They have'nt got all variants of the query sorted yet
"What is a better Smartphone?" still gives the Nokia Lumia 900
And we all know Apple's preferred reply should be "Wait until October and see"
I tried this query after A.I. first posted this story.
Siri repeatedly tried to call a local landscaping company that I have never heard of or called before. Siri has a strange sense of humor.
The whole response was part of a BAD review calculation on WolframAlpha.
If you looked at the search result, the Lumia had only 5 reviews. 5 reviews if all positive could show an artificially high review due to the small sample size.
Reviews with a higher number of unique reviewers should be ranked higher than those with only a hand full of reviews like this Lumia.
Yes, it significantly diminishes the credibility of Siri.
If Apple can tailor the results that Siri provides to put a self-promoting positive marketing spin on the answers, the results Siri provides have lost their credibility.
Apple made a significant error with this change.
If someone is stupid enough to genuinely ask their phone which phone they should buy, it probably doesn't matter what results they get.
This clearly shows the difference between relying on AI for any reasonable answer, and relying on (some) human brains.
Most folks glancing at that list would conclude that it was unreliable. AI is programmed to retreive the list from the data store.
Unless and until AI as used by SIRI is good enough, it is not good enough. At this point, qualifiers with nebulous definitions like "best" and "ever" are WAY too much for the feeble AI we have available now.
Our current AI is very useful for lots of stuff. But queries like "best" are too fuzzy as of now.
And what criteria should this magical AI use to determine the "best" of anything? Yours? Mine? Tim Cooks? The idea that AI can ever provide a useful answer to that query is laughable.
Yes, it significantly diminishes the credibility of Siri.
If Apple can tailor the results that Siri provides to put a self-promoting positive marketing spin on the answers, the results Siri provides have lost their credibility.
Apple made a significant error with this change.
I'm of two minds about this -- Siri is NOT behaving like Google in that it isn't just responding per the search -- on the other hand, the "Nokia response" is totally a manipulation -- so you've merely replaced a less obvious marketing manipulation replaced by an obvious quip by Apple.
I think it's a bit of light hearted fun -- and it IS OF COURSE, marketing and manipulating an answer. But to say that "Nokia has the best smart phone" is complete nonsense.
This clearly shows the difference between relying on AI for any reasonable answer, and relying on (some) human brains.
Most folks glancing at that list would conclude that it was unreliable. AI is programmed to retreive the list from the data store.
Unless and until AI as used by SIRI is good enough, it is not good enough. At this point, qualifiers with nebulous definitions like "best" and "ever" are WAY too much for the feeble AI we have available now.
Our current AI is very useful for lots of stuff. But queries like "best" are too fuzzy as of now.
And what criteria should this magical AI use to determine the "best" of anything? Yours? Mine? Tim Cooks? The idea that AI can ever provide a useful answer to that query is laughable.
I'm not as conversant on SOTA AI as I would need to be in order to give an answer that I am confident with.
So I'll give a glib answer, and say that the "best" is subject to the idiosycratic feelings of the person who asks the question. We've seen personal history color the ad results that are returned; maybe someday they will determine answers to subjective questions with subjective answers. Maybe someday we will need to be careful in crafting our inquiries in order to get "objective" results.
Something like "which smartphone is rated highest by most review websites?" as opposed to the query which is the subject of this article.
But I don't know enough about AI to really know anything.
As of Monday, asking Siri for the "best smartphone ever" now returns the same humorous results, including, "You're kidding, right?"
Siri remains a "beta" service, and it is advertised as such on Apple's official website. The voice-driven personal assistant software is currently only available on the iPhone 4S.
You shouldn't read too much into the results from a beta service
When I asked my non-iPhone "Which is the best smartphone ever?", I got a list of links to various websites reposting the story about the original reply from Siri. Darn, I really wanted to know... oh well...
And humans cope better with 'best' and 'ever'? Yeah, go try and get an internet consensus for the 'best' of any type of product category, especially smartphones. Humans don't fare any better, because it's a subjective announcement concluded from thousands of variables, many of those variables being inherent biases, outlooks, and personal preferences completely unrelated to any kind of empiric data. The best you can do with gather a large subset of opinions to try and determine an answer, but even then there will be many who will pronounce whatever comes up on top as the worst thing ever made. I have a friend who is an Acer fanboy (yes, they somehow exist) and will proclaim anthing made by Acer is the best thing ever, using insane justifications. I don't even bother debating anything with him, I just nod and smile when it comes to this. So, I would trust whatever answer Siri gives more than his opinion. When this came out, he truly believed, will every fiber of his being, and it was the most innovative product ever and would be the downfall of Apple:
Yes, it significantly diminishes the credibility of Siri.
If Apple can tailor the results that Siri provides to put a self-promoting positive marketing spin on the answers, the results Siri provides have lost their credibility.
Apple made a significant error with this change.
How can this response diminish credibility?
What is the best smartphone <insert whatever qualifier you like>? -- highly subjective
Which smartphone has the most RAM? Which smartphone has the display with the highest pixel density? Which smartphone has the processor with the highest clock speed or most cores? -- all objective
I tried this query after A.I. first posted this story.
Siri repeatedly tried to call a local landscaping company that I have never heard of or called before. Siri has a strange sense of humor.
When they launch a useful Siri outside of the USA then perhaps it'll be useful, for the rest of the world, we dont really know what Siri is as we have a butchered version not much more use than the old Voice Control
Apple needs to think outside of the USA, otherwise Samsung and others will definitely take the lead, and Apple may become the new Nokia/RIM .. going slowly into Oblivion
I wonder how much control Steve had over Siri, I mean would he have launched it as a Beta service (which is still Beta 9 months later) ?
When they launch a useful Siri outside of the USA then perhaps it'll be useful, for the rest of the world, we dont really know what Siri is as we have a butchered version not much more use than the old Voice Control
Care to elaborate?
Quote:
Apple needs to think outside of the USA, otherwise Samsung and others will definitely take the lead, and Apple may become the new Nokia/RIM .. going slowly into Oblivion
Yeah, that's certainly what the future looks like.
Darn new forums with no :rolleyes:
Quote:
I wonder how much control Steve had over Siri,
Full, to the best of his capacity.
Quote:
I mean would he have launched it as a Beta service (which is still Beta 9 months later) ?
That's shocking. I was under the impression that Wolfram Alpha is a respectable source of information. It appears that Siri isn't tuned to use the best engines out there. Maybe this will change in the production version.
That's shocking. I was under the impression that Wolfram Alpha is a respectable source of information. It appears that Siri isn't tuned to use the best engines out there. Maybe this will change in the production version.
I wonder what the says about this search engine....
That it's not genuine search engine because it gives higher priority to its advertisers and there's absolutely no way to turn off location-based searching that "gives you better results", nor is there a way to stop it from "tailoring" results to your past searches if you have an account logged in?
Oh, that's… probably a different point to be made, though.
Comments
I tried this query after A.I. first posted this story.
Siri repeatedly tried to call a local landscaping company that I have never heard of or called before. Siri has a strange sense of humor.
The whole response was part of a BAD review calculation on WolframAlpha.
If you looked at the search result, the Lumia had only 5 reviews. 5 reviews if all positive could show an artificially high review due to the small sample size.
Reviews with a higher number of unique reviewers should be ranked higher than those with only a hand full of reviews like this Lumia.
Quote:
Originally Posted by camper
Yes, it significantly diminishes the credibility of Siri.
If Apple can tailor the results that Siri provides to put a self-promoting positive marketing spin on the answers, the results Siri provides have lost their credibility.
Apple made a significant error with this change.
If someone is stupid enough to genuinely ask their phone which phone they should buy, it probably doesn't matter what results they get.
Quote:
Originally Posted by I am a Zither Zather Zuzz
This clearly shows the difference between relying on AI for any reasonable answer, and relying on (some) human brains.
Most folks glancing at that list would conclude that it was unreliable. AI is programmed to retreive the list from the data store.
Unless and until AI as used by SIRI is good enough, it is not good enough. At this point, qualifiers with nebulous definitions like "best" and "ever" are WAY too much for the feeble AI we have available now.
Our current AI is very useful for lots of stuff. But queries like "best" are too fuzzy as of now.
And what criteria should this magical AI use to determine the "best" of anything? Yours? Mine? Tim Cooks? The idea that AI can ever provide a useful answer to that query is laughable.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sol77
I know! Now I'm wondering if she was being truthful when she told me how much wood a woodchuck chucked. She is a wily mistress.
"African or European Woodchuck?" LOL..... right?
maybe Lumia WAS the best smartphone ever... for last week
Quote:
Originally Posted by camper
Yes, it significantly diminishes the credibility of Siri.
If Apple can tailor the results that Siri provides to put a self-promoting positive marketing spin on the answers, the results Siri provides have lost their credibility.
Apple made a significant error with this change.
I'm of two minds about this -- Siri is NOT behaving like Google in that it isn't just responding per the search -- on the other hand, the "Nokia response" is totally a manipulation -- so you've merely replaced a less obvious marketing manipulation replaced by an obvious quip by Apple.
I think it's a bit of light hearted fun -- and it IS OF COURSE, marketing and manipulating an answer. But to say that "Nokia has the best smart phone" is complete nonsense.
As if other search mechanisms are not "gamed".
Quote:
Originally Posted by knightlie
Quote:
Originally Posted by I am a Zither Zather Zuzz
This clearly shows the difference between relying on AI for any reasonable answer, and relying on (some) human brains.
Most folks glancing at that list would conclude that it was unreliable. AI is programmed to retreive the list from the data store.
Unless and until AI as used by SIRI is good enough, it is not good enough. At this point, qualifiers with nebulous definitions like "best" and "ever" are WAY too much for the feeble AI we have available now.
Our current AI is very useful for lots of stuff. But queries like "best" are too fuzzy as of now.
And what criteria should this magical AI use to determine the "best" of anything? Yours? Mine? Tim Cooks? The idea that AI can ever provide a useful answer to that query is laughable.
I'm not as conversant on SOTA AI as I would need to be in order to give an answer that I am confident with.
So I'll give a glib answer, and say that the "best" is subject to the idiosycratic feelings of the person who asks the question. We've seen personal history color the ad results that are returned; maybe someday they will determine answers to subjective questions with subjective answers. Maybe someday we will need to be careful in crafting our inquiries in order to get "objective" results.
Something like "which smartphone is rated highest by most review websites?" as opposed to the query which is the subject of this article.
But I don't know enough about AI to really know anything.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NodNarb012
Wrong. The best number is 73.
Uh...no. The best number is 77 - it's just like 69 but you get 8 more.
You might have to read this aloud...
Quote:
Originally Posted by AppleInsider
As of Monday, asking Siri for the "best smartphone ever" now returns the same humorous results, including, "You're kidding, right?"
Siri remains a "beta" service, and it is advertised as such on Apple's official website. The voice-driven personal assistant software is currently only available on the iPhone 4S.
You shouldn't read too much into the results from a beta service
When I asked my non-iPhone "Which is the best smartphone ever?", I got a list of links to various websites reposting the story about the original reply from Siri. Darn, I really wanted to know... oh well...
From the review.
it’s a touchscreen Windows 7 device, meaning one in every three icons will be larger than usual while the rest of the menus will remain tiny as can be
Made me chuckle.
Quote:
Originally Posted by camper
Yes, it significantly diminishes the credibility of Siri.
If Apple can tailor the results that Siri provides to put a self-promoting positive marketing spin on the answers, the results Siri provides have lost their credibility.
Apple made a significant error with this change.
How can this response diminish credibility?
What is the best smartphone <insert whatever qualifier you like>? -- highly subjective
Which smartphone has the most RAM? Which smartphone has the display with the highest pixel density? Which smartphone has the processor with the highest clock speed or most cores? -- all objective
Quote:
Originally Posted by bigdaddyp
I tried this query after A.I. first posted this story.
Siri repeatedly tried to call a local landscaping company that I have never heard of or called before. Siri has a strange sense of humor.
When they launch a useful Siri outside of the USA then perhaps it'll be useful, for the rest of the world, we dont really know what Siri is as we have a butchered version not much more use than the old Voice Control
Apple needs to think outside of the USA, otherwise Samsung and others will definitely take the lead, and Apple may become the new Nokia/RIM .. going slowly into Oblivion
I wonder how much control Steve had over Siri, I mean would he have launched it as a Beta service (which is still Beta 9 months later) ?
Quote:
Originally Posted by PJWilkin
When they launch a useful Siri outside of the USA then perhaps it'll be useful, for the rest of the world, we dont really know what Siri is as we have a butchered version not much more use than the old Voice Control
Care to elaborate?
Quote:
Apple needs to think outside of the USA, otherwise Samsung and others will definitely take the lead, and Apple may become the new Nokia/RIM .. going slowly into Oblivion
Yeah, that's certainly what the future looks like.
Darn new forums with no :rolleyes:
Quote:
I wonder how much control Steve had over Siri,
Full, to the best of his capacity.
Quote:
I mean would he have launched it as a Beta service (which is still Beta 9 months later) ?
Yes. Because he DID.
I just tested this, if you say "Search Wolfram Alpha what is the best smartphone ever," it still gives the Lumia.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nkingman
I just tested this, if you say "Search Wolfram Alpha what is the best smartphone ever," it still gives the Lumia.
This is the 2nd best phone from Wolfram:
$29 prepaid garbage-bin phone.
This is the 3rd:
Yes, that's an HP touchpad.
Take that as you will.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Slurpy
This is the 2nd best phone from Wolfram:
$29 prepaid garbage-bin phone.
This is the 3rd:
Yes, that's an HP touchpad.
Take that as you will.
That's shocking. I was under the impression that Wolfram Alpha is a respectable source of information. It appears that Siri isn't tuned to use the best engines out there. Maybe this will change in the production version.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DrDoppio
That's shocking. I was under the impression that Wolfram Alpha is a respectable source of information. It appears that Siri isn't tuned to use the best engines out there. Maybe this will change in the production version.
Gee, I searched the term "best smartphone ever" using the most widely-used search engine (ever) and it gave me: http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=best+smartphone+ever&oq=best+smartphone+ever&aq=f&aqi=g4g-K6&aql=&gs_l=igoogle.3..0l4j0i30l6.1141.6816.0.7391.24.17.0.2.2.0.383.1146.7j3j0j1.11.0...0.0.U4vpwLtUP1A
Pretty much all of the stories are about Siri recommending/not recommending Lumia.
I wonder what the says about this search engine....
Quote:
Originally Posted by anantksundaram
I wonder what the says about this search engine....
That it's not genuine search engine because it gives higher priority to its advertisers and there's absolutely no way to turn off location-based searching that "gives you better results", nor is there a way to stop it from "tailoring" results to your past searches if you have an account logged in?
Oh, that's… probably a different point to be made, though.