4 ms·

I'm not sure people expect super-human performance out of Siri. An important difference is that a human who doesn't understand will say so, and ask to repeat th

by a3_nm 10y ago

I'm not sure people expect super-human performance out of Siri. An important difference is that a human who doesn't understand will say so, and ask to repeat the relevant part (or to choose between two alternatives), conversationally; or it will pick an interpretation which is not the intended one but was an understandable misunderstanding. Contrast this with speech recognition, which will often substitute words that are nonsensical in context, making it look silly from a human perspective...

cptskippy 10y ago
Exactly, when SR has a low confidence level it needs to ask for you to repeat yourself. Not just choose the highest confidence match and hope for the best.
- randyrand 10y ago
  Siri underlines words its not sure about. Then if you click it, it gives you a menu of potential other candidates. Seems like a good approach.
  - zaroth 10y ago
    It's a valid HCI solution to a technical failure mode. Once the software has advanced to the point where the AI is truly conversational, it is a watershed moment.
  - tarikjn 10y ago
    That's a good start but a probably the wrong interface for it, "non-native" in the context, a command initialized by voice should present the options by voice.
  - cptskippy 10y ago
    That's fine for dictation but of little use when driving or other eyes free scenarios.
click170 10y ago
I think another important difference is that humans won't get stuck in a loop asking you for clarification the same way several times, after 2 or 3 times they'll typically change behaviors. Eg they'll ask you to spell the word or respond with the not-understood word with a questioning tone to signal that they don't understand what that word means.
- jobigoud 10y ago
  This could be implemented though. Based on the part of the sentence that is understood, figure out most likely words for the missing part and ask a specific question about it to fill the gap.
  - legolas2412 10y ago
    See, it's not about hard coding such behavior. I would say that it reaches human level of understanding if it automatically learns these ways of solving the problem. Asking relevant questions can be hard coded, but it doesn't equal "understanding" the problem. I think the chinese room experiment overlooks this part of "understanding"
ams6110 10y ago
Also. When. People. Talk. To. Siri. They. Speak. Very. Distinctly. With. Clear. Separation. Between. Words. Or that is my observation, anyway. I don't use it myself.
- dasboth 10y ago
  I bet Siri's great at understanding what William Shatner says.

by a3_nm 10y ago

cptskippy 10y ago

Exactly, when SR has a low confidence level it needs to ask for you to repeat yourself. Not just choose the highest confidence match and hope for the best.

randyrand 10y ago
Siri underlines words its not sure about. Then if you click it, it gives you a menu of potential other candidates. Seems like a good approach.
- zaroth 10y ago
  It's a valid HCI solution to a technical failure mode. Once the software has advanced to the point where the AI is truly conversational, it is a watershed moment.
- tarikjn 10y ago
  That's a good start but a probably the wrong interface for it, "non-native" in the context, a command initialized by voice should present the options by voice.
- cptskippy 10y ago
  That's fine for dictation but of little use when driving or other eyes free scenarios.

click170 10y ago

I think another important difference is that humans won't get stuck in a loop asking you for clarification the same way several times, after 2 or 3 times they'll typically change behaviors. Eg they'll ask you to spell the word or respond with the not-understood word with a questioning tone to signal that they don't understand what that word means.

jobigoud 10y ago
This could be implemented though. Based on the part of the sentence that is understood, figure out most likely words for the missing part and ask a specific question about it to fill the gap.
- legolas2412 10y ago
  See, it's not about hard coding such behavior. I would say that it reaches human level of understanding if it automatically learns these ways of solving the problem. Asking relevant questions can be hard coded, but it doesn't equal "understanding" the problem. I think the chinese room experiment overlooks this part of "understanding"

ams6110 10y ago

Also. When. People. Talk. To. Siri. They. Speak. Very. Distinctly. With. Clear. Separation. Between. Words. Or that is my observation, anyway. I don't use it myself.

dasboth 10y ago
I bet Siri's great at understanding what William Shatner says.