Unless you live under a rock, you’ll have heard of Siri. With the advancement of technology, AI virtual assistance has reached an impressive level of recognizing voice commands.
However, virtual assistance is still far from perfect, and Siri, in particular, often falls short of providing an excellent experience.
There’s no doubt that Siri is not as intuitive as Google Assistant and Alexa. Although Siri has had some serious incremental updates over the last few versions, it still needs a lot of work.
Even Apple’s most fervent supporters would admit that Siri is not as comprehensive and skillful as its competitors!
Apple has advanced its voice recognition ability, but the HomePod’s Siri integration shortcomings are glaring.
HomePod is a product that entirely operates on voice commands. As a result, the HomePod needs to deliver accuracy and consistency in voice commands – but that has not quite happened as of yet.
So, why is Siri so stupid sometimes? Today, we’ll talk about how Apple messed up its voice assistance offering even though it was released way ahead of its time.
The Beginning of Siri
After acquiring Siri in 2010 for $200 million, Apple planned to integrate the digital assistance app natively into the iPhone 4S.
This was the beginning of Siri, and Apple was already established. The integration of Siri into iPhones made it to the masses, and soon enough, people started using it.
With all those promising experiences that Apple has envisioned for Siri, it did not quite go the way Apple intended. As a result, iPhone users quickly realized that Siri was not as intuitive as expected.
The new voice assistance sabotaged the schedule of people, and overall it was not a helpful tool to integrate into people’s professional lives. It was only helpful to some extent if you wanted to know the weather for today!
Apple also introduced SiriKit in 2016, and it was a move from Apple to revive the greatness of Siri. Even after that, it was safe to say that Google Assistant and Alexa still had the upper hand.
Why is Siri Not That Intelligent?
According to Fox News, the downfall of Siri started when the late Steve Jobs passed in 2011. It was the beginning of the decline of the voice assistant because it started receiving delayed updates.
Former Apple executive Richard Williamson and Scott Forstall, who was leading the iOS software developing team, wanted to roll out only annual Siri updates.
These measures were taken in order to coincide with the iOS releases. However, Williamson denies that he slowed the updates for Siri and blamed it on Siri’s developers instead.
Some software engineers at Apple wanted to start over with Siri. The reason behind it was all the patching Apple was doing; the patching was why Siri failed to excel in the commercial world where Google Assistance and Alexa exist.
Digital Assistance needs regular incremental updates, and developers should avoid patching. Google Assistant and Alexa are constantly getting updates in the background. These voice assistants constantly learn new trends and how people give commands in general.
Williamson also stated that Siri was already slow to begin with, which was a result of serious bugs caused by the developers.
What is Siri Doing Wrong?
Siri can do basic tasks like setting reminders, setting alarms, calling, sending money to a friend, sending emails, etc. However, it is in these commands that it also lacks consistency.
We’ve done a bit of research into the experience of iPhone users who use Siri. We’ve discovered a pattern where Siri is making the wrong action in the process.
For instance, Happy_Man_Woo ponders the point of giving commands to Siri if it’s useless. His experience was something like this:
“Hey Siri, set a reminder for October 1st at noon.” Okay, what do you want to be reminded about?
“Don’t forget to go to class.” After that, Siri says “OK” and does not do anything to set the reminder. Of course, it leaves the user confused and annoyed.
There are thousands of similar stories like these on the internet. Siri fails to do basic tasks when there is some follow-up query. In this regard, Google Assistance and Alexa are far superior.
On the other hand, Siri is also not compatible with a lot of common apps due to Apple’s restrictions. Apple is certainly missing out on a lot of opportunities by not letting Siri be compatible with more apps!
Siri Can Be Your Best Friend
At present, Siri has developed a lot. It may not be as comprehensive as Google Assistant or Alexa yet, but it is far better than it was years ago.
Many do not overly use Siri or any other Assistance features because they need clear voice commands.
Imagine that you’re asking Siri to find the cheapest ticket to Brooklyn in a public place. The idea of giving loud commands to an electronic device sometimes still seems like it belongs to a cyber realm or distant future.
However, you can still have a fun time with Siri no matter how stupid it is at times!
The launch of AirPods has made Siri more accessible, and there is no doubt that more people are making use of it. You can have decent conversations with Siri and give Siri tasks about reminders, alarms, calling a friend, etc.
With just a soft double tap on either one of the AirPods, Siri will activate. You can start giving it a command (keep in mind that your AirPods need to be active).
How Can Siri Improve?
Siri needs updates that understand natural conversation-like commands with Siri. There is no doubt that there is a lack of context, which Siri cannot always capture. The level of its machine learning capabilities definitely needs a boost.
In contrast, Google has made Google Assistance in a way that it stores information about its users. It is one of the reasons why Google Assistance does context properly. It understands what you meant by “him,” “it,” they,” and “their,” etc.
Siri has vowed not to store the personal data of its users but also wants Siri to understand context-based commands.
Many experts don’t see how that will work since every person talks differently! The only way to understand context is by storing their command data and other useful information.
In Summary
In conclusion, Apple needs to ensure the proper functioning of its executives and developers.
There are internal management issues that are currently hindering the quality and future of Siri.
After that, they need to implement methods similar to what Google Assistant and Alexa are doing. Apple surrounds its users with Apple products and software, hence attracting users to its ecosystem.
Siri is the monopoly of that ecosystem when it comes to virtual assistants. However, it should not make Apple developers roll out poor integration to Siri, knowing it is the user’s only option.
Siri may be the only option if someone is using an iOS device. However, the poor experience of Siri has made many people leave the Apple Ecosystem as well.
So, Siri should learn from its competitors and become a compelling voice assistant and rise above being “stupid”. We hope this article was informative and helped to answer some of your questions!