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I don't think Siri is the worst if you're familiar with ways that you can work with it. Google is probably the best at discerning intent from abstract speech bu

I don't think Siri is the worst if you're familiar with ways that you can work with it. Google is probably the best at discerning intent from abstract speech but Siri has never not worked for me when I've told it to do something, even going as far as HomeKit and trivia which, I would imagine, would have a lot of ways to misinterpret.

fastball 6y ago
From my experience, Siri is only good at the things we've never needed ML for (beyond MLs role in speech recognition). "Set me a timer" or "call my brother" both work great, but you can make something like that with off-the-shelf software and libraries in like an hour of hacking. They've integrated Siri in speakers, computers, phones, and more, and yet somehow it's worse than Alexa, where most of the exposure to that is just through echo devices.
- dkonofalski 6y ago
  Can you give an example of something that you can do with Alexa that you've had trouble with on Siri? I'd like to test that. I don't ever have issues with Siri and I'm struggling to think of something that Alexa would be that much better with.
  - fastball 6y ago
    I have personally found that Alexa is much better at general info questions (what is the capital of Djibouti?) and is much more responsive as a Smart Home orchestrator. Here's a face-off article[1] that might help. [1] https://www.tomsguide.com/us/alexa-vs-siri-vs-google,review-4772.html https://www.tomsguide.com/us/alexa-vs-siri-vs-google,review-...
    - dkonofalski 6y ago
      Interesting. I just tried that question and got the correct response and I use Siri for all my home automation stuff. I even have triggers that go off when my Apple Watch connects to certain things and I use my "Hey Siri, let's watch a movie" and "Hey, Siri, let's watch TV" scenes nearly every day. Edit: For reference, her answer was "Djibouti is the capital of Djibouti"
dzhiurgis 6y ago
It’s particularly bad on macos as it seems never know when to stop listening. “Call dad” never works on my macos for some reason, just crashes quietly. iOS or latest iPhone it slowed down massively most of the time hitting a race condition...

fastball 6y ago

From my experience, Siri is only good at the things we've never needed ML for (beyond MLs role in speech recognition). "Set me a timer" or "call my brother" both work great, but you can make something like that with off-the-shelf software and libraries in like an hour of hacking. They've integrated Siri in speakers, computers, phones, and more, and yet somehow it's worse than Alexa, where most of the exposure to that is just through echo devices.

dkonofalski 6y ago
Can you give an example of something that you can do with Alexa that you've had trouble with on Siri? I'd like to test that. I don't ever have issues with Siri and I'm struggling to think of something that Alexa would be that much better with.
- fastball 6y ago
  I have personally found that Alexa is much better at general info questions (what is the capital of Djibouti?) and is much more responsive as a Smart Home orchestrator. Here's a face-off article[1] that might help. [1] https://www.tomsguide.com/us/alexa-vs-siri-vs-google,review-4772.html https://www.tomsguide.com/us/alexa-vs-siri-vs-google,review-...
  - dkonofalski 6y ago
    Interesting. I just tried that question and got the correct response and I use Siri for all my home automation stuff. I even have triggers that go off when my Apple Watch connects to certain things and I use my "Hey Siri, let's watch a movie" and "Hey, Siri, let's watch TV" scenes nearly every day. Edit: For reference, her answer was "Djibouti is the capital of Djibouti"

dzhiurgis 6y ago

It’s particularly bad on macos as it seems never know when to stop listening. “Call dad” never works on my macos for some reason, just crashes quietly. iOS or latest iPhone it slowed down massively most of the time hitting a race condition...