Steve Jobs predicted Siri in 1984 interview with Newsweek

[Hankster]

Apparently, Jobs described something very similar to Siri back in 1984 when he was doing an interview with Newsweek. The interesting part is he talks about a "slate", I'd say he was talking about the iPad!

http://www.sirisource.com/2011/10/08/jobs/

Wonder what other ideas he had...

 

[Peace]

Incredible man. Just wow.

I liked this part.

"but it then starts to make connections between things, and one day when you’re 18 and you’ve just split up with your girlfriend it says: “You know, Steve, the same thing has happened three times in a row.”

 

[Hankster]

Incredible man. Just wow.

I liked this part.

"but it then starts to make connections between things, and one day when you’re 18 and you’ve just split up with your girlfriend it says: “You know, Steve, the same thing has happened three times in a row.”

That is the funny part, this interview could have been done last year. It would still apply. In 1984 I was 7...he was thinking of artificial intelligence!

 

[BaronStein]

I'm pretty sure that Siri will evolve to something awesome. It has the most potential compared to all other features of iOS5

 

[JohnnyQuest]

That's actually really incredible.

 

[Peace]

Well keep in mind Steve was a Star Trek fan and they had "slates" in the shows.

So I'm sure he got the concept/idea from Gene Roddenberry.

 

[nuckinfutz]

.

Apple's been on this trail for quite a while.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_Navigator

 

[boss.king]

I posted this on the iPhone board, but since we're reflecting on Steve Jobs and all..I thought others without iPhones would get a kick out of this. In an interview for Newsweek Jobs talks about a device very similar to Siri and the iPhone/iPad. Pretty interesting read.

http://www.sirisource.com/2011/10/08/jobs/

It's not really predicting anything. He had an idea and kept it until such a time that he could realise it. Interesting to read though, it looks like he's always had an image of a world he wants to create and has just been working to get closer and closer to it each year.

 

[robanga]

Gene Rodenberry predicted it in Star Trek in about '67

Seriously though, voice interaction with computers is getting more and more interesting. I remember the video of the original Mac synthesizing voice in front of the assembled employees. Pretty neat.

 

[lilo777]

That is the funny part, this interview could have been done last year. It would still apply. In 1984 I was 7...he was thinking of artificial intelligence!

You are too young. In 1980s, artificial intelligence was very popular among computer scientists. Everybody thought that AI would be a big thing. Well it turned out to be a total BS. Since then most everybody forgot about this AI crap except for IBM (with their Watson) and they are doing quite amazing things. Unfortunately, Siri is just gimmick.

 

[Chundles]

Steve Jobs didn't "predict" anything.

He had an idea of what he thought technology should be and do. Then he went out, got a bunch of like minded people, took the right ideas, companies and technology and MADE that idea happen.

 

[thewitt]

Siri is hardly a gimmick.

AI has been unattainable for most because of the huge resource requirements. As computers continue to become more powerful and cheaper, real world applications of AI technology will emerge.

Siri is just one of these real work emergence examples, using an innovative combination of client and server computing to put significant power in the hands of the user.

-t

 

[moderngamenewb]

I read another article (I forgot what the link is, but when I find it, I'll post it), from the 1980s where Steve Jobs talking about visioning the iCloud.

 

[Peace]

Steve Jobs didn't "predict" anything.

He had an idea of what he thought technology should be and do. Then he went out, got a bunch of like minded people, took the right ideas, companies and technology and MADE that idea happen.

Well THANK YOU VERY MUCH for ruining my day. Hrmphhh

All this time I thought Steve could predict the future.

 

[Chundles]

Well THANK YOU VERY MUCH for ruining my day. Hrmphhh

All this time I thought Steve could predict the future.

Just wanted to temper the "OMG Steve = Nostradamus" stuff going around. He didn't predict the future. He MADE the future.

 

[cward0715]

To be fair, while Steve did envision this type of interface, let's not forget to give credit where it is due. If not for the engineers at DARPA that went on to found SRI and make Siri, this technology would not be in the iPhone. While Steve did make the great decision to buy the young company and integrate it into the iPhone, the people responsible for the software deserve credit too.

 

[mcdj]

Arthur C. Clarke also predicted Siri, 16 years prior. He called it HAL.

 

[Peace]

Arthur C. Clarke also predicted Siri, 16 years prior. He called it HAL.

I'm afraid I can't agree with that Dave.

Gene Roddenberry had the Star Trek computer before HAL.

Her name was Majel.

 

[haiggy]

Haha wow, one of the better interviews I've read by Steve.

I agree the Siri thing was more something coming to FRUITion than prediction but either way still neat.

The interview itself though was great and worth reading. Very Steve-like. Some of the questions were AWFUL it's pretty hilarious to see how he goes about answering them.

I'll miss you Steve

 

[mcdj]

I'm afraid I can't agree with that Dave.

Gene Roddenberry had the Star Trek computer before HAL.

Her name was Majel.

All I said was Clarke also predicted it. Never said he was first. I'm sure if you dig deep enough, you'll find some sci fi writer from the 1800s who mused on AI as well.

 

[Hankster]

Haha wow, one of the better interviews I've read by Steve.

I agree the Siri thing was more something coming to FRUITion than prediction but either way still neat.

The interview itself though was great and worth reading. Very Steve-like. Some of the questions were AWFUL it's pretty hilarious to see how he goes about answering them.

I'll miss you Steve

Some of the answers he gave was pretty unique, of course it takes a unique mind to come up with some of these ideas.

 

[*LTD*]

This is the stuff I keep going on and on about: Apple's prescience. Whether it's 1984 or two decades later. It's such a rarity in the industry.

 

[kdarling]

You are too young. In 1980s, artificial intelligence was very popular among computer scientists. Everybody thought that AI would be a big thing.

Exactly. At the time of that interview, he was pretty much repeating what even the person on the street was sure would come to pass.

After all, people were just getting personal computers with voice I/O. Many had been exposed to conversations with the simple ELIZA program. We'd all been exposed to I Robot, HAL, Star Trek, the Lost in Space Robot and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The most popular project in Silicon Valley at the time was creating intelligent child pet robots (they all failed).

Of course, we also thought we'd be vacationing on the moon by now

Unfortunately, Jobs killed all such non-money-making R&D projects when he later came back into power at Apple. So it's been 25 years since that interview before we actually got Apple slates and voice assistants.

 

[Hankster]

Exactly. At the time of that interview, he was pretty much repeating what even the person on the street was sure would come to pass.

After all, people were just getting personal computers with voice I/O. Many had been exposed to conversations with the simple ELIZA program. We'd all been exposed to I Robot, HAL, Star Trek, the Lost in Space Robot and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The most popular project in Silicon Valley at the time was creating intelligent child pet robots (they all failed).

Of course, we also thought we'd be vacationing on the moon by now

Unfortunately, Jobs killed all such non-money-making R&D projects when he later came back into power at Apple. So it's been 25 years since that interview before we actually got Apple slates and voice assistants.

I think too often people think too big and not small. Everyone looks at talking robots and such, but they skip the small steps before that talking robot can be reached. I think Siri is an interesting step in that direction, and I know Apple and other companies will build on Siri and other AI. It's only a matter of time until cars and homes have an AI installed to do tasks by voice.

 

[KnightWRX]

I think too often people think too big and not small. Everyone looks at talking robots and such, but they skip the small steps before that talking robot can be reached. I think Siri is an interesting step in that direction, and I know Apple and other companies will build on Siri and other AI. It's only a matter of time until cars and homes have an AI installed to do tasks by voice.

Siri is more of a speech recognition and keyword finding engine than AI. It firsts just analyzes what you said and makes a sentence out of it (turns the sound into actual words it knows) and then extracts keywords (probably from a database, ie, food, restaurant, eating, eat, etc...) and finally builds a search engine query out of it.

It's not AI in that it can't predict what you want or determine your needs/desire from emotion in your voice/your tone, etc..

It's a more advanced form of voice control, something we've had for quite a long time ("Call Mom", "Play music", etc...), but it's nowhere near what the great Sci.Fi. minds have envisionned. We'll get there someday.