A Blog by Jonathan Low

 

Jun 9, 2018

'Alexa, What's Wrong With Siri?'

With technology, it's ok to be somewhat behind if loyal customers are confident you can be a fast follower.

It's not ok to become the butt of jokes about your incompetence. JL


Joanna Stern reports in the Wall Street Journal:

The problem crystallized with the HomePod: Apple’s Siri-powered smart speaker just isn’t particularly smart. Siri’s general knowledge repository lags behind Google’s and Amazon’s. Not only does Siri often not know big things, but it also trails at trivia. (Ans) Using Siri outside of Apple’s walled garden has become one of the biggest frustrations. Siri processes 10 billion requests a month: five billion requests to set an alarm, three billion requests for the same thing because Siri didnt understand it the first time, two billion non-actual-requests, triggered by someone saying, 'seriously?'
Siri processes 10 billion requests a month, Apple said at its annual software developers conference.
The company didn’t reveal the breakdown, but I’m fairly confident in my math here:
  • Five billion requests to set an alarm
  • Three billion requests for the same thing, because Siri didn’t understand it the first time
  • Two billion not-actual-requests, triggered by somebody saying, “Seriously”
Sure, the formerly cutting-edge virtual assistant has become the butt of many a tech joke, but Apple’s Siri problem is only getting bigger. As Amazon and Google develop artificial-intelligence assistants that can do tasks small (set multiple cooking timers) and large (hold conversations with you and others), Siri has been stuck saying, “Here’s what I found on the Web for that.”
The problem crystallized with the HomePod: Apple’s Siri-powered smart speaker just isn’t particularly smart. At Apple’s biggest software event of the year Monday, just four months after HomePod’s release, the speaker was mentioned only once.
Apple does have some new ideas about what Siri should do for us when iOS 12 launches for iPhones and iPads in the fall: We’ll be able to program strings of tasks. A single custom phrase will, say, shut off the lights, turn down the thermostat and launch a podcast.
But it feels like the ultimate marketing fake-out. Hey, look at this new fancy Siri thing, not at the old broken Siri thing! The updates don’t address the personal assistant’s biggest shortcomings.
General knowledge
Siri’s general knowledge repository often lags behind Google’s and Amazon’s. Not only does Siri often not know big things, such as the time a nationally televised awards show starts, but it also trails at trivia—for instance, the age of a certain tech journalist.
Apple addresses this somewhat in iOS 12 by expanding Siri’s knowledge about celebrities, food and, uh, motor sports. Apple had no immediate comment; in the past, it has said it is improving Siri all the time.
Basic Utility
One of the things I love about speaking to gadgets is that with a few words I can quickly accomplish things that otherwise take many taps and swipes. Siri is good at certain basics, such as setting an alarm or firing off a quick text. But while Alexa and Google Assistant don’t break a sweat setting multiple cooking timers, allowing you to control a third-party music service or setting a song as your alarm, Siri still can’t do those things.
While Apple improved voice recognition on the HomePod and Apple Watch, Siri still has a fundamentally harder time understanding me than the others do. I don’t repeat myself with Alexa or Google nearly as much as I have to with Siri.
Now, Siri is responsible for even more nonvoice skills. In iOS 12, when the phone suggests turning off certain notifications you don’t use, Apple says it’s Siri making that decision. And it’s allegedly Siri who will suggest calling your colleague if you’re running late for a meeting. Attributing these features to Siri is clever, but it also feels like a marketing dodge.
Non-Apple tasks
Using Siri outside of Apple’s walled garden has become one of the biggest frustrations. A few years back, at this very conference, Apple added some integrations with outside apps, but went only so far. Ask Siri for directions and it will launch Apple Maps—no options for Google Maps or Waze. Ask Siri to play some Bruce Springsteen and you get Apple Music.
iOS 12’s new Shortcuts app is an attempt to allow Siri to climb Apple’s fence. The app lets you create your own custom “Hey Siri” phrase that will pull specific information from apps—even a series of apps. For instance, if I say, “I’m ready to run,” Siri could—and I’m riffing here—load up my run-tracking app, put on my Spotify running playlist and turn off the lights before I head out.
Of course, for that to happen, the developers of all those apps have to do back-end work to make their apps Siri-controllable. And then I’d have to customize the shortcut in the app. It’s a lot to ask of users. I can barely get my family to set up two-factor authentication.
In a year of significant user-privacy violations and too many reasons to distrust many of the tech giants, Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook’s message at Monday’s keynote was meaningful and believable.
“The customer is at the center of everything we do,” Mr. Cook said. Too bad Siri is still way out in left field.

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