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I agree with this idea for one reason in particular: as a user, truly leveraging Siri requires a manual engagement - the experience is not conversational, it is

I agree with this idea for one reason in particular: as a user, truly leveraging Siri requires a manual engagement - the experience is not conversational, it is not like speaking with a person. It is like using a tool - one needs to conscientiously adjust oneself to follow its rules and get it to work as desired. Users actively taking control over how they use Siri (as in iOS 12 Siri shortcuts) will almost certainly encourage them to more conscientiously adjust their usage behavior patterns. There exists a general assumption that a voice has a human-intelligence behind it, but obviously now not all voices do. This poses a tough learning curve, as evinced by criticism of Siri as ineffective or plain bad. Yeah, Siri won’t respond the same way your boyfriend will when you ask him to find some good Chinese food, or express some feeling. But Siri will excell at setting alarms, or adding an event to the calendar, or starting a meditation with Timeless. It comes down to matching the language to the tool / following a protocol. It comes down to manually engaging with precision.

saagarjha 8y ago
> Siri won’t respond the same way your boyfriend will when you ask him to find some good Chinese food, or express some feeling I think Siri did pretty well when I asked her these: Q: Find me some good Chinese food Siri: I found four Chinese restaurants a little ways from you: Q: How are you? Siri: Very well, thank you!
- singularity2001 8y ago
  That's about the only things Siri can handle without completely blowing it.
  - saagarjha 8y ago
    Yeah, which is why I was surprised to see that the parent comment chose those as examples…
  - scarface74 8y ago
    I use Siri the most when I’m driving. It comes in handy for a lot of things then... Directions. - Take me to X. Reading text messages - “Read my text messages from my wife” or “Read my last text message” Reminders - “Remind me to call my X/do X when I get in the car/get out the car/get home/at Y” Music/Podcasts - Play X/Play a song by Y. Taking notes, calendar events, (What do I have to do today?)
- wool_gather 8y ago
  Parent said: > respond the same way your boyfriend will Note that she ignored the "good" part of the query, has no memory of the place you went to last time that you did/didn't like, can't filter by your preferred mode of travel, and so on.
  - mrsuprawsm 8y ago
    I think that that's the joke here.
whywhywhywhy 8y ago
> There exists a general assumption that a voice has a human-intelligence behind it, but obviously now not all voices do. This is one of the reasons I've always been bothered by the over-humanisation of Siri. I feel there is a belief on the Siri team that if they make it feel more like a human with jokes and overly verbose responses then people will be more forgiving when it fails. I've always felt the opposite, that it gives it a "incompetent super-intelligence" sort of vibe instead and I start to wonder if when I ask it to set a timer for the 3rd time if I'd be less frustrated if it just responded with a confused beep rather than a quip.

saagarjha 8y ago

> Siri won’t respond the same way your boyfriend will when you ask him to find some good Chinese food, or express some feeling I think Siri did pretty well when I asked her these: Q: Find me some good Chinese food Siri: I found four Chinese restaurants a little ways from you: Q: How are you? Siri: Very well, thank you!

singularity2001 8y ago
That's about the only things Siri can handle without completely blowing it.
- saagarjha 8y ago
  Yeah, which is why I was surprised to see that the parent comment chose those as examples…
- scarface74 8y ago
  I use Siri the most when I’m driving. It comes in handy for a lot of things then... Directions. - Take me to X. Reading text messages - “Read my text messages from my wife” or “Read my last text message” Reminders - “Remind me to call my X/do X when I get in the car/get out the car/get home/at Y” Music/Podcasts - Play X/Play a song by Y. Taking notes, calendar events, (What do I have to do today?)
wool_gather 8y ago
Parent said: > respond the same way your boyfriend will Note that she ignored the "good" part of the query, has no memory of the place you went to last time that you did/didn't like, can't filter by your preferred mode of travel, and so on.
- mrsuprawsm 8y ago
  I think that that's the joke here.

whywhywhywhy 8y ago

> There exists a general assumption that a voice has a human-intelligence behind it, but obviously now not all voices do. This is one of the reasons I've always been bothered by the over-humanisation of Siri. I feel there is a belief on the Siri team that if they make it feel more like a human with jokes and overly verbose responses then people will be more forgiving when it fails. I've always felt the opposite, that it gives it a "incompetent super-intelligence" sort of vibe instead and I start to wonder if when I ask it to set a timer for the 3rd time if I'd be less frustrated if it just responded with a confused beep rather than a quip.