Siri might get an AI boost, after testing improvements in tvOS

Apple might boost Siri's smarts

Apple is reportedly increasing its AI efforts after recent moves from other companies, and tvOS appears to be the first testing platform for an upgraded Siri.

Google and Microsoft have been including more artificial intelligence technology into their products thanks to OpenAI. Apple could be testing such technology as well, and it starts with tvOS 16.4.

A report on Thursday from 9to5Mac claims evidence of expanded Siri features in the tvOS 16.4 beta, said to be codenamed "Bobcat." The new framework, called "Siri Natural Language Generation," starts with using language generation to tell jokes but could also extend to timers.

It's not proof that Apple plans to create a ChatGPT clone in the form of a chatbot, but Siri may receive more intelligent capabilities for user queries.

Generative AI refers to algorithms that can create content such as audio, images, text, and videos. For example, Siri currently relies upon a database of known information but isn't capable of creating anything in response to a user's question.

Former Apple engineer John Burkey recently said that upgrading Siri required engineers to rebuild the entire database, and the process could take up to six weeks. But generative capabilities might help Siri provide information more quickly, though Burkey doesn't believe that Siri will become a chatbot like ChatGPT.

Apple is likely feeling pressure from the popularity of OpenAI and ChatGPT. It held an in-person event about artificial intelligence in February, its first such summit in years.

So far, Apple has reportedly released the new AI features to tvOS. If the rumor is true, the company will likely expand the technology to the rest of its operating systems.

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9 Comments

jdw

said about 1 year ago

As I said in a recent post on the same topic, the AI capabilities won't matter much. It's more than just Siri being stupid (technologically inept, mishearing me, etc.). The bigger problem is that Apple deliberately dummies it down out of fears it may cause trouble for the user. For example, I can't tell Siri to change settings on my iPhone, which makes me far, FAR more angry than Siri mishearing me a making a mistake. The entire purpose of Siri is to have it do things for me because my hands are busy doing something else. So when it tells me it can't do that, I know it's due to a stupid limitation imposed by Apple. That sort of thing cannot be fixed by a smarter AI. That can only be fixed by a smarter Apple who finally EMPOWERS me with commands to actually do something useful. If Apple did that right now, without adding any new AI capabilities, Siri would be vastly better and something I would start using.

gregoriusm

said about 1 year ago

Does anyone know how this is manifesting itself in tvOS? I am on 16.4 beta 4.

rmusikantow

said about 1 year ago

jdw said:

As I said in a recent post on the same topic, the AI capabilities won't matter much. It's more than just Siri being stupid (technologically inept, mishearing me, etc.). The bigger problem is that Apple deliberately dummies it down out of fears it may cause trouble for the user. For example, I can't tell Siri to change settings on my iPhone, which makes me far, FAR more angry than Siri mishearing me a making a mistake. The entire purpose of Siri is to have it do things for me because my hands are busy doing something else. So when it tells me it can't do that, I know it's due to a stupid limitation imposed by Apple. That sort of thing cannot be fixed by a smarter AI. That can only be fixed by a smarter Apple who finally EMPOWERS me with commands to actually do something useful. If Apple did that right now, without adding any new AI capabilities, Siri would be vastly better and something I would start using.

I agree, though having a smart home I use Siri all the time to operate lights, open my garage, set timers, and set alarms on my Home Pods.

ihatescreennames

said about 1 year ago

jdw said:

For example, I can't tell Siri to change settings on my iPhone, which makes me far, FAR more angry than Siri mishearing me a making a mistake. The entire purpose of Siri is to have it do things for me because my hands are busy doing something else.

Can you be more specific? I use Siri to change settings on my phone all the time with no issue.

I use Siri multiple times a day for all sorts of things and rarely have a problem (when I do have an issue it’s almost always requesting a song and getting something that is completely different). I set timers and alarms, all manner of HomeKit requests (lights, locks, thermostats, shades, fans, outlets, etc), send messages and have messages read to me, get directions, share my ETA, arm and disarm my alarm system, Intercom, general information requests (like getting the area or population of a country, asking someone’s age or death date, definitions), translations, the list goes on. I (and my household) use Siri all the time.

However, I’m baffled by how Siri can respond to one person’s request and they get a response that is different than the response I get when I ask the exact same question in the exact same way. A few years ago, on this forum, someone posted a screenshot where they asked Siri who starred in a particular movie. I don’t remember the response but it wasn’t the expected answer. I asked Siri the same question, worded exactly the same and the response was who starred along with release date, a photo of the movie poster, its run time and some other info.

genovelle

said about 1 year ago

I find Siri does far more than expected and limitations may be based on settings on individual phones. Siri reminds me where to go, remembers where I may go every week at a certain time on Monday and show it in notifications as a reminder. Reminds me when I’m separated from my devices that were traveling with me. I realized yesterday that she could change to a from dark mode by voice command. And so much more.