Siri is still underwhelming (MacOS18.1 Public Beta + AI)

[venpopov]

(I had a calendar event called "Appointment at The Barber Paradox" on Aug 30)

Me: When was my last barber appointment?
Siri: There is nothing called "barber appointment" on your calendar

Me: When was my last appointment at The Barber Paradox?
Siri: There is nothing scheduled at Rennweg 32

(kudos, at least in principle it figured out where the appointment would have been)

Me: What were my events on August 30?
Siri: There is nothing scheduled for August 30, 2025

Me: What were my events on August 30, 2024?
Siri: *Finally gives me a correct overview of that day in the past*

Yeah, it's better than before. But it's "contextual awareness" is still bad, and it is very rigid. If I put the event in the future, it can find it but only if I give it the exact title. It can't figure out that when I ask for "When is my next barber appointment" that an appointment at The Barber Paradox is the relevant event

 

[Tagbert]

Siri is not expected to get the LLM intelligence until 18.3. It is currently using the ten-year-old natural language tech and inflexible data handling.

 

[venpopov]

Ah, that explains a lot. I was misled by the screen “Improved Siri is here” that was displayed first thing after updating the OS

 

[Tagbert]

Ah, that explains a lot. I was misled by the screen “Improved Siri is here” that was displayed first thing after updating the OS

Yea, I think Apple may have misled some people with some of their vague comments about when features will be available. The new look for Siri also implies new functionality that is not here yet and that will likely make some people expect more but get less improvement resulting in the kind of disappointment you expressed.

There is an article today that goes into more detail about when different features are expected. It appears from this that there will be some Siri improvements in 18.1 but that most will not be available until 18.4.

Apple Intelligence Features Expected to Roll Out in This Order Between iOS 18.1 and iOS 18.4 [Updated]

iOS 18 was released to the public earlier this month, but the first Apple Intelligence features will not be available until iOS 18.1 is released in...

www.macrumors.com