Apple's internal 'Overton' AI tool helps with Siri's development

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 39
    lkrupp said:
    With Apple working with IBM, why can’t Apple just drop SIRI and use Watson?

    I am Apple fanboy, but SIRI just sucks.
    Well, I would strongly disagree with your opinion about Siri. I have an Echo Dot sitting right next to my iMac and Siri definitely understands me better than Alexa. Siri controls my lights better than Alexa. Alexa often says she can’t find the device I want to turn on/off but Siri always works. What are you expecting from Siri that Alexa or Hey Google provides? So baloney on your Siri sucks comment. You’re just parroting what you read an probably have never compared anything.
    So because the other assistants are worse than Siri we can’t complain that she sucks? And to answer your question both google and Alexa are better at continuity. Why do I have to ask “hey Siri, what’s the current temperature?” and after she responds, “hey Siri, what’s the current humidity?”. Both google and Alexa only need to be “woken up” once. “Hey google what’s the current temperature?” and after it answers “what’s the current humidity”. 

    It’s ppl like you who make apple fans look bad. Any tiny criticism, no matter how valid, and you throw a fit. 

    Apple acquiring Watson doesn’t sound like a bad idea. 
  • Reply 22 of 39
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    sergioz said:
    Interesting it’s using variety of AI development frameworks and lets engineers focus on more productive tasks. Kind of genius is you ask
    me. I wonder what is google assistant is using? 
    Whatever it is gives the verbal answer to "how tall is the President of the United States". It then offers answers to the height of the rest of his family in on-screen links subtitled "People also ask"
    Assistant also correctly answers "When did] Los Héroes del Silencio split up". Explains why as well. 

    Personally I see the focus of the two voice assistants as simply different. Google Assistant intended for supplying information and answers, while Siri has traditionally been more tuned for controlling features where posters here say it works really well. Both companies indicate that voice recognition functions will be moving more to on-device rather than "in the cloud".  Google has already begun migrating to a more privacy-focused on-device voice processing with the new Assistant coming in less than a month and Apple is prepping Siri for the same in the near future.  

    Ditching "in the cloud" for much of the voice control features should help make all the voice assistants much faster and responsive and thus encourage us to use it more often. 
    edited September 2019
  • Reply 23 of 39
    JaiOh81 said:
    lkrupp said:
    With Apple working with IBM, why can’t Apple just drop SIRI and use Watson?

    I am Apple fanboy, but SIRI just sucks.
    Well, I would strongly disagree with your opinion about Siri. I have an Echo Dot sitting right next to my iMac and Siri definitely understands me better than Alexa. Siri controls my lights better than Alexa. Alexa often says she can’t find the device I want to turn on/off but Siri always works. What are you expecting from Siri that Alexa or Hey Google provides? So baloney on your Siri sucks comment. You’re just parroting what you read an probably have never compared anything.
    So because the other assistants are worse than Siri we can’t complain that she sucks? 
    So if other assistants are worse than Siri, how suck Siri could be?

    Of course everybody wants Siri to be improved, greatly improved even. Myself included. But there's constructive criticism, and there is whining. Does whining help than constructive criticism?
    edited September 2019 StrangeDaysDeelron
  • Reply 24 of 39
    razorpitrazorpit Posts: 1,796member
    lkrupp said:
    With Apple working with IBM, why can’t Apple just drop SIRI and use Watson?

    I am Apple fanboy, but SIRI just sucks.
    Well, I would strongly disagree with your opinion about Siri. I have an Echo Dot sitting right next to my iMac and Siri definitely understands me better than Alexa. Siri controls my lights better than Alexa. Alexa often says she can’t find the device I want to turn on/off but Siri always works. What are you expecting from Siri that Alexa or Hey Google provides? So baloney on your Siri sucks comment. You’re just parroting what you read an probably have never compared anything.

    Siri and the Siri knockoffs all suck.

    The difference is people only get emotional with Apple products which spawns the "Siri sucks!!" comments.
    I’m in the camp of they all suck. My in-laws live out of state. When we go to visit we’re usually there for a week or longer. They have Google speakers. Amazes me how awesome people think the Google devices are on the internet but how lousy they are in the real world.
    matrix077Deelron
  • Reply 25 of 39
    razorpit said:
    lkrupp said:
    With Apple working with IBM, why can’t Apple just drop SIRI and use Watson?

    I am Apple fanboy, but SIRI just sucks.
    Well, I would strongly disagree with your opinion about Siri. I have an Echo Dot sitting right next to my iMac and Siri definitely understands me better than Alexa. Siri controls my lights better than Alexa. Alexa often says she can’t find the device I want to turn on/off but Siri always works. What are you expecting from Siri that Alexa or Hey Google provides? So baloney on your Siri sucks comment. You’re just parroting what you read an probably have never compared anything.

    Siri and the Siri knockoffs all suck.

    The difference is people only get emotional with Apple products which spawns the "Siri sucks!!" comments.
    I’m in the camp of they all suck. My in-laws live out of state. When we go to visit we’re usually there for a week or longer. They have Google speakers. Amazes me how awesome people think the Google devices are on the internet but how lousy they are in the real world.
    Agreed, they all suck. Nobody would mistake any of these devices for even the dumbest of humans. My expectations for that changing are so far away as to not even be on my radar. What I care more about is whether Siri can do the tasks I use it for — reminders, appointments, home automation, basic trivia, etc.. Little trouble there so I’m fine. 
    lkruppDeelronfastasleeprazorpit
  • Reply 26 of 39

    Lastly, Siri should support ‘default apps’, e.g:
    - default maps app
    - default music app
    - default browser 
    - etc
    This is very true, especially Music. Why doesn't Siri scan my Music libraries to "know" my artist, songs, albums, and playlist. If this occurred, maybe Siri would have a greater success rate in executing my request on my HomePods.
  • Reply 27 of 39
    avon b7 said:
    avon b7 said:
    With Apple working with IBM, why can’t Apple just drop SIRI and use Watson?

    I am Apple fanboy, but SIRI just sucks.
    Does Watson process 21 languages?
    On the subject of languages, one of the biggest issues with digital assistants is being able to use various languages in the same query. Resolving that is probably more beneficial than improved accuracy for non English speaking countries (and no doubt some English cases too).

    Even a crude oral tag inside a query would be of help:

    "Hey Siri, When did [open Spanish] Los Héroes del Silencio [close Spanish] split up?"
    It found the correct thing and that’s enough. Your question is too specific, it requires a specific expertise on rock history. Of course Apple can implement that too, but the issue is what’s the point? This is a matter of priority in Siri’s development.
    The example question was simply an example of one language sitting inside a query of another language. The actual question wasn't important but the ability of digital assistants to pluck out one language from inside another.

    However I'm very interested to learn that you aren't having the same problems as me. Can I ask what your native language is?

    In my case (northern Spain) I constantly run into problems between English, Catalan and Spanish.

    Siri is set to Spanish but towns and street names are often only in Calatlan. For cultural references all three languages can mix in the query and that's where it all falls apart for me and I have to type things in manually.

    Some instances may have a Spanish version but it is never used (not even by Spanish native speakers) as the regional word or pronunciation is seen as the correct term.


    Another example is my Nvidia Shield (this time with Google Assistant). Actors' names, song titles, film titles etc. The queries could all have a mix of languages.

    Still, it is interesting to learn you aren't having such a hard time in this area. I wonder how many bi or trilingual members here are doing with their respective languages when mixing languages within the query.
    Apparently Siri’s multilingual capabilities don’t apply to place names. I don’t know whether this is a limitation of Siri or of Maps. To get correct place names and driving directions in Catalan you must set the language to Catalan.
    edited September 2019
  • Reply 28 of 39
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    JaiOh81 said:
    lkrupp said:
    With Apple working with IBM, why can’t Apple just drop SIRI and use Watson?

    I am Apple fanboy, but SIRI just sucks.
    Well, I would strongly disagree with your opinion about Siri. I have an Echo Dot sitting right next to my iMac and Siri definitely understands me better than Alexa. Siri controls my lights better than Alexa. Alexa often says she can’t find the device I want to turn on/off but Siri always works. What are you expecting from Siri that Alexa or Hey Google provides? So baloney on your Siri sucks comment. You’re just parroting what you read an probably have never compared anything.
    So because the other assistants are worse than Siri we can’t complain that she sucks? And to answer your question both google and Alexa are better at continuity. Why do I have to ask “hey Siri, what’s the current temperature?” and after she responds, “hey Siri, what’s the current humidity?”. Both google and Alexa only need to be “woken up” once. “Hey google what’s the current temperature?” and after it answers “what’s the current humidity”. 

    It’s ppl like you who make apple fans look bad. Any tiny criticism, no matter how valid, and you throw a fit. 

    Apple acquiring Watson doesn’t sound like a bad idea. 
    Oh, so you think that the “Siri sucks” narrative is true because you say it is? That because Siri doesn’t operate or respond precisely in the way you have determined it should that makes your opinion the correct one? Valid criticism requires more than just personal opinions. It has become a common meme that anyone who challenges the negative crowd and defends Apple is a clueless fanboy and those who constantly whine and complain are issuing the the unadulterated truth. Does being constantly and angrily critical give someone “street cred” when issuing opinions about Apple and its products? Critics may not be criticized when it comes to Apple?

    Finally you may block me at your pleasure if you think I’m too critical of the critics here.
    edited September 2019
  • Reply 29 of 39
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    mobird said:

    Lastly, Siri should support ‘default apps’, e.g:
    - default maps app
    - default music app
    - default browser 
    - etc
    This is very true, especially Music. Why doesn't Siri scan my Music libraries to "know" my artist, songs, albums, and playlist. If this occurred, maybe Siri would have a greater success rate in executing my request on my HomePods.
    Maybe because all digital assistants are not nearly as intelligent as they are advertised to be? Maybe because it’s all marketing hype at this point? You say Siri should be able to do this or that but I’m betting you (or I) would have little knowledge of how ML/AI actually works and the difficulty that may be involved in getting them to do what you may consider a simple task. I think we’re giving too much credit to ML/AI these days. For me Siri does what I want “her” to do at this point.
    Deelron
  • Reply 30 of 39
    entropys said:
    the biggest deficiency with Siri is if you ask “how tall is the president”, Siri doesn’t tell you: she says “I found this on the web”
    However, if I ask "How tall is the President of the United States" I get the correct answer. Didn't you just say you're in Australia, which doesn't have a President?
  • Reply 31 of 39


    With context I mean: where am I? What am I  doing? What was I working on? Where am I going? And then interpret my query around factors like these.

    It can, to some extent — "Hey Siri, remind me about this at 5pm" when viewing an email or webpage etc, works.

    Predicting what you might want to do (open Podcasts at 4pm because you just put your headphones in) or drive to work at a certain time or other anticipatory stuff is all happening to some degree — and improving — in Siri suggestions.

    I don't think people give Siri enough credit for the areas in which it has improved and continues to get better with time. Yes, it falls short in certain areas, or is genuinely picky about how YOU phrase certain requests or commands, but using it within the scope of its known capabilities and working yourself to learn how to better interact with it can get you much, much further than many people are aware, and many of those people are too lazy to even try — like the "I turn Siri off!" commenters on this forum who are literally disabling their devices.
  • Reply 32 of 39
    There is nothing intelligent about Siri at all. I use it primarily for dictation to my iPhone. Even after several years of usage, Siri still cannot get my words correct. Not even close. The only 100% success rate with my spoken word is for when I cuss Siri. That's a pretty low bar, actually. There's no way I would ever trust anything to Siri.
  • Reply 33 of 39
    entropys said:
    the biggest deficiency with Siri is if you ask “how tall is the president”, Siri doesn’t tell you: she says “I found this on the web”
    Good to know that even artificial intelligence has recognised the need for cya. :wink:
  • Reply 34 of 39
    razorpitrazorpit Posts: 1,796member
    razorpit said:
    lkrupp said:
    With Apple working with IBM, why can’t Apple just drop SIRI and use Watson?

    I am Apple fanboy, but SIRI just sucks.
    Well, I would strongly disagree with your opinion about Siri. I have an Echo Dot sitting right next to my iMac and Siri definitely understands me better than Alexa. Siri controls my lights better than Alexa. Alexa often says she can’t find the device I want to turn on/off but Siri always works. What are you expecting from Siri that Alexa or Hey Google provides? So baloney on your Siri sucks comment. You’re just parroting what you read an probably have never compared anything.

    Siri and the Siri knockoffs all suck.

    The difference is people only get emotional with Apple products which spawns the "Siri sucks!!" comments.
    I’m in the camp of they all suck. My in-laws live out of state. When we go to visit we’re usually there for a week or longer. They have Google speakers. Amazes me how awesome people think the Google devices are on the internet but how lousy they are in the real world.
    Agreed, they all suck. Nobody would mistake any of these devices for even the dumbest of humans. My expectations for that changing are so far away as to not even be on my radar. What I care more about is whether Siri can do the tasks I use it for — reminders, appointments, home automation, basic trivia, etc.. Little trouble there so I’m fine. 
    Same here my biggest gripe is the inconsistency between the devices I own. “Hey Siri add potatoes to the Costco list” usually ends up with a “You don’t have a ‘Kostco’ list” on my HomePod. But when I give the same command on my watch, no problem. And try being a fan of punk rock, “Hey Siri play songs by All” or “Hey Siri play songs by the Descendents.” You get some interesting results.
    mobird
  • Reply 35 of 39
    19831983 Posts: 1,225member
    It’s all BS! Apart from the simplest questions, after all these years Siri is still pretty much useless! From my experience anyway. I keep on trying to go back to it, as I constantly hear that it’s improved, but it just isn’t! 
    razorpit
  • Reply 36 of 39
    avon b7avon b7 Posts: 7,624member
    avon b7 said:
    avon b7 said:
    With Apple working with IBM, why can’t Apple just drop SIRI and use Watson?

    I am Apple fanboy, but SIRI just sucks.
    Does Watson process 21 languages?
    On the subject of languages, one of the biggest issues with digital assistants is being able to use various languages in the same query. Resolving that is probably more beneficial than improved accuracy for non English speaking countries (and no doubt some English cases too).

    Even a crude oral tag inside a query would be of help:

    "Hey Siri, When did [open Spanish] Los Héroes del Silencio [close Spanish] split up?"
    It found the correct thing and that’s enough. Your question is too specific, it requires a specific expertise on rock history. Of course Apple can implement that too, but the issue is what’s the point? This is a matter of priority in Siri’s development.
    The example question was simply an example of one language sitting inside a query of another language. The actual question wasn't important but the ability of digital assistants to pluck out one language from inside another.

    However I'm very interested to learn that you aren't having the same problems as me. Can I ask what your native language is?

    In my case (northern Spain) I constantly run into problems between English, Catalan and Spanish.

    Siri is set to Spanish but towns and street names are often only in Calatlan. For cultural references all three languages can mix in the query and that's where it all falls apart for me and I have to type things in manually.

    Some instances may have a Spanish version but it is never used (not even by Spanish native speakers) as the regional word or pronunciation is seen as the correct term.


    Another example is my Nvidia Shield (this time with Google Assistant). Actors' names, song titles, film titles etc. The queries could all have a mix of languages.

    Still, it is interesting to learn you aren't having such a hard time in this area. I wonder how many bi or trilingual members here are doing with their respective languages when mixing languages within the query.
    Apparently Siri’s multilingual capabilities don’t apply to place names. I don’t know whether this is a limitation of Siri or of Maps. To get correct place names and driving directions in Catalan you must set the language to Catalan.
    Most of my problems at home come through having Spanish as a language but with English names and references in the query.

    As you say, there could be limitations to exactly what can be done and where.

    Catalan isn't a Siri supported language so clearly getting Maps directions is harder even though all the mapping data is available. That's why I mentioned the crude option of some kind of tag to tell the assistant that the following words belong to a different category not included in the language being used.

    Together with making it easier to add new words and pronuncations. The current process seems a little long winded.
  • Reply 37 of 39
    razorpitrazorpit Posts: 1,796member
    1983 said:
    It’s all BS! Apart from the simplest questions, after all these years Siri is still pretty much useless! From my experience anyway. I keep on trying to go back to it, as I constantly hear that it’s improved, but it just isn’t! 
    LOL, I wish I had a dollar every time I heard Siri is getting rebuilt from the ground up.
  • Reply 38 of 39
    Rajka said:
    There is nothing intelligent about Siri at all. I use it primarily for dictation to my iPhone. Even after several years of usage, Siri still cannot get my words correct. Not even close. The only 100% success rate with my spoken word is for when I cuss Siri. That's a pretty low bar, actually. There's no way I would ever trust anything to Siri.
    Dictation is not Siri.
  • Reply 39 of 39

    1983 said:
    It’s all BS! Apart from the simplest questions, after all these years Siri is still pretty much useless! From my experience anyway. I keep on trying to go back to it, as I constantly hear that it’s improved, but it just isn’t! 
    Have you spent any time at all learning about its capabilities and whether you're maybe using it incorrectly? 
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