For the fun of it, asked Alexa that command verbatim and she did it just fine.
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Apple Engineers Reportedly Working on ChatGPT-Like AI Despite Siri Design Flaws
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I'm sure there are ways to make that process palatable..Open Table makes reservations, Grubhub has an Alexa skill to "reorder".. you only need a reliable way to link the voice request to the service provider.. Look at tap-to-pay credit cards, Apple Pay etc., if you can get adoption of a common protocol, suddenly "Hey Google, request an appointment at my hair salon next month" works effortlessly. Doesn't take a person answering the phone.
Chat is the layer you can currently interact with.... but written request vs. verbal are essentially the same. It would take all of 10 seconds to connect a speech recognition engine to it (and probably already exists in their framework somewhere not for public consumption. It would run circles around Siri.
You don't actually think they are investing in all that development for people to chat with a bot do you? All of the AI projects have far grander aspirations.
The first Siri - before Apple acquired it and it was a stand alone app - was IMO.... superior in a lot of ways. It was new and novel at the time, but I asked it to find me a hooker for fun - and it did.
Apple gutted quite a few things out of the original, and added things like timers. When Siri first launched as an Apple product, it was almost unusable and widely flogged.
It was highly dependent on Wolfram Alpha and 90% of what you asked it simple surfaced a table or link to Wolfram site. Asking it to call a contact or set a reminder, add something to the calendar, etc. was (and on many levels still is) not for the faint of heart. I feel like she says "Sorry I don't know how to do that" more now than she did then because now she doesn't even make much effort.
This is the second time this response has been quoted.
I was responding to a user stating “I bet ChatGPT can handle this music request better than Siri”. THAT was the context. Obviously you can integrate it with a voice assistant, but my response was to a user looking at TODAY what this is. ChatGPT, today, will not play music for you.
Plenty of people in this thread have lost the plot in what this thing is. Not what it will do, not what it’s potential is, they’ve leapt ahead to acting like this thing is already a replacement for Siri/Alexa/Bigsby/Google assistant/etc.
ChatGPT, against what people want to hear, is NOT what the term AI has been bastardized into by today’s standards. AI has become the marketing buzzword for what was the buzzword very shortly before that, Machine Learning. ChatGPT is a different thing altogether, it is a VERY good Language Engine.
These distinctions matter.
ChatGPT is not intelligent, it’s just very very good at generating language that seems to be valid. It doesn’t “know” whether that language is indeed true or not, because the *point* of a Language Engine is to generate…language!
I saw firsthand it lie to me in demonstration from Microsoft when I asked their reps about a feature I was exploring for my company. They typed in my question, it spat out a blurb about the feature, step by step how to configure it (including icons for each part of the admin portal I was to click on), and even the Microsoft documentation page for it. The reps were beaming.
After the call, I went to follow the instructions. I couldn’t. Those locations didn’t exist in the portal, and even the link was 404’d because the feature the question was about *didnt exist*.
ChatGPT ingested public information about a feature that was in Beta when ChatGPT was trained, but Microsoft never released.
So I got a very convincing answer, that was pure garbage.
This thing seems smart because it can “talk” like a human, but it doesn’t have actual *knowledge*.
I think that for many things, Siri fails because we all want it to go exactly one step farther than it's currently equipped to go.
My favorite example is this - "Siri, remind me to stop at ***** the next time I'm driving towards ***** eastbound on HWY**** and buy pet food"
Still can't seem to do that.
But, some frustrations/limitations aren't completely Siri based? Trying to use Siri to just play the one thing a family member wants to watch on the AppleTV? Probably not going to work. But, a lot of that is due to data siloing? Netflix (and other streaming apps/platforms) not fully integrating with AppleTV (app), etc.
A lot of what people want Siri to do better on the AppleTV would require Apple to negotiate with those services for access to that data... No amount of changes to Siri itself would matter.
When/if Apple did get access to that data... At that point, you could sit down, and grab the AppleTV remote and ask Siri to play the latest episode of "Nightcourt", or "Wednesday", or MST3K, or the most recent ASA Stars race...or the most recent IMSA race... and it'd (hopefully) actually work.
Right now, asking Siri to "play the most recent episode of MST3K" results in being asked what music player I'd like to use? After three attempts to say, "No, MST3K is a TV Show", Siri offered a few old episodes of MST3K on the 'Cock, but didn't show the MST3K app (already installed and frequently used) as an option, nor did it offer the Gizmoplex web site? Is this a failing of Siri (she did get me an episode of MST3K), or the lack of data available? Asking for the most recent IMSA race? Siri thinks I'm asking about Miley Cyrus music and wants me to subscribe to Apple Music. SMFH.
(Nightcourt - YTTV, Wednesday - Netflix, MST3K - MST3K app/The Gizmoplex, ASA Stars race - Racing America, IMSA - The 'Cock)
(Completely different rant - who needs to be fired at Apple in order for them to stop referring to motorsports races as "Games" in the AppleTV UI? So freaking annoying.)
Shrug.
I'm not convinced Siri needs a new AI so much as some kind of rebuild to do what it already does more efficiently and made easier to add features/improvements in the future. I don't think the solution is to throw the privacy baby out with the clunky behavior bathwater we have now just to get to what *may be* a better Siri UX.
And, as others have said, a lot of Siri frustration seems to come from failed voice recognition? IMSA Race = Miley Cyrus music? Perhaps if that alone was improved on, many would be happier with the Siri UX, even without a full overhaul?
I want to believe that the same people who gave us some really amazing Photo/Text AI have the ability to find ways to improve Siri... I'm just not convinced that Tim has/had the foresight to make that happen?
But, on the bight side, we did get "Wow, I'm Really Dehydrated" yellow iPhones? (Yes, I'm going to keep calling them that)
Yay?
My favorite example is this - "Siri, remind me to stop at ***** the next time I'm driving towards ***** eastbound on HWY**** and buy pet food"
Still can't seem to do that.
But, some frustrations/limitations aren't completely Siri based? Trying to use Siri to just play the one thing a family member wants to watch on the AppleTV? Probably not going to work. But, a lot of that is due to data siloing? Netflix (and other streaming apps/platforms) not fully integrating with AppleTV (app), etc.
A lot of what people want Siri to do better on the AppleTV would require Apple to negotiate with those services for access to that data... No amount of changes to Siri itself would matter.
When/if Apple did get access to that data... At that point, you could sit down, and grab the AppleTV remote and ask Siri to play the latest episode of "Nightcourt", or "Wednesday", or MST3K, or the most recent ASA Stars race...or the most recent IMSA race... and it'd (hopefully) actually work.
Right now, asking Siri to "play the most recent episode of MST3K" results in being asked what music player I'd like to use? After three attempts to say, "No, MST3K is a TV Show", Siri offered a few old episodes of MST3K on the 'Cock, but didn't show the MST3K app (already installed and frequently used) as an option, nor did it offer the Gizmoplex web site? Is this a failing of Siri (she did get me an episode of MST3K), or the lack of data available? Asking for the most recent IMSA race? Siri thinks I'm asking about Miley Cyrus music and wants me to subscribe to Apple Music. SMFH.
(Nightcourt - YTTV, Wednesday - Netflix, MST3K - MST3K app/The Gizmoplex, ASA Stars race - Racing America, IMSA - The 'Cock)
(Completely different rant - who needs to be fired at Apple in order for them to stop referring to motorsports races as "Games" in the AppleTV UI? So freaking annoying.)
Shrug.
I'm not convinced Siri needs a new AI so much as some kind of rebuild to do what it already does more efficiently and made easier to add features/improvements in the future. I don't think the solution is to throw the privacy baby out with the clunky behavior bathwater we have now just to get to what *may be* a better Siri UX.
And, as others have said, a lot of Siri frustration seems to come from failed voice recognition? IMSA Race = Miley Cyrus music? Perhaps if that alone was improved on, many would be happier with the Siri UX, even without a full overhaul?
I want to believe that the same people who gave us some really amazing Photo/Text AI have the ability to find ways to improve Siri... I'm just not convinced that Tim has/had the foresight to make that happen?
But, on the bight side, we did get "Wow, I'm Really Dehydrated" yellow iPhones? (Yes, I'm going to keep calling them that)
Yay?
I’ll take your post one step further…do I need a voice assistant in my life? My Siri usage is confined almost exclusively to “hey siri, call (person)” when my hands are full, or to set a timer.
Never once have I used any assistant beyond that. Perhaps it’s because I don’t listen to music much (podcast guy) and don’t watch a lot of video content. I’ve never seen the assistants on these phones, of any brand or OS, to be something actually useful in my day to day life.
Maybe I’m just not integrated enough into the world of smart things to have an actual use case?
What is your understanding of the privacy protections in place? Do they actually limit what Siri is able to do, or are they an alibi for a weak product?
Just from a quick search.
The replicants were built with a lifespan of roughly four years. Some turned murderous. Hudson 10, the replacement for Kryten, turned out murderous.
The Machines, built with an indeterminate lifespan. Turned out rather magnanimous.
I want our machine overlords know that I was on their side from the start. Also, I know where John Connor is hiding.😉
Note: stupid autocorrect.
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After trying the assistant integrated in the new version of Bing, I can say without a doubt that this kind of technology is going to have a deep impact on our lives, maybe as big as the internet itself.
Apple needs to rebuild Siri on top of this technology as quickly as possible, no matter how hard or expensive it’s going to be.
Apple needs to rebuild Siri on top of this technology as quickly as possible, no matter how hard or expensive it’s going to be.
Actually, I want Siri to get a whole lot better. But I would prefer to keep the Siri name.
I worry that “working on” hear means that an Apple exec saw a Chat GPT demo, and then went back to the Siri team and yelled at them and told it to “make it like that”. I imagine it’s a hard problem to get a smooth talking AI to reliably control music and HomeKit devices, but we will see!
I think anything that Siri currently can do is not hard. Hahaha.
While I thoroughly agree with you, feel in my bones that Apple will only run something it can own, because otherwise they'd be at the mercy of a an external licenser. And their every move these past years has been to bring more and more of their tech in house as a way both to guarantee something different from what any competitors can offer, and/or to control costs and development timelines. I mean, I don't expect they'd ever bring screen manufacturing in house, but as we've seen with Apple Silicon, they created chips that worried other manufacturers and that no competitors can use.
It is really sad and disappointing to see how Apple has squandered their lead in the market with Siri, which seems only to have gotten (much) worse with time! It's also embarrassing for them that a near trillion dollar global company cannot manage more than a few large/important projects at one time. AI has been coming for a long, long, time. This is something which they should not just now be reconsidering.
But maybe they have been working on this (AI) and have simply kept the work well hidden?
TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️
Suspended
Are you guys sure you want this collaboration? ChatGPT > Siri Summary.
I doubt that they would; they will probably say "Look at how we improved Siri!"
Siri isn’t broken or flawed, it’s there to NOT spy on you! It’s useful for a few things, and easily ignored otherwise. If you want a full featured virtual assistant that spies on everything you do, well you have lots to choose from. Personally I’m fine with Siri as is. 🥉
Siri doesn't have a gender, nor a brain, nor is it susceptible to human ailments like dementia. It is code with a synthethised voice. Your need to humanise it and then spend the next two paragraphs trying to dehumanise it again is quite fascinating and at the same time, shows how little you value people, given your descriptors.
I can just see it now I'll start Siri on one device and have it talk to another device running Siri and I'll go back-and-forth until they solve quantum physics.
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Not at all. Back in the day, I used to be able to do things like ask Cortana "Where is the closest starbucks", and she would get me directions (it might have even been pre-cortana, it's been many years). I could follow up with something like "when does it close" and she would know that I meant the nearest starbucks as the context. I used to have entire texting conversations with my wife while driving home from work, and the only time it would fail me was when I was in a dead spot.
Now, I have an iPhone 13, connected to a 2022 car via CarPlay, and asking Siri for directions is an exercise in frustration. About 1/2 of the time she doesn't hear me correctly or just can't get directions, and once when I asked her for directions to "Hobby Express" (a hobby store 10 minutes from where I was), she told me there was no way to drive from my current location to somewhere in South America.
Getting directions to the closest Starbucks and figuring out when it closes, using Siri while driving, is damn near impossible.