Hi allHere is an article I came across today and I must say that I agree wit
the conclusion or bottom line which is near the bottom of this email. The use
of the Amazon Echo which we heard recently at an exchange meet really depends
on these AI (Artificial Intelligence) systems and they need to get smarter
before they become useful to us. Remember they are dumb and not us!
Here is the article from The Verge
Regards
John
Welcome to Mossberg, a weekly commentary and reviews column on The Verge and
Recode by veteran tech journalist Walt Mossberg, now an Executive Editor at The
Verge and Editor at Large of Recode. Iâve been familiar with Siri longer
than most people. Way back in 2009, two years before Apple incorporated the
intelligent digital assistant into the iPhone, I stood onstage with the
inventors of the service while they debuted it at a tech conference I
co-produced. At the time, it was just a third-party app on the iPhone App
Store. Not long thereafter, Apple bought the company and the assistant
reemerged in 2011 with a splashy introduction as a core feature of the iPhone
4S.In addition to the iPhone, Siri is now on the iPad, and was recently added
to the Mac. Itâs also on Apple TV. Via the phone, itâs the key user
interface in Appleâs CarPlay infotainment system for autos and even the
soon-to-be-released wireless AirPod earbuds."Why does Siri seem so dumb?"Siri
is also the point of the spear for Apple in the coming tech war, just getting
started, to make artificial intelligence a natural, conversational part of your
world â at home, on your phone, in your car, everywhere. And Apple had a big
head start with Siri.So why does Siri seem so dumb? Why are its talents so
limited? Why does it stumble so often? When was the last time Siri delighted
you with a satisfying and surprising answer or action? For me at least, and
for many people I know, itâs been years. Siriâs huge promise has been
shrunk to just making voice calls and sending messages to contacts, and maybe
getting the weather, using voice commands. Some users find it a reliable way to
set timers, alarms, notes and reminders, or to find restaurants. But many of
these tasks could be done with the crude, pre-Siri voice command features on
the iPhone and other phones, albeit in a more clumsy way.A blown advantageIt
seems to me that Apple has wasted its lead with Siri. And now Google, Amazon,
Microsoft, Facebook, and others are on the march. Apple has made excited
announcements each time it added knowledge domains like sports and movies and
restaurants to Siri on the iPhone. But it seems like it hasnât added any
major new topic domains in quite a while."Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook,
and others are on the march"The only new domain listed on Appleâs Siri
webpage is for controlling home devices compatible with Appleâs HomeKit
platform, a use case thatâs quite small. You can now use Siri to "turn the
lights blue" or "turn on the bathroom heater" â integrations Amazonâs Echo
and Alexa assistant have led the way on. And the always-listening Echo is
faster than pressing the iPhoneâs home button to call up Siri and more
reliable than the "Hey Siri" command that can be hit or miss. Whenâs the
presidential debate? Siri had no clue.If you try and treat Siri like a truly
intelligent assistant, aware of the wider world, it often fails, even though
Apple presentations and its Siri website suggest otherwise. (And Iâm not
talking about getting your voice wrong. In my recent experience, Siri has
become quite good at transcribing what Iâm asking, just not at answering
it.)In recent weeks, on multiple Apple devices, Siri has been unable to tell me
the names of the major party candidates for president and vice president of the
United States. Or when they were debating. Or when the Emmy awards show was due
to be on. Or the date of the World Series. When I asked it "What is the weather
on Crete?" it gave me the weather for Crete, Illinois, a small village which
â while Iâm sure itâs great â isnât what most people mean when they
ask for the weather on Crete, the famous Greek island."Google Now answered
every one of these questions correctly"Google Now, on the same Apple devices,
using the same voice input, answered every one of these questions clearly and
correctly. And that isnât even Googleâs latest digital helper, the new
Google Assistant.If you try most of these broken examples right now, theyâll
work properly, because Apple fixed them after I tweeted screenshots of most of
them in exasperation and asked the company about them.Apple stressed to me that
itâs constantly improving Siri, and also stressed that it focuses its Siri
efforts on the kinds of tasks that it says millions of people ask every day:
placing phone calls, sending texts, and finding places. It puts much less
emphasis on what it calls "long tail" questions, like the ones Iâve cited
above, which in some cases, Apple says, number in only the hundreds each
day.But I suspect people donât ask those questions because, after trying a
time or two and getting no answers or wrong answers, they just give up on Siri.
And I canât see how asking when the 2016 presidential debates are being held
is a more "long tail" query than asking when Abraham Lincoln was born. Thatâs
a question Siri not only can answer, but which Apple touts on its
website.Everyday stumblesApple also says Siri is focused on enabling you "to
work with your device in a hands-free way." But, in my recent tests, it even
fails for me, or is inconsistent, too often when relying on data thatâs right
on the device or in iCloud.For instance, when I asked Siri on my Mac how long
it would take me to get to work, it said it didnât have my work address â
even though the "me" contact card contains a work address and the same synced
contact card on my iPhone allowed Siri to give me an answer.Similarly, on my
iPad, when I asked what my next appointment was, it said "Sorry, Walt,
somethingâs wrong" â repeatedly, with slightly different wording, in
multiple places on multiple days. But, using the same Apple calendar and data,
Siri answered correctly on the iPhone.When I asked it for pictures I had taken
in York, England, this summer, it mixed them up with pictures I took years ago
in Yorktown, Virginia. And yes, it had transcribed the question itself
perfectly.It couldnât find recent iMessages from my daughter-in-law, saying I
had none, on the very day sheâd sent two. And, if you have duplicate
information for frequent contacts, Siri isnât smart enough to know which one
you use most often or used last time to call or text.Who is Tim Cook?It also
canât distinguish between the question of "who is" a person, and a request
for that personâs contact card. For instance, I have a contact card for Apple
CEO Tim Cook. When I ask "Who is Tim Cook?" Siri shows me the contact card, not
his bio. But, on a Samsung Galaxy S7 (Samsungâs non-exploding model) which
also has a contact card for Cook, Google Now understands the question perfectly
and gives me his Wikipedia entry. If I ask Google Now on the Galaxy to "email
Tim Cook," it does that, too â just like Siri.Some consolationSiri isnât
the only element of Appleâs artificial intelligence strategy. Its latest
operating systems and core apps do some smart things, like guessing an unknown
callerâs name from information in an email. Or automatically marking on a map
where you parked your car. Or notifying you via your Apple watch how long your
commute is when your phone connects to the Bluetooth in your car at a certain
time of day.Bottom lineYes, Siri can usually place a call or send a text. It
can tell you sports standings, Yelp restaurant reviews, and movie times â
features Apple added years ago. And it must be said that all of its competitors
have their own limitations and also make mistakes."The AI revolution will
demand more"But, in its current incarnation, Siri is too limited and unreliable
to be an effective weapon for Apple in the coming AI wars. It seems stagnant.
Apple didnât become great by just following the data on what customers are
doing today. It became great by delighting customers with feats they didnât
expect. The AI revolution will demand even more of that.
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