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Siri AI

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711–720 of 746 posts

Re: Siri AI

#711
post #438

It's interesting how anemic the use cases seem to be - we see the same things recycled over and over: "reword my email", "remove object from picture", "add a reminder", "summarise my text message which was already only 20 words long" etc etc. As if these are the major problems in people's lives. I really feel like there's a fascinating valley of death between simple things that actually work and things of real value…

My iPhone knows the forecast for today. I installed iOS 27 yesterday. I asked it: please notify me when the temperature goes above 80F (so I can close the windows). Siri responded: it'll be 99F today in Phoenix. ...

do you live in Phoenix?

I just asked Siri a few weather questions and named the city where I live, nailed it. My favorite digital device is my Apple Watch and if Siri improves over the next hear or two, that will be great for me.

Re: Siri AI

#712
post #438

It's interesting how anemic the use cases seem to be - we see the same things recycled over and over: "reword my email", "remove object from picture", "add a reminder", "summarise my text message which was already only 20 words long" etc etc. As if these are the major problems in people's lives. I really feel like there's a fascinating valley of death between simple things that actually work and things of real value…

Yes, big companies do not know how to advertise AI. AI isn't a killer feature for anyone except people working in AI. No one uses it for anything but party tricks otherwise. The things AI would actually be useful for, it is incapable of doing.

AI as a "product" is about sucking up data for corporate interests first, then providing functionality to common people last with probably a few other steps in between.

Marketing departments have to twist themselves into pretzels and invent customers that don't exist in hopes to sell AI to people who look at those fake customers in the ads and go "Gee, I wish that was me!". People who casually book trips to Japan to shop for vintage clothes generally don't exist in such large numbers that they justify entire product stacks.

Here's what I need AI to do. Open an app, perform an action in said app, close app. Maybe open multiple apps and do things in other apps that are contingent upon data from one of the other apps.

Here's what AI can do. Poop Emojii with glasses....

Re: Siri AI

#713

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not what that is showing, it isn't reading a text you just got. It's you asking about the plant she told you about, it finding that text message, summarizing, and also proving with the text that it's accurate.

> Schiendelman sent you a message on hacker news clarifying what its showing. It's you asking about the plant she told you about, it finding that text message, summarizing, and also proving with the text that it's accurate. wow! we are in the future!

I chuckled, thank you. :)

Re: Siri AI

#714

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Shuffle playlist _____” broke a few years ago too. Now it consistently takes that to mean “Play other music similar to the playlist.” If I specify “Shuffle playlist _____ in Apple Music” somehow that works right, even though it’s still using Apple Music in the first example when it plays the wrong music. We’ll see if they managed to unfuck it with the new Siri update, or knowing LLMs perhaps they’ll make it non-dete…

I can’t even get hey siri, pause. Hey siri, play. To start and stop music and podcasts to work consistently

I only really use Siri for music control while driving so I haven't tried those (since there's a physical pause/mute button), but I'll have to try that and see if it's the same for me.

Pretty bad if simple one-word commands to system APIs don't work, we had better voice control capability with "Speakable Items" on classic Mac OS.

Re: Siri AI

#715
post #670
post #606

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would having goals on fiber, protein, and vitamin intake be an eating disorder?

When the urgency and complexity of those goals becomes so high that it creates daily burden, you are in the eating disorder territory.

Is looking up nutrients a significant daily burden?

Re: Siri AI

#716
post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the presenters said they're working with regulators in China and the EU to make it available eventually.

In the EU case, Apple weaponizes people's ignorance about regulation. Apple pretends that the features everyone else has been shipping left and right somehow need extra paperwork and special approvals, because (…checks notes…) pro-privacy EU laws let zero-privacy competitors sail through, but block implementations that offer more privacy!? What's really happening is Apple unilaterally withholding features while makin…

There is no privacy concern here. Probably monopoly concerns.

Personally I would consider withholding products or features from the EU, not because I want to "steal everyone's data", but because they're a pain in the neck for a small business to comply with.

Personally I think EU policies single handedly ruined the web. Every time I'm shown a cookie policy I am a tiny bit more angry at the EU. If I were Apple I would drag my feet way more. They probably only do it because shareholders would force them to go after the Euros if they didn't try.

Re: Siri AI

#717
post #675

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Giving normal people something that has only been available to rich people is a staple of technological innovation. The problem in this case with Siri isn’t that people don’t want an assistant. It’s that it doesn’t actually work yet.

But normal people have entirely different problems than rich people do! The amount of administrative overhead that would warrant a personal assistant is just vastly lower - most normal people: - don't travel frequently, - don't have so many complex inquiries that require someone to research, - don't have super complicated taxes to file, - don't go eating out in fancy restaurants that require special skills to get res…

Bang on.

Like you said, the non-digital things are where people need assistance most. Fold my laundry, clean my house, clean my car, make me dinner. At an affordable cost. I don't need you to book my trip to an all inclusive resort that I go on once a year at most.

We're at this place where AI/LLMs is truly incredible technology, but the futuristic vision of robot assistants doing things for you at an attainable cost isn't there yet - so a lot of companies/startups are trying to force feed purely digital consumer AI products (assistants/agents) that no one wants.

Re: Siri AI

#718

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Or perhaps pull over and adjust your routing like most of us do The entire point is I don't want to have to stop in order to receive new information. I don't know how to make that clearer, sorry.

Todays pulling over to adjust planning is yesterdays pulling over to make a call, and yesteryears pulling over to throw a map on the hood. Riding on a motorcycle is already dangerous enough with the average land tank driver on their phone. Talking to your AI assistant while riding at speed sounds like pending split focus disasters waiting to happen.

I think it’s time you hand in your licence.

Re: Siri AI

#719
post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they are ok with shortcuts being vibecoded, maybe it's time to expose a proper programming language to the end users as well. All my automation shortcuts can be easily explained in pseudo code under 5 minutes, but it took me ages to put them together because that weird UI/UX forcing me to drag-and-drop squares around to manipulate data structures. Programmers hate it, non-programmers can't understand it, it is not…

It's funny how they went from AppleScript -> "oh writing scripts is too complicated for users, let's create Automator" -> "Automator is too simple, let's create Shortcuts" -> now with shortcuts being generated by language models they need a structured scripting language again. AppleScript even had "dictionaries" declaring their commands and everything, would have been perfect way teach LLMs how to automate applicatio…

The original MCP!

Re: Siri AI

#720

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Siri turn off the main light in children's bedroom 100% of the time turns of all the lights in children's bedroom. Alexa has no problem with this. Disappointing to say the least. Completely useless, I was going to get an Android this year on upgrade cycle. Will check this out first.

> Siri turn off the main light in children's bedroom This is a fascinating example. You would initially assume it's just inconvenient versus flipping a switch--this can't be labour-saving by default. The only way it makes sense is if you're doing it remotely; from another room, you're putting your children to bed. That's even weirder though, because you're taking what should be a moment of connection/care and trying…

I have dimmable lights I need the main light at 20% to read a book and it's useful to whisper to my assistant instead of walking across the room. I really don't get the comment - just because you can't envision a usecase doesn't mean it's not useful to me. Wife was a total skeptic about smart home stuff but having alexa control the bedroom lights while changing diapers or preparing bottles at night for her to switch to using it constantly.

I would have preferred Siri because one less provider but it's just unbelievably bad for this day and age.

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