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“Yes Siri is garbage but it doesn’t matter because Apple are probably working on a top secret new thing that will blow everyone else out of the water” You migh

“Yes Siri is garbage but it doesn’t matter because Apple are probably working on a top secret new thing that will blow everyone else out of the water” You might be right but there’s no real evidence for it yet.

mikepurvis 4y ago
Lots of things with Apple come out of nowhere. In this case there's actually quite a bit more evidence than usual because of all the fielded, underutilized hardware that's ready to go— when it launches, it'll likely be available on millions of devices, rather than as something you have to get the latest hardware to have, as is the case when the camera or screen undergoes a drastic improvement, or there's a new feature like wireless charging or NFC payments.
LoganDark 4y ago
Hasn't Siri remained relatively unchanged for over a decade? I think the most recent innovation was just bringing it to Intel Macs.
- bigDinosaur 4y ago
  It has had features removed.
- PopePompus 4y ago
  Yes, it's been stagnant for so very long that I, and I suspect most users, have learned the very few things that it can do reliably, and no longer even try to do something more sophisticated. If it became more capable, it might take a long while for most users to even notice, because we have stopped hoping it will pleasantly surprise us.
- sroussey 4y ago
  Most people didn’t notice, but dictation now runs in a hybrid mode — both on device and via server. So you get some (maybe poor) results at first (only results if offline but better than nothing) that get rewritten after a couple seconds from server. For Siri itself, I think it runs locally now.
parker_mountain 4y ago
>because Apple are probably working on a top secret new thing that will blow everyone else out of the water” that's a mischaracterization of what i said. what i said was that they have been clearly hiring key positions and cannibalizing the siri team for something new. that something new will likely be a major release. i also believe that the ar headset is the unifying product under which they're rallying.
- janekm 4y ago
  You may well be right, but if so that's a huge problem for Apple as by all accounts the AR device is still many years from being ready for release and meanwhile they are in a very precarious situation with Siri... The first proper integration of a Whisper & a GPT-class LM will be a big step change, a Siri-like AI that you can actually talk to somewhat sensibly and expect it to "understand" more than pre-set phrases... Google could be in a position to release something for Android, and their are Android SoCs with neural accelerators as well (sure nothing as impressive as Apple's chips but Samsung have demonstrated a cut-down SD model on their SoC).
  - parker_mountain 4y ago
    I don't think the new siri is intrinsicly tied to the device. I think that as part of remaking siri, they're using the new platform as a rallying cry and story as to why it's important. (it's hard to justify features such as making siri spatially aware otherwise)

mikepurvis 4y ago

Lots of things with Apple come out of nowhere. In this case there's actually quite a bit more evidence than usual because of all the fielded, underutilized hardware that's ready to go— when it launches, it'll likely be available on millions of devices, rather than as something you have to get the latest hardware to have, as is the case when the camera or screen undergoes a drastic improvement, or there's a new feature like wireless charging or NFC payments.

LoganDark 4y ago

Hasn't Siri remained relatively unchanged for over a decade? I think the most recent innovation was just bringing it to Intel Macs.

bigDinosaur 4y ago
It has had features removed.
PopePompus 4y ago
Yes, it's been stagnant for so very long that I, and I suspect most users, have learned the very few things that it can do reliably, and no longer even try to do something more sophisticated. If it became more capable, it might take a long while for most users to even notice, because we have stopped hoping it will pleasantly surprise us.
sroussey 4y ago
Most people didn’t notice, but dictation now runs in a hybrid mode — both on device and via server. So you get some (maybe poor) results at first (only results if offline but better than nothing) that get rewritten after a couple seconds from server. For Siri itself, I think it runs locally now.

parker_mountain 4y ago

>because Apple are probably working on a top secret new thing that will blow everyone else out of the water” that's a mischaracterization of what i said. what i said was that they have been clearly hiring key positions and cannibalizing the siri team for something new. that something new will likely be a major release. i also believe that the ar headset is the unifying product under which they're rallying.

janekm 4y ago
You may well be right, but if so that's a huge problem for Apple as by all accounts the AR device is still many years from being ready for release and meanwhile they are in a very precarious situation with Siri... The first proper integration of a Whisper & a GPT-class LM will be a big step change, a Siri-like AI that you can actually talk to somewhat sensibly and expect it to "understand" more than pre-set phrases... Google could be in a position to release something for Android, and their are Android SoCs with neural accelerators as well (sure nothing as impressive as Apple's chips but Samsung have demonstrated a cut-down SD model on their SoC).
- parker_mountain 4y ago
  I don't think the new siri is intrinsicly tied to the device. I think that as part of remaking siri, they're using the new platform as a rallying cry and story as to why it's important. (it's hard to justify features such as making siri spatially aware otherwise)