Apple considering offline mode for Siri that could process voice locally on an iPhone

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 43
    hodar said:
    So, if you think Siri is stupid now, just wait.

    Try asking Siri a very basic question, like "How old am I", or "When will I be 59 1/2 years old".  Siri will suggest websites; which is asinine.  Siri knows my birthday, anniversary, the birthday of my kids, friends and neighbors (as long as I have the information in my contacts); but is unable to use that date, and a calendar to answer very basic questions.  Voice recognition on Siri has improved - but Siri's ability to do anything useful with that information is almost 5 years behind both Google, and Amazon - which is pathetic - since Apple practically invented a useful Virtual Assistant.

    Now, between Cortana, Echo and Google Echo - Siri is pretty much a dead last competitor; when it should be the BEST - by far.
    Bogus. Siri tells me how old I am just fine. So did you just make that up?
    I’m always a little bewildered by the claims of something Siri “can’t do” that take literally less than 10 seconds to verify that Siri can actually do. 
    charlesgresStrangeDayswatto_cobran2itivguy
  • Reply 22 of 43
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,153member
    this would be awesome combined with giving siri functionality to control certain aspects of the user interface etc. and it would be a great differanciator towards googles assistant. I hate siri being useless when I am in bed, flight mode activated and just want to tell it to start playing, turn on/off lights, etc. only to be presented with "siri not available"
    Google Assistant does have some limited offline capabilities:

    • Open an app by name
    • Play Music
    • Add an event to your calendar
    • Place calls and sends texts to contacts
    • Set new and cancel alarms
    • Toggle WiFi, Bluetooth, Airplane mode, and flashlight
    • Adjust your phone’s volume
    • Dim the screen
     I know, not all that much, but still....
  • Reply 23 of 43
    elijahgelijahg Posts: 2,753member
    hodar said:
    So, if you think Siri is stupid now, just wait.

    Try asking Siri a very basic question, like "How old am I", or "When will I be 59 1/2 years old".  Siri will suggest websites; which is asinine.  Siri knows my birthday, anniversary, the birthday of my kids, friends and neighbors (as long as I have the information in my contacts); but is unable to use that date, and a calendar to answer very basic questions.  Voice recognition on Siri has improved - but Siri's ability to do anything useful with that information is almost 5 years behind both Google, and Amazon - which is pathetic - since Apple practically invented a useful Virtual Assistant.

    Now, between Cortana, Echo and Google Echo - Siri is pretty much a dead last competitor; when it should be the BEST - by far.
    Bogus. Siri tells me how old I am just fine. So did you just make that up?

    I do not believe Google and Amazon’s assistants are five years more advanced, either. Articles I’ve read peg them each at different but comparable levels of suckitutde. 


    What’s your excuse for Siri trying to take me to Canterbury New Zealand when I am 20 miles from Canterbury, UK, then saying “sorry I can’t get directions to there”? It’s really crap. 
    muthuk_vanalingamairnerd
  • Reply 24 of 43
    FatmanFatman Posts: 513member
    Anyone that commutes a distance, rides a train, boards a plane, leaves the country will know that this makes sense. I assume Apple has data on the most commonly asked questions - they could easily analyze this list and determine the questions can be answered without a connection. E.g. Siri, what is 5+5? What is today's date? What's next on my calendar, etc. However, I'm not holding my breath, since currently even the most basic questions WITH an Internet connection are either misinterpreted, no answer/wrong answer or it frustratingly redirects to a website link. I just acquired a Google Home and I'm impressed at the back and forth, natural dialog you can have with it, better than my Alexa tap, and much better than my iPhone's Siri. Come on Tim Cook, forget trying to solve the world's social issues and make Siri number one!
  • Reply 25 of 43
    elijahgelijahg Posts: 2,753member
    "Apple wants Siri to become more useful to users.."

    Can we just stop right there? How many little-used features need to be added before we get the fucking basic, rudimentary functionality and context awareness that was promised at siri's launch 6 years ago???
    Apple has promised nothing. They have enough human intelligence to not behave with bold claims and manners in such a controversial subject as AI. Yet they provided a phone that recognizes your face. Just consider how many years had to pass for that and imagine how many years has to pass to get a phone that recognizes not just your face but also your habits.

    And yet it still can’t work out where the sentence commanding Siri ends and the reminder starts when I say “remind me about the Apple event”. This results in a reminder called “about the Apple event”. Similarly “remind me to pick up milk” results in a reminder entitled “to pick up milk”. Smart. 
    airnerd
  • Reply 26 of 43
    avon b7avon b7 Posts: 7,590member
    lkrupp said:
    This looks like a solution in need of a problem to me. I would think the number of iOS devices, especially iPhones, NOT connected to the Internet is a minuscule minority indeed. My iOS devices are connected 24/7 via WiFi or LTE.
    There are plenty of scenarios that could require offline processing.

    Simple things like audio reproduction should be doable off line. Idem camera settings. Gallery searches etc. 

    Even some complicated things are doable. This summer I translated the ingredients of a bottle of Ukrainian pepper vodka by taking a photo of the bottle and getting the phone to recognise the text in the photo and then  translate it into Spanish. All offline.

    Other reasons for this capability going forward are privacy and latency.

    The best solution is a mix of online/offline functionality.
    elijahgmuthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 27 of 43
    elijahg said:
    hodar said:
    So, if you think Siri is stupid now, just wait.

    Try asking Siri a very basic question, like "How old am I", or "When will I be 59 1/2 years old".  Siri will suggest websites; which is asinine.  Siri knows my birthday, anniversary, the birthday of my kids, friends and neighbors (as long as I have the information in my contacts); but is unable to use that date, and a calendar to answer very basic questions.  Voice recognition on Siri has improved - but Siri's ability to do anything useful with that information is almost 5 years behind both Google, and Amazon - which is pathetic - since Apple practically invented a useful Virtual Assistant.

    Now, between Cortana, Echo and Google Echo - Siri is pretty much a dead last competitor; when it should be the BEST - by far.
    Bogus. Siri tells me how old I am just fine. So did you just make that up?

    I do not believe Google and Amazon’s assistants are five years more advanced, either. Articles I’ve read peg them each at different but comparable levels of suckitutde. 


    What’s your excuse for Siri trying to take me to Canterbury New Zealand when I am 20 miles from Canterbury, UK, then saying “sorry I can’t get directions to there”? It’s really crap. 
    That's a Maps issue, Siri is just passing along the poor results given to it by Maps.
    taddStrangeDayswatto_cobra
  • Reply 28 of 43
    elijahg said:
    "Apple wants Siri to become more useful to users.."

    Can we just stop right there? How many little-used features need to be added before we get the fucking basic, rudimentary functionality and context awareness that was promised at siri's launch 6 years ago???
    Apple has promised nothing. They have enough human intelligence to not behave with bold claims and manners in such a controversial subject as AI. Yet they provided a phone that recognizes your face. Just consider how many years had to pass for that and imagine how many years has to pass to get a phone that recognizes not just your face but also your habits.

    And yet it still can’t work out where the sentence commanding Siri ends and the reminder starts when I say “remind me about the Apple event”. This results in a reminder called “about the Apple event”. Similarly “remind me to pick up milk” results in a reminder entitled “to pick up milk”. Smart. 
    There are screenshots that show the opposite. If you post a screenshot then I will understand that this is a bug, then https://apple.com/feedback ;

    https://www.siriuserguide.com/article/using-reminders-with-siri
    edited November 2018 StrangeDayswatto_cobra
  • Reply 29 of 43
    hodar said:
    So, if you think Siri is stupid now, just wait.

    Try asking Siri a very basic question, like "How old am I", or "When will I be 59 1/2 years old".  Siri will suggest websites; which is asinine.  Siri knows my birthday, anniversary, the birthday of my kids, friends and neighbors (as long as I have the information in my contacts); but is unable to use that date, and a calendar to answer very basic questions.  Voice recognition on Siri has improved - but Siri's ability to do anything useful with that information is almost 5 years behind both Google, and Amazon - which is pathetic - since Apple practically invented a useful Virtual Assistant.

    Now, between Cortana, Echo and Google Echo - Siri is pretty much a dead last competitor; when it should be the BEST - by far.
    Did it occure to you why Cortana or Echo are better at answring thosr questions? Well, that is becasue those assistants do have access to that information, because engineers made them like that. Apple, I guess, is trying to protect private info a little better. 
    elijahgairnerdwatto_cobra
  • Reply 30 of 43
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    MikeLV said:
    Finally! Siri goes into dummy mode as soon as my connection gets weak, which renders it useless for Carplay in many instances. Siri should not have to rely on an internet connection for the most basic commands.
    You don't even need to consider being in a car.   Try working under 40 inches of concrete and see what sort of signal you get.

    In any event I think this is just the first step going forward, of creating a version of iOS that starts to replace traditional UNIX with AI powered OS features.    This will be a new hardware feature leveraging the Neural Engine to best effect.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 31 of 43
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    lkrupp said:
    This looks like a solution in need of a problem to me. I would think the number of iOS devices, especially iPhones, NOT connected to the Internet is a minuscule minority indeed. My iOS devices are connected 24/7 via WiFi or LTE.
    This isn't really true.   I can loose my connection just walking into work.    This happens to a lot of people.   The bigger problem is that you end up with a lot of congestion on Apples servers to do some really simple things.   Plus in time Siri could farm out requests on her own bypassing Apples servers completely.  Effectively Sir becomes decentralized for the easy stuff and has the whole world at her fingers for the hard stuff.   We should in the end have better performance all around.
    elijahgwatto_cobra
  • Reply 32 of 43
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    hodar said:
    So, if you think Siri is stupid now, just wait.

    Try asking Siri a very basic question, like "How old am I", or "When will I be 59 1/2 years old".  Siri will suggest websites; which is asinine.  Siri knows my birthday, anniversary, the birthday of my kids, friends and neighbors (as long as I have the information in my contacts); but is unable to use that date, and a calendar to answer very basic questions.  Voice recognition on Siri has improved - but Siri's ability to do anything useful with that information is almost 5 years behind both Google, and Amazon - which is pathetic - since Apple practically invented a useful Virtual Assistant.

    Now, between Cortana, Echo and Google Echo - Siri is pretty much a dead last competitor; when it should be the BEST - by far.
    Siri was able to translate my speech to text very well almost from day one.   As you point out she has a complete inability to do anything right with that text.  Who really knows why.   It might be Apple trying to beat a latency expectation or maybe just really poor programming.   However if we have a Siri variant that can translate text properly on the iPhone, just having proper text to pass off to other servers could same the community a lot of grief
    elijahg
  • Reply 33 of 43
    That offline processing may be a game changer for both iOS and macOS. The patent application summarizes the tech in a very abstract form but there is a huge subsystem there. To get a glimpse of what that path may lead Apple to, the slides below may be helpful:

    https://www.slideshare.net/mobile/Hdavey01/ibms-watson
    edited November 2018 watto_cobra
  • Reply 34 of 43
    hodar said:
    So, if you think Siri is stupid now, just wait.

    Try asking Siri a very basic question, like "How old am I", or "When will I be 59 1/2 years old".  Siri will suggest websites; which is asinine.  Siri knows my birthday, anniversary, the birthday of my kids, friends and neighbors (as long as I have the information in my contacts); but is unable to use that date, and a calendar to answer very basic questions.  Voice recognition on Siri has improved - but Siri's ability to do anything useful with that information is almost 5 years behind both Google, and Amazon - which is pathetic - since Apple practically invented a useful Virtual Assistant.

    Now, between Cortana, Echo and Google Echo - Siri is pretty much a dead last competitor; when it should be the BEST - by far.
    Exactly. What you say should be obvious to anyone. And of course critics are missing the point. It's not about the couple examples you mentioned, its the implication of those examples, extrapolated to so many other scenarios, showing that siri is incredibly stupid, and doesn't use basic information or logic that should be easily accessible to it. A similar example that I remember from my own experience (there are so many that I don't remember as well), was siri giving me directions to an address that is hours away based on one misrepresented character in dictation, even when the correct address is in my gd iphone contacts.


    Wow, you are so serious about that "machine intelligence" thing !.. Sorry bro, machines will never "know" anything by themselves. What you call "intelligent assistant" is just a vocal layer in the user interface, nothing more. Pop-culture beliefs and urban legends cannot guide technology, math and engineering can...
    Um, I don’t know who you intended to reply to. But if it was me, you should know that you make zero sense. 
    elijahg
  • Reply 35 of 43
    "Apple wants Siri to become more useful to users.."

    Can we just stop right there? How many little-used features need to be added before we get the fucking basic, rudimentary functionality and context awareness that was promised at siri's launch 6 years ago???
    Apple has promised nothing. They have enough human intelligence to not behave with bold claims and manners in such a controversial subject as AI. Yet they provided a phone that recognizes your face. Just consider how many years had to pass for that and imagine how many years have to pass to get a phone that recognizes not just your face but also your habits.
    Again, you’re not making sense. 

    No no one is asking for true artificial intelligence.

    All I want is basic intelligence that was promised at the start. Allow me to dictate simple messages and reminders without me having to manually correct them 80% of the time. Don’t try to make a phone call to 76557 because I hesitated for half a second trying to recall the rest of the number. Don’t have maps send me to a different fucking continent bc of a basic dictation or search error. 

    Not joking, today I searched for “cps” on maps and I got this bullshit:

    Can’t even make this stuff up. Siri, maps, “intelligence” is fucking terrible. 

    And btw, all of you apologists arent helping. 
    elijahg
  • Reply 36 of 43
    avon b7avon b7 Posts: 7,590member
    hodar said:
    So, if you think Siri is stupid now, just wait.

    Try asking Siri a very basic question, like "How old am I", or "When will I be 59 1/2 years old".  Siri will suggest websites; which is asinine.  Siri knows my birthday, anniversary, the birthday of my kids, friends and neighbors (as long as I have the information in my contacts); but is unable to use that date, and a calendar to answer very basic questions.  Voice recognition on Siri has improved - but Siri's ability to do anything useful with that information is almost 5 years behind both Google, and Amazon - which is pathetic - since Apple practically invented a useful Virtual Assistant.

    Now, between Cortana, Echo and Google Echo - Siri is pretty much a dead last competitor; when it should be the BEST - by far.
    Did it occure to you why Cortana or Echo are better at answring thosr questions? Well, that is becasue those assistants do have access to that information, because engineers made them like that. Apple, I guess, is trying to protect private info a little better. 
    This is one of the reasons I mentioned privacy, above. If Siri can take the information directly from the phone without pumping anything into the cloud, everything is local and self contained on the phone.
    elijahg
  • Reply 37 of 43
    I'd be thrilled if stupidly simple commands I give Siri could be handled, much more so than if she works in "offline" mode.  There is absolutely NO REASON me raising my wrist and saying "hey Siri, set me a timer for 12 minutes" should cause her to spin and spin and spin and think before finally just ignoring my every word and returning me to the watch.  That is all I use Siri for anymore as I'm tired of being sent to my phone.  Set a freaking timer should be virtual-assistant-101.  Alexa runs circles around Siri, it is worthless as it doesn't even meet the "gimmick" criteria. 


  • Reply 38 of 43
    "Apple wants Siri to become more useful to users.."

    Can we just stop right there? How many little-used features need to be added before we get the fucking basic, rudimentary functionality and context awareness that was promised at siri's launch 6 years ago???
    Apple has promised nothing. They have enough human intelligence to not behave with bold claims and manners in such a controversial subject as AI. Yet they provided a phone that recognizes your face. Just consider how many years had to pass for that and imagine how many years have to pass to get a phone that recognizes not just your face but also your habits.
    Again, you’re not making sense. 

    No no one is asking for true artificial intelligence.

    All I want is basic intelligence that was promised at the start. Allow me to dictate simple messages and reminders without me having to manually correct them 80% of the time. Don’t try to make a phone call to 76557 because I hesitated for half a second trying to recall the rest of the number. Don’t have maps send me to a different fucking continent bc of a basic dictation or search error. 

    Not joking, today I searched for “cps” on maps and I got this bullshit:
    [map deleted]
    Can’t even make this stuff up. Siri, maps, “intelligence” is fucking terrible. 

    And btw, all of you apologists arent helping. 
    So you want all your errors forgiven or ignored but you don't ignore Siri's single error. Is any call center robot tolerant enough to your hesitation for half a second in typing the next number? If you make continuously such errors you may confuse even your human colleagues, pity for them... Siri's adaptation capabilities may be limited, it may get confused instead of getting adapted, but you are a human, a much capable creature than a software layer, you can and should adapt. Don't expect help from apologists, help yourself.

    BTW, I got the same Zaragoza thing for "cps", but when I wrote "cps miami" Maps returned some meaningful results. That simply shows that you are not under continuous surveillance from Apple !
    edited November 2018
  • Reply 39 of 43
    "Apple wants Siri to become more useful to users.."

    Can we just stop right there? How many little-used features need to be added before we get the fucking basic, rudimentary functionality and context awareness that was promised at siri's launch 6 years ago???
    Apple has promised nothing. They have enough human intelligence to not behave with bold claims and manners in such a controversial subject as AI. Yet they provided a phone that recognizes your face. Just consider how many years had to pass for that and imagine how many years have to pass to get a phone that recognizes not just your face but also your habits.
    Again, you’re not making sense. 

    No no one is asking for true artificial intelligence.

    All I want is basic intelligence that was promised at the start. Allow me to dictate simple messages and reminders without me having to manually correct them 80% of the time. Don’t try to make a phone call to 76557 because I hesitated for half a second trying to recall the rest of the number. Don’t have maps send me to a different fucking continent bc of a basic dictation or search error. 

    Not joking, today I searched for “cps” on maps and I got this bullshit:
    [map deleted]
    Can’t even make this stuff up. Siri, maps, “intelligence” is fucking terrible. 

    And btw, all of you apologists arent helping. 
    So you want all your errors forgiven or ignored but you don't ignore Siri's single error. Is any call center robot tolerant enough to your hesitation for half a second in typing the next number? If you make continuously such errors you may confuse even your human colleagues, pity for them... Siri's adaptation capabilities may be limited, it may get confused instead of getting adapted, but you are a human, a much capable creature than a software layer, you can and should adapt. Don't expect help from apologists, help yourself.

    BTW, I got the same Zaragoza thing for "cps", but when I wrote "cps miami" Maps returned some meaningful results. That simply shows that you are not under continuous surveillance from Apple !
    Do you actually believe the points you're making are valid? It's honestly hard to figure out.

    You do realize that the whole point of a maps app is to know where the fuck you are, right? I mean, I shouldn't have to say this, but I guess I do: there should be no need to type your location when you're using a gd maps app.
    airnerd
  • Reply 40 of 43
    elijahg said:
    hodar said:
    So, if you think Siri is stupid now, just wait.

    Try asking Siri a very basic question, like "How old am I", or "When will I be 59 1/2 years old".  Siri will suggest websites; which is asinine.  Siri knows my birthday, anniversary, the birthday of my kids, friends and neighbors (as long as I have the information in my contacts); but is unable to use that date, and a calendar to answer very basic questions.  Voice recognition on Siri has improved - but Siri's ability to do anything useful with that information is almost 5 years behind both Google, and Amazon - which is pathetic - since Apple practically invented a useful Virtual Assistant.

    Now, between Cortana, Echo and Google Echo - Siri is pretty much a dead last competitor; when it should be the BEST - by far.
    Bogus. Siri tells me how old I am just fine. So did you just make that up?

    I do not believe Google and Amazon’s assistants are five years more advanced, either. Articles I’ve read peg them each at different but comparable levels of suckitutde. 


    What’s your excuse for Siri trying to take me to Canterbury New Zealand when I am 20 miles from Canterbury, UK, then saying “sorry I can’t get directions to there”? It’s really crap. 
    That is completely unrelated to this bogus claim of what Siri couldn’t do. Stay on topic. 
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