3 ms·
Interesting take. I am kinda excited about voice assistants and the command-line style use cases for them, too, except the closed nature of Siri and the dominan
by veidr 5y ago
Interesting take. I am kinda excited about voice assistants and the command-line style use cases for them, too, except the closed nature of Siri and the dominance of Apple has probably set them back 10 or 20 years.
Yes, if Siri was open and any iOS app could easily make a "voice CLI" to their apps that would awesome. But, that's not the case at all.
I am a heavy user of Siri, too, with an Apple Watch and a HomePod in every room of my house. It's better than nothing. But it is still objectively terrible. It can barely do more than set timers, send text messages, and control the lights and music.
That's not useless, but it's not even close to what I wish I could do with my voice (which is basically what you describe).
- wwtrv 5y agoYou can do it using https://developer.apple.com/documentation/speech https://developer.apple.com/documentation/speech or is it actually missing anything necessary for a “voice cli” app?
- veidr 5y agoI haven't actually looked at in depth for a few OS releases (I was excited to make a voice CLI I could use with my watch, since I commuted by bike). I think they may have made some prgress since then, but I don't think the Speech.framework you linked to provides what we are talking about when we say a "CLI for voice". I think that API is only useful when you've already opened the app and it is able to record live audio (or process previously recorded audio). So you can't just be like, running from the feds and shout to your watch or phone, "Hey Siri, destroy evidence, password 'Rosebud'!" and have your arson app torch your meth lab.
- mettamage 5y agoHahaha! Nice one :D And here I am thinking about mundane applications such as: "Hey Siri, limit order 10 shares of ACME for $44.95" or "Hey Siri, call John Doe via WhatsApp" or "Hey Siri, invite John Doe and Jane Goodall to bowling on this Sunday 7PM via someSpecialCalendarAppThatIsNotTheStockCalendarApp"
- groby_b 5y ago"Thank you, I've ordered 10 shares of AYME for $4495" The fundamental problem with voice assistants is an utter lack of common sense. Any human assistant not completely asleep at the wheel would flag the above because it's outside your normal patterns and ask for clarification. Voice assistants will just go ahead and do it. And then play a Siberian Metal Polka song because they thought they heard that too.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]