John Gruber trashes Siri

[mk313]

I'm not disputing anyone else's experience, but I have to say that since I got an Apple Watch, and use it a lot via Siri, Siri for me has been great. It's gotten better over time to the point where almost everything I want works right on the first try.

I have no idea if it's better/worse than Alexa/Google, as I don't use those. But for my purposes, Siri is pretty great already.

 

[HDFan]

The car was the other big bet. It didn't work out. The reason is pretty simple I think - the tech wasn't ready for Apple

Along with that there was no way to differentiate an Apple Car from the rest of the pack, could not find any manufacturer who would partner with them, low profit margins on car sales ....

 

[Tagbert]

Along with that there was no way to differentiate an Apple Car from the rest of the pack, could not find any manufacturer who would partner with them, low profit margins on car sales ....

Yes, their interest seemed to be in self-driving cars and a solid version of that tech still seems to be the proverbial "5 years away".

 

[FlyingDutch]

I nearly never use the "intelligent" features of Siri anymore, it is a complete disaster, especially in German. ChatGPT is so much better.

Exception: Sometimes I tell Siri via CarPlay to make a call or to write a message. That works in part but I use this only because I cannot type while driving.

There is one area where Siri has improved: You can today dictate better than 10 years ago. Still far from perfect, but usable.

What you are using is “old Siri”, since us Europeans cannot use APple Intelligence yet.

That's pretty much the only thing I can get Siri to do consistently well.

I’m using Siri for what it is: a tool. Turn on the lights, set a reminder, lower the volume… those kind of operations are done correctly even in my native language.

What a surprise, AI continues to ruin everything it seeps into

This ! 👆🏼
What many (purposely?) forgot to notice about the article, is that Gruber got a wrong answer also by Google AI ! The problem, at this stage, mainly is in AI, which isn’t giving you direct search answer, but somehow is trying to “elaborate” a coherent answer to be “smarter”. And most of the times it isn’t.

AI is a funny gimmick, but it is in an early stage (for Apple, it basically is a public beta), overall.
People expectations are high, higher than what is plausible. The companies are to blame, because they (including Apple) are advertising AI as a solid solution, while it is NOT.

 

[FlyingDutch]

I was just reading comments from Google users about how the Google assistant has gotten worse over the last couple of years. Alex has also regressed. I think each of these assistants hit a wall for the kind of tech behind them, natural language processing, and cannot adapt to the new situations.

Google is moving their assistant to an LLM. Rumors are that Apple will replace Siri with an LLM version in iOS 19. Even Amazon is preparing to bring out an LLM Alexa.

Exactly. See my answer above. The “AI thing” at this stage is messing up everything. Some are better than others , but everyone is experiencing some regressions.

I'm not disputing anyone else's experience, but I have to say that since I got an Apple Watch, and use it a lot via Siri, Siri for me has been great. It's gotten better over time to the point where almost everything I want works right on the first try.

I have no idea if it's better/worse than Alexa/Google, as I don't use those. But for my purposes, Siri is pretty great already.

I have your experience. Siri is working just fine to me, probably because we are using it for what it is: a tool to do some operations hands free. If I have to search for how tall is a mountain, I’m not asking Siri, I just open a browser. Just to make an example.
The big problem is every company is advertising those assistant to be so smart and comprehensive, so people’s expectations are very high.

 

[Eriamjh1138@DAN]

I want to see Siri able to do voice to text on device so that messages can be sent once back in cell or WiFi range.

No more “something went wrong” BS. Just tell me “I can send your message when I get a signal.”

 

[turbineseaplane]

Apple has to know that Siri is terrible.

No question about it!

Tim knows!

He said he uses every single Apple product, every single day

 

[2761216]

The big problem is every company is advertising those assistant to be so smart and comprehensive, so people’s expectations are very high.

Don’t forget the all the Terminator movies

 

[FlyingDutch]

Don’t forget the all the Terminator movies

Now I’m scared 😂

 

[Kyriakosss4]

I'm not disputing anyone else's experience, but I have to say that since I got an Apple Watch, and use it a lot via Siri, Siri for me has been great. It's gotten better over time to the point where almost everything I want works right on the first try.

I have no idea if it's better/worse than Alexa/Google, as I don't use those. But for my purposes, Siri is pretty great already.

So I have to buy an Apple watch to be able to place a phone call without unlocking my phone? Because that’s what happens at the moment. Siri asks me to unlock my iPhone before placing a call or continuing Spotify.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

It has always boggled my mind that Apple make such nice products on the whole and are being credited as a multiple trillion dollar company, but since its release, Siri has been absolute pants. I really don't know how Apple have made Siri such an integral part of all their portable devices, yet spent very little of their efforts making Siri better.
We have been promised a better Siri since the iPhone 5 and that released in September 2012!!

Remember Maps too? I tried that a few months back and it was also still rubbish and hadn't been updated on a road layout on my commute that changed over a year prior. Google and Waze were on it instantly with live updates. Come on Apple!

 

[mk313]

So I have to buy an Apple watch to be able to place a phone call without unlocking my phone? Because that’s what happens at the moment. Siri asks me to unlock my iPhone before placing a call or continuing Spotify.

Like I said in my very first sentence: "I'm not disputing anyone else's experience". Just stating my own.

 

[Lioness~]

Siri lives in Apple’s shadow or dark side, and if they don't adress these 'small' things it might be more clusters of people, with valuable knowledge, who will leave the company etc.
After all they need qualified people to work there.

Shadow (psychology) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[SebCohen]

Siri is like a former heroin addict who manage to kick the habit but now has a "cognitive load issue" and in general is just slow to respond. Sometimes she impresses you and sometimes you think "I better not ask her that again, for both of our sakes. Happy days.