Tim Cook: Apple will show off 'cool ideas' for Siri in coming months
Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook hinted at the future of Siri in an interview on Tuesday, stating the company has "a lot going on" in its development that users will see over the coming months.
Speaking about Siri during the D10 conference on Tuesday, Cook said Siri is one of the most popular features of the iPhone 4S. But he hinted that Apple is nowhere near done with its development, stating the company has "some cool ideas about what Siri can do."
"I think Siri has proven that voice is something people want to do," he said in an interview at the D10 conference on Tuesday, where AppleInsider is in attendance. He added that customers will "be pleased with where Siri is going," and that new features will be seen in the "coming months."
Cook also explained that the key feature of Siri is not the voice recognition technology of it, but instead the understanding of natural human language. He said that the artificial intelligence of Siri is "something people have dreamed about for years."
The Apple CEO also said that Siri could be improved if it were made broader, and that the company sees "unbelievable potential" in expanding the technology. Cook revealed that Apple is "doubling down" on Siri development.
But he said he thinks what makes Siri truly resonate with users is the fact that the iPhone 4S personal assistant has "a personality."
Visit AppleInsider's D10 archive for more of Cook's comments and ongoing coverage of the conference.
Speaking about Siri during the D10 conference on Tuesday, Cook said Siri is one of the most popular features of the iPhone 4S. But he hinted that Apple is nowhere near done with its development, stating the company has "some cool ideas about what Siri can do."
"I think Siri has proven that voice is something people want to do," he said in an interview at the D10 conference on Tuesday, where AppleInsider is in attendance. He added that customers will "be pleased with where Siri is going," and that new features will be seen in the "coming months."
Cook also explained that the key feature of Siri is not the voice recognition technology of it, but instead the understanding of natural human language. He said that the artificial intelligence of Siri is "something people have dreamed about for years."
The Apple CEO also said that Siri could be improved if it were made broader, and that the company sees "unbelievable potential" in expanding the technology. Cook revealed that Apple is "doubling down" on Siri development.
But he said he thinks what makes Siri truly resonate with users is the fact that the iPhone 4S personal assistant has "a personality."
Visit AppleInsider's D10 archive for more of Cook's comments and ongoing coverage of the conference.
Comments
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolipsismX
Cook's remarks on Siri and how Apple has no intention to create no original content are the two most direct things in the interview about the future of Apple.
He was talking about YouTube-like services when he was talking about "original content".
Walt directly asked him about Apple producing their own original content like Netflix and MS, for the Xbox, are doing. That isn't about simply streaming videos from YouTube which the AppleTV already does or having a YouTube account which Apple already has.
Start by adding SIRI to iPad, please!
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolipsismX
Walt directly asked him about Apple producing their own original content like Netflix and MS, for the Xbox, are doing. That isn't about simply streaming videos from YouTube which the AppleTV already does or having a YouTube account which Apple already has.
That was my take on it as well. And I think that it is the right way to go. Apple should stick to being the distributor paid on the back end not the producer when it comes to music, movies and tv. If someone like one of these cancelled tv shows wants to keep going on their own dime and 'air' via online venues like iTunes, or create a show straight to online, I think they would be okay with that but I don't think they would or should front any of the production costs out of Apple funds. Same with being a book publisher in the sense of fronting money to authors for writing, or 'third party' app development funds.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolipsismX
They added the first part of Siri to the iPad, the voice dictation, but I doubt they will add the rest with iOS 6 if they didn't add it with the iPad (3). I also doubt they will add anything more than that to OS X Mountain Lion. I hope they add it latter on but for now it seems like an iPhone-only feature for the full Siri engine.
Maybe it will be on more Apple products once it's out of beta. I do find myself thinking about holding off on an iPad until Siri is there for sure.
I also want to have more Siri "personalities" to choose from. I'd love a Barbara Eden personality and she wouldn't even have to call me "master."
I have to think they've thought of it. I know I've wanted them to consider it for a long time but I can see an issue with the largest company in the world that has a knack of becoming the dominant force and scaring their partners simply because they so damn efficient and successful if Apple planned to release original content. I can see a lot of content owners not wanting to play ball with Apple even if cost them profit simply because they think it will cost them even more profit in the future.
Remember the original Apple TV concept? An unfinished product oddly announced and demoed by Apple without even having an established name? I think that was done to show the TV and film content holders that they had a secure and safe way to distribute their content. As we know that didn't work out for them as the Apple TV struggled with just the Disney umbrella as they very slowly gained traction with them. I think they were scared because of the control they saw shifting from the music industry they helped save. It was just too much for them to jump in without excessive consideration and diaper changing.
I
hopeassume you mean the young Barbara Eden.Hopefully this hints at Maps/Locations integration in international markets.
I'd really like to be able to request local restaurant reviews, directions etc.
Double down? Not good enough. TRIPLE DOWN.
The problems with Siri are fundamental AI problems. Tim is wrong to think it will gradually improve over time. It will stay much the same for many years, and then someone will make a breakthrough and it will suddenly be awesome.
Improvements in AI will definitely come over time but I think the biggest problem with Siri is its complete reliance on the network. Sure, you can't do search or natural language processing if there's no network but there are plenty of things that could be done locally on the phone a la Voice Control. Until then Siri will remain just a novelty. I'm hopeful that Apple will implement something like this:
http://jeff-with-a-g.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/siri-ously-apple-could-you-fix-this.html
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolipsismX
Walt directly asked him about Apple producing their own original content like Netflix and MS, for the Xbox, are doing. That isn't about simply streaming videos from YouTube which the AppleTV already does or having a YouTube account which Apple already has.
http://www.worldtvpc.com/blog/microsoft-hiring-nbc-staff-xbox-original-tv-content/
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/netflix-ted-sarandos-original-content-309275
If Netflix thinks he's going to be the next Paramount Studios they'd better close up shop now. Same goes for Microsoft.
I'd like local processing for all of Siri but that isn't possible right now for several reasons.
I'd like for the voice commands to be more intelligent locally so it knows which commands it can do locally and which commands it has to send to Siri's servers for first and second tier analysis but that's isn't feasible for several reasons if they want Siri to be great.
If you don't like Siri you can always turn it off and your pre-iPhone 4S voice commands will be back again. You''ll get the same limited scope commands but they will local and therefore not reliant on the network. It is, however, far from being a novelty.
If it can't understand what you mean — something we can't even get right on this forum when writing in English — it's certainly not going to be easy for a computer to convert speech from any number of languages to text in the right context and then comprehend that context for a specific person of any age, gender, culture or whatever other demographic that might fit into to make sure what they are thinking is what Siri interprets.
We've already seen Siri improve since its debut in October which is expected since these changes can be added to the server at any time they wish.
Siri: "Sorry, I can't set an alarm for more than one day ahead"
Me: "Set timer for one and a half minutes"
Siri:: "I can't set the timer for a specific time. Would you like an alarm instead?"
Me: "Add something to my calendar"
Siri: "What time is your appointment?"
Me: "Noon"
Siri: Instead of then asking me what I want to put on the calendar, Siri just puts the text "something" on my calendar.
The first one looks like a limitation in the complexity of the Siri's AI to set a more complex calendar entry. The second and third look like a limitation in the contextual understanding.
I'm not sure why people expect a digital beta service to have more comprehension than a human being but it's unrealistic. This is where this tech needs time to learn. Take your "something" comment as an example. You made an ambiguous comment where "something" was the subject but you want Siri to know that you don't want the word "something" added but for it ask you if you another question about that something is. Why not tell Siri what that something is when you made the request?
Can the service get more intelligent? Absolutely, but users need to be intelligent enough to know what that the limitations of all technology are.
I hope assume you mean the young Barbara Eden.
As a young lad, all of 10 years old, I used to watch I Dream of Jeannie and wonder why I liked hearing her call Major Tony Nelson by the name of "Master". It took me about another 5 years to really discover why.
She was hot, and seeing the naked midriff every week was the topper.
Sorry for the off-topic interjection, carry on....
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolipsismX
Take your "something" comment as an example. You made an ambiguous comment where "something" was the subject but you want Siri to know that you don't want the word "something" added but for it ask you if you another question about that something is.
And yet you can say "Play something by The Beatles," and it works.
It's seems like the system is just a collection of special cases, with no general understanding. That is one reason it has to be server-side, there have to be people in the loop to help it understand new things. If Tim intends to expand the domains it operates over (which it what it sounds like) it will be interesting to see how many domains it can do before it collapses under the weight of complexity.