That's not a context issue though. That's due to Google's search engine being programmed to bring up certain types of information that way, which allows Google Now to "read" the names to you. However, it's not going to work for any query you give it. There are plenty of world famous people that Google Now would simply give you a web entry for "how many children do they have".
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Walt Mossberg Calls Siri 'Too Limited and Unreliable' to Compete in 'Coming AI Wars'
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That's not a context issue though. That's due to Google's search engine being programmed to bring up certain types of information that way, which allows Google Now to "read" the names to you. However, it's not going to work for any query you give it. There are plenty of world famous people that Google Now would simply give you a web entry for "how many children do they have".
Siri will actually answer that correctly. I asked Siri "what is 2 times 2" and it translated it to "what is 2 x 2". It answered 4.
Siri has FAILED. That failure lays at the feet Tim Cook and Apple Incorporated in Cupertino California.
Mossburg's weak critique of the obvious just goes to show how much he is in Apple's pocket. They almost come off as thinly veiled previews to the positive review he will write after a surprise announcement where the issue is corrected. We're not buying your objectivity Walt. You may not be on the payroll but definitely on the teat.
I have eliminated all those by using '3 minutes' first which works without trouble not only that but if I say 'timer, 4 minutes' that also works. It cannot be accent because 'for' and 'four' are pronounced identically. I'm not trying to have a go or complain about Siri, I'm just supporting the Mossberg's contention that Siri is pretty poor at some extremely basic stuff. Siri seems unable to work out that something that sounds like '4' in the context of setting the timer and with very few words, is in fact 'four' and not 'for'. I've tried it at various speeds, pauses, clarity it just refuses. Not to mention that Siri has not problem with my accent whatsoever even when I mumble or speak fast, no this is a simple error of the type Mossberg says.
Maybe someone should tell Apple the I in AI stands for Intelligence, not Imbecile.
I like what Amazon does with "Apps" for your Alexa to give it additional AI capabilities. Seems like something Apple will do in a few years.
While Steve may have had more control of them than Apple does now, it may be the Mossberg and the like didn't see the need to call Apple out. Whether people like it or not, Apple has lost either A) some quality control or B) the willingness to bake products longer.
Siri is a bit disappointing, and certainly the lesser of the competition.
Apple do have the issue of privacy, and not harvesting your usage as a bit of a blocker to progress - which may limit its ultimate usefulness.
To be honest, I don't mind Google scanning my emails and surfacing information to me that it thinks is useful in cards, though I've never found its heuristics that useful... it might scan and consolidate information about a trip I'm about to go on, or package I have coming - but more often than not, this info gets 'pushed' when it's important anyway.
My big problem with Siri is not knowing what it can and can't do - I was listening (via wireless headphones) to an Apple playlist the other day and I 'experimented' by asking Siri what song was playing; I was actually surprised to get a response as I didn't know it could do that.
I also use Siri to control my philips Hue bulbs/scenes at home and find that very useful. Setting timers, adding reminders, asking what the weather is going to be like... all predictable and one-shot things it seems ok with. And the accuracy of transcribing voice input to machine-useable text has improved dramatically.
I want it to become genuine AI though - not a simple input-output decision tree; i.e it needs true machine learning. If I keep turning on a Hue scene around 8pm every night, I want Siri to pro-actively ask me if I want it on next time before I have to ask... or even just do it and let me know it's done and ask if it did the right thing.
Obviously Siri is always 'listening' for 'hey Siri', so for me I wouldn't mind the leap to allow it to just passively listen all the time and pop up with stuff like "I heard someone ask you to remember to bring wine to the BBQ on Sunday - shall I remind you?" - but I guess that's an uncomfortable leap for many.
I think we need proper context with Siri too like many have said here...
Can I ask it 'When was the last time I facetimed with my Mum?" - I suspect it can't do that, it would mean experimenting... and Siri is not the kind of tech you can openly experiment with, as it's awkward enough to use in public as it is.
And here's another issue - society, whilst 'accepting' of people using 'voice activated assistants' on their devices in the wild, the public at large still hasn't readily embraced it. I still feel like a ****er saying 'Hey Siri' with any other human in ear-shot. And I feel even worse when it doesn't do what I expect.
Apple do have the issue of privacy, and not harvesting your usage as a bit of a blocker to progress - which may limit its ultimate usefulness.
To be honest, I don't mind Google scanning my emails and surfacing information to me that it thinks is useful in cards, though I've never found its heuristics that useful... it might scan and consolidate information about a trip I'm about to go on, or package I have coming - but more often than not, this info gets 'pushed' when it's important anyway.
My big problem with Siri is not knowing what it can and can't do - I was listening (via wireless headphones) to an Apple playlist the other day and I 'experimented' by asking Siri what song was playing; I was actually surprised to get a response as I didn't know it could do that.
I also use Siri to control my philips Hue bulbs/scenes at home and find that very useful. Setting timers, adding reminders, asking what the weather is going to be like... all predictable and one-shot things it seems ok with. And the accuracy of transcribing voice input to machine-useable text has improved dramatically.
I want it to become genuine AI though - not a simple input-output decision tree; i.e it needs true machine learning. If I keep turning on a Hue scene around 8pm every night, I want Siri to pro-actively ask me if I want it on next time before I have to ask... or even just do it and let me know it's done and ask if it did the right thing.
Obviously Siri is always 'listening' for 'hey Siri', so for me I wouldn't mind the leap to allow it to just passively listen all the time and pop up with stuff like "I heard someone ask you to remember to bring wine to the BBQ on Sunday - shall I remind you?" - but I guess that's an uncomfortable leap for many.
I think we need proper context with Siri too like many have said here...
'Who's the brown-haired guy in this show?' [via NetFlix on AppleTV]
"It's [whoever]"
"Do you mean [whoever]?"
"Yeah... what else has he been in?"
As I say, I don't know what Siri can/can't do... maybe it can already do that or variations thereof - but I don't think so as fundamentally I don't think it 'saves' your previous interactions."It's [whoever]"
<2 hours later>
"That guy I asked you about earlier - who was that again?" [via 'Hey Siri on iPhone]"Do you mean [whoever]?"
"Yeah... what else has he been in?"
Can I ask it 'When was the last time I facetimed with my Mum?" - I suspect it can't do that, it would mean experimenting... and Siri is not the kind of tech you can openly experiment with, as it's awkward enough to use in public as it is.
And here's another issue - society, whilst 'accepting' of people using 'voice activated assistants' on their devices in the wild, the public at large still hasn't readily embraced it. I still feel like a ****er saying 'Hey Siri' with any other human in ear-shot. And I feel even worse when it doesn't do what I expect.
All I know is that it takes forever for new Siri searches to become available in the UK. It's frustrating, for I pay no less for an iPhone that anybody else, and Apple's US-centric myopia can be annoying in the extreme (like failing to fixed known errors in Maps until literally years had gone by).
they took WAY too long to open Siri to developers. they got left in the rear view mirror....
How about "Hey Siri, please close XXXXX !"
"I am unable to do that right now !"
Siri is in the dark ages !
"I am unable to do that right now !"
Siri is in the dark ages !
The opening was also done in such a limited fashion that it solved none of my "wish I could (try to) use Siri for this" needs.
Whenever they have poor numbers to talk about, companies resort to percentages. That's because, without a base quantity to compare to, percentages are almost meaningless.
I.e. did they cut the error rate from 90% to 45%? Or from 50% to 25%? Both are still pretty bad.
It obviously wasn't from 10% to 5% or they'd probably have bragged about numbers that low.
Precisely why I'm in no hurry to upgrade to Sierra...."let me look that up for you".
I use it for a part time pizza delivery gig I work a couple nights a week...UGH! Siri will give me routes OVERSEAS sometimes when I even give the city/state(?!?) in the "route me..." statement...I wished I knew how to log the response/routes to submit the issues to Apple/Tim Cook/ANYONE that will listen. I can't believe that the 'AI' would not check every possibility for a street WITHIN the city stated BEFORE going outside of that area. I'm talking like as simple as 'Main street' or '4th Street NW' (Add city/state--which I found out early on after much frustration thinking it would check in my CURRENT SURROUNDINGS without adding the city/state info). YES, I agree with Walt and others that posted here--simple things like alarms, texts, and appointments: no problem. Asking questions that take a 5th grade intelligence level: good luck!
Ok...rant over...for now
I don't think that is a Siri thing. Maybe. One issue I always have when I try out Apple Maps (I use Google Maps daily) is that a simple search will sometimes be executed at a regional level instead of a local level I haven't had a global level ... yet. Still, the end result; can't trust it.
I've used this example several times, but a good comparison of the capability difference between Siri and Google Now is to ask about both to show you the airline flights between two cities. Say NY and Chicago for example. The difference in the results is astounding.
Hmm I think Apple should start taking cues from the START project over at CSAIL at MIT. Maybe see if they can integrate an API and backend it to Siri. http://start.csail.mit.edu/index.php
Apple should have bought Nuance *years* ago... many of us were calling for it... they would have gotten all the advances on voice then and picked up the valuable medical stuff which would have come into use with the watchh. smh.