maps team many times about this. Context people! Context! Why is that so damn difficult? And people have the gall to say that Maps "works just fine". No it doesn't.
"Doctor Jane Smith" leads me to the other side of the country.
"Doctor Jane Smith DPM" leads me to the correct query 10 miles away.
I think you're right. The only way to get Apple to improve Siri is for prominent tech writers to begin bashing Siri to hell and back. Mossberg is a start. Gruber needs to finally admit that Siri is junk.
Why I use it all the time in my house, siri turn on living room, set the living room to orange, set the living room 25%. Set a timer for 50 mins, etc.
This. Google Search / Now / Maps always gives me the closest match first. Apple Maps often gives me a store halfway across the country.
That's the beauty of Google services working across devices and search / view areas. If I do a search even on another computer (but only if signed into Google as me), then a Google request on all other devices knows that global history.
To me, one necessity for a useful intelligent assistant, is it knowing more than just what it can figure out from the use of a single device in my life.
I'd almost like it to know much more than it does now. For example, I should be able to say, "Hey, buy another can of paint like the one from yesterday", and it looks up my purchases on Amazon, Sears card, etc... to figure out what I meant.
People worry about all this info being integrated, but believe me, it's already being done by non-Google/non-Apple information aggregators who sell such info to advertisers. So the only difference is, I also get to benefit from it instead of just them.
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I asked her to find the nearest office store South of me and of course she kept showing on north. No intelligence at all.
I think it is actually that the microphone is worse on the iPhone than it was on the boom mic on your headset that you would have used to use Dragon Naturally in the 90's. I suspect one of the upgrades in the next MacBook Pro is going to be a bunch of microphones. At least it should be one of the upgrades. Because a MacBook Pro is a five plus year machine and Siri and other dictation tools are going to be big during those five years.
This!
Apple decided that Apple knows more than the people that created the SIRI technology. Generally this is the cancer that is eating away at Apple. Apple hit one product exactly right at exactly the right time; the iPhone. Previously, they only survived by giving people the best products possible, that were super reliable, and were easy to use. Apple better get back to understanding and performing or they will continue the downhill slide.
But they also need to understand that easy to use does not mean take away options, reduce clutter on the UI so all we see is whitespace, or take away functionality because only a small number of users use it. Apple used to make products for everyone; home users, professionals, office workers, etc. Now they just focus on the biggest and most popular demographic; teenagers. They will probably continue to make a lot of money, but they are becoming a footnote in the professional markets. As a disgruntled professional user, I no longer recommend Apple products to friends and family.
Want to know why Apple's financials are down, it is because professional still carry a lot of weight with buying decisions. Apple needs to understand that people do not buy Apple products because they are made by Apple, but because they are the best, most reliable, and easy to use. Get that wrong and no amount of PR is going to fix it.
It doesn't matter Siri can't answer any difficult questions as long as it doesn't understand even simple ones. If you're not in a hurry you can spend 5 minutes trying to make Siri understand you. If you need it faster, MUCH faster, just type it yourself. Before Siri it at least understood the simple "Call XX YY" commands. Now it gets even those wrong over half the time. Sorry, Siri, we had fun for a while but these days I rather turn you off completely. I don't have time for such a time consuming relationship.
We know that the ambiance is; not a clue! Because of one huge success they think they know everything, when in fact they got lucky from a lot of hard work. Now they think if it say Apple on the cover it will be universally gobbled up.
We don't need thinner, we don't need shinny, we don't need fewer ports, or the loss of the headphone jack.
In each product line Apple needs the best and highest performance products possible designed for a wide range of users, with the best reliability in the business.
We need 4 laptops; low cost, middle of the road for most business users (small and medium size), and a high end model for people that need portable workstations.
We need 4 iPhones; low cost small, small, medium, and large. With small medium and large all having the same specifications.
We need 3 tablets; low cost, small and large size. With small and large size having the same specifications.
We need 4 desktops; low cost, medium cost small, medium cost large, and high cost. The high cost one should have replaceable components, be serviceable, customizable, and have multiple storage devices.
I think they felt it was good enough, only to be upstaged by Google, and MS. Now with the home assistants becoming a thing, Siri needs to be more robust and Apple is seemingly rushing to get it more up to spec
I don't understand why Google just doesn't do a series of "I'm a iPhone vs. I'm a Pixel" commercials with just asking SIRI questions that she can't answer. Google needs to go head to head (in a funny way). Time to make SIRI look like the oldsmobile of AI.
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Yes and they need to show them some consistent attention. Apple isn't competing against Vista and XP anymore.
Problem is that Apple doesn't really have a computer person at or near the top that uses and cares about computers as a personal product. That's why some many models languish.
And unfortunately this extends to AI and why Apple doesn't realize that AI is the next Interface for interacting with our devices. Apple is busy trying to lock their existing user's into there ecosystem instead of coming out with the next thing to draw other users in through better services.
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Yes and they need to show them some consistent attention. Apple isn't competing against Vista and XP anymore.
Problem is that Apple doesn't really have a computer person at or near the top that uses and cares about computers as a personal product. That's why some many models languish.
And unfortunately this extends to AI and why Apple doesn't realize that AI is the next Interface for interacting with our devices. Apple is busy trying to lock their existing user's into there ecosystem instead of coming out with the next thing to draw other users in through better services.
I think most that have posted are missing the BIG picture and the reason why Siri is stuck in 2012 mode.
In order for AI to really be useful, user data must be collected. Yes bad, bad Google must cull your data to make Google Assistant work they way we want it in the future.
Apple must figure out a way around that obstacle.
Phrases like, "Ok Google, remember my bike lock combination 32, 27 58." Is fantastic. I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to tell my phone things to remember for me in. Senior Moments!
In order for AI to really be useful, user data must be collected. Yes bad, bad Google must cull your data to make Google Assistant work they way we want it in the future.
Apple must figure out a way around that obstacle.
Phrases like, "Ok Google, remember my bike lock combination 32, 27 58." Is fantastic. I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to tell my phone things to remember for me in. Senior Moments!
Fair enough... but my comment still stands. More than any other company (arguably) they had time and resources. The fact that it's not more advanced is quite sad. I would even argue that before Apple bought Siri it was more capable. It just wasn't integrated into the OS so had some limitations.
