“Apple announced speech recognition for the next iPhone. Big deal. Android’s had it for more than a year. Apple is just playing ‘catch-up’ and the feature’s not really earth-shattering anyway. Right?” Mike Elgan asks facetiously for Cult of Mac.
“Wrong. Everything in that opening paragraph is wrong, except the sentence that reads ‘big deal,'” Elgan writes. “Siri is a very big deal, the biggest of deals.”
Elgan writes, “In fact, Siri is the most important thing to happen to mobile in this decade so far… Android Voice Actions is great technology, and is widely used by many Android fans. But it’s not really in the same class as Siri… [which] will be unlike anything the public has used before.”
“You can say things that technically or literally have nothing to do with what you mean, but Siri will in many cases figure out what you mean based on context, history and and artificial intelligence designed to understand regular human speech,” Elgan writes. “For example, if you want to set an alarm for your nap, just say ‘wake me up in 20 minutes.’ If you want to know what meetings you have scheduled for later, you can say, ‘how does the rest of my day look?'”
Elagn explains, “Android Voice Actions can’t do anything like this because it’s voice command software, not artificial intelligence… Apple via Siri will make A.I. a mainstream, everyday reality.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Android is for the cheap and/or ignorant. We pity those who settle for less than the best — a blatant, half-assed imitator, no less — especially when the best is basically the same price.
Now watch google copy this in about a year (or more) and say…”oh how else could we have put a voice command system without copying apple” as they did with android and samsung did with the galaxy tab
What android fans don’t get is that apple does not invent…they RE-invent and improves the case with iPhone
More like “redefine.” It’s not just an “improvement.”
Apple did not offer a smartphone for a long time, until Apple had the hardware and software technology needed to redefine the meaning of smartphone. After iPhone was released, the general definition of “smartphone” became an iPhone.
Apple did not create the first MP3 player, but after iPod, the general definition of “digital music player” was an iPod. Almost every personal computer in use today, whether it’s a Mac or Windows PC (or even Linux), is “personal computer” as re-defined by Apple in 1984.
In the same way, Apple did not fully incorporate voice-based commands on mobile devices until Apple had the technology to do Siri, which is MUCH more than voice-based commands; it’s AI. And going forward, voice interaction with a mobile device has been RE-defined by Siri.
Therein lies the genius. Therein lies our fanship.
I’ll post here what I’ve been posting on other forums all week:
It’s no surprise at all that the subtlety of this week’s event’s name was lost on all the pundits relative to what it was really about: “Let’s TALK, iPhone”.
Clearly, the core message was not about the iPhone at all, it was about Siri… Siri is Apple’s next great contribution – a paradigm shift that will, over time, completely change how we use ALL of our devices from here and into the future.
It’s big… huge… a game changer. It is to computing today what the mouse and GUI was in 1984.
Funny how a few of us normal people see it so clear and yet the experts missed it all together
In a few weeks, it will be difficult to find a pundit who dissed the iPhone 4S launch. They will be saying “I was there for its launch and I immediately knew that Siri was the next big thing! A major paradigm shift!”
But iCal knows the truth…doesn’t we, precious?!
Just when competitors *think* that they might be catching up on smartphones by copying the iPhone, Apple is already skating to the destination of the next puck.
So long, smartphone! Hello, AI phone!
You can’t even legally copy the iPhone 4 and iPad, Samsung and HTC and Google. How in heck are you going to deal with the AI phone?
Google will not be able to copy Siri.
Not even in five years.
However, Google also has an interest in AI, beit just to interpret the search clauses that you type in. But it is only recently that the users start to reap the benefits.
But after all these years, Google still doesn’t support a proper boolean (and nested) search clause, let alone perform some AI on THAT.
What have they been doing all the years up to now? Rather than make progress on the long promised intelligent searches an improve on the understanding and interpretation of search requests, they must have concentrated on trying to know as much about their users as possible.
My google searches are no longer even phrases. Instead, they are a string of words that let me look up something. I only use nouns because its the only thing google understands.
Right you are.
Samsung is going to be in a world of pain. What’s wrong with being the #1 supplier to the most valuble company in the world? Geez. They think they can compete with Apple in the world of hardware-software? Dream on… now they have ruined what was once a cozy relationship, and they will be used on when Apple feels like using them. Apple is the ravishing 24 year old girl who can date anyone she feels like.
the day when machines will become self aware is coming close at hand.
Google Voice is primitive. It’s akin to what a touch interface was before Apple came out with its multi-touch magic on the iPhone and iPad. You see, earlier touch interface was mainly an information kiosk type where you touch to select from a menu of choices. But with Apple’s multi-touch, you can manipulate elements on the screen with ease and intelligence.
Similarly, Google’s Voice is like the crude information kiosk. Apple’s SIRI is like HALL 9000 as depicted in Space Odyssey. HALL’s is fictional but SIRI makes the fictional HALL 9000 a reality.
I hope Apple would digitize Steve Jobs’ voice as standard in the voice activation component of SIRI in the iPhone, iPad and the Mac. This should be the most lasting and appropriate tribute to be accorded by Apple to the legacy of Steve Jobs.
Since SIRI is deeply integrated with Wolfram Alpha and Nuance, they might be attractive acquisition candidates for Apple.
Don’t mention Google and HAL9000 in the same sentence. Samsung will claim that as prior art for any A.I. that they add to future Android phones.
Be afraid. Be very afraid!
Sarah Connor?
“Android already has voice commands!” – Android sufferers
“But wait! Windows had automatic software backup long before time machine came out!” – windows sufferers
“I already have an mp3 player that I only paid xx bucks for!” – Dell ditty sufferers
“Nobody will ever want to use this thing called a mouse” – old what’s his name… dvorjakedup
It’s just a never ending parade of people who don’t understand that Apple takes what is, and makes it work. A whole lot better.
I don’t think it’s going to be so easy to copy. Even Apple didn’t copy Siri or create it, they bought it. And they mentioned their servers several times. Now we know what the purpose of the enormous data center in North Carolina. It wasn’t just iCloud, it was obviously Siri. As they said at the keynote, its a combination of the resident software on the phone and the process at the servers. This is a major undertaking that cannot be simply duplicated by some developers. I’m not saying that they can’t do it (though I see it as very unlikely), but for sure don’t expect it to be mimicked at the drop of a hat.
To date everything has been about like iPhone’s Voice Control. You say ‘Call Mom’ and it replies, “Calling Greg. Mobile.”
hahaha.. dude.. ROFLin.
Back when Apple first started playing with voice recognition about 15+ years ago, I set my Mac to recognize commands. Every time a fire truck drove by, my Mac was certain I’d said, “Shutdown.” It was fun. Siri is not fun, it’s amazing.
On New Zealand television some while ago was a phone company advertisement. (Naturally, I forget which phone!) The guy is in his car with his wife. He’s using a hands-free simple voice-control system. He needs to ask his phone to call his mother-in-law. He is obliged to whisper “call the old trout”. Wife suitably grumpy.
I think it’s beta because those servers need some time to crunch the early data and learn from it. The first time someone says, “help me get some grub,” Siri wll say, “Hold on a moment… I’m not sure I understand.” then you’ll explain and anyone anywhere who asks the same will get food choices.
The massive server-farm data-center will help Siri learn at an exponential rate…
Heheh, “learn at an exponential rate”:
“Human decisions are raemoofed from strategic defense…”
this just sounds so cool. I can’t wait to try it out 🙂
<>
As are PC’s.
My response to “Android is for the cheap and/or ignorant”
Remember when Steve Job enumerate the user interface trough time? The keyboard, the mouse, the click well, the finger?? Now, he left us the ultimate user interface of the decade, THE VOICE!!
Now, if a new master mind raises to became the next Steve Jobs, he has to invent the MIND!! as an user interface.
BTW, does Siri depends on the Internet to work even for in device actions? Like phone calls, playing music, setting timers?
I mean, where does the command recognition and interpretation takes place? En the phone or the cloud?
I would like to know the answe to that as well
I think you’ll find it’s built into the phone, which is why it cannot function on an iPhone 4, only a 4S, because the 4S has the RAM and the processor to run it. It HAS to be native to the phone and it’s OS, because there is no guarantee that a data capable network will be available. It’s very common for me to have a network connection, but no data connection, and I was on vacation last week in a part of the UK where ‘No Service’ was the default on my phone, the only time I could guarantee any data connection was using the wifi of the pub I was staying at, as even there I could only get a phone network for a few seconds at a time. Those who maintain that ‘the cloud’ is the answer to all their problems should get more than a couple of miles away from their home cities sometime, find out what the real world of flaky network and data connections is really like.
While you are correct- it has to stand on it’s own- in a lot of ways, without a network connection, some parts won’t work anyways. But I am sure their will be an opt in to share anonymous data so apple can let siri evolve and get better. I have zero doubt in my mind.
Imagine where this will be in ten years. I think this will be the legacy he leaves that makes the most profound of changes in our society. And that’s a hard act to to follow given what he’s already accomplished. A month ago, outside wishful thinking nerds, who thought they’d be carrying AI in their pocket by the middle of the month? NO ONE.
Pretty fucking amazing.
Apple did not JUST buy Siri – Apple changed a great deal to what Siri was when it was an app available to download.
Android is using (vlingo) it’s not even close.
I invite everyone to download and watch (again if you had) the interview Steve gave on June 1, 2010 at the All Things Digital D8 Conference from iTunes. I had goosebumps hearing the man talk about quite a few thinks that we know recently (Siri, iCloud, etc.). Specially how he talks about how the concept iPad and iOS came to be )before the iPhone in fact), way back in the early 2000s!!! Steve gives an inside on how things do work at Apple and after watching it (I did back when it came out first but paid little attention)… gave me peace of mind on how things will be at Apple in the future… And he really hinted about Apple getting the TV into the living room hopefully in the not so distant future.
But there’s nothing ‘cheaper’ about Android phones, its about 199 up front and the same cost per month. If you have a childish beef with Apple, you’re an Android user.
gotta agree on price. I paid about the same for my android phone when it came out as I could have spent on a new iPhone.
No beef with apple, I was replacing a 2nd Gen iPhone. I just wanted a device so that I could dig into Android and hack about a bit.
The cheap or free Android phones are um, well they are crap. Like anything if you want quality expect to pay something for it.
Everyone is currently excited about Siri as intelligent voice-based interaction for mobile devices. However, I think Siri can be (and will be) much more than that. As the article says, Siri is MORE important because it is A.I. that everyone can use. It will be on Macs, and users will be interacting with Siri in every conceivable way, not just by voice.
Yes!!!! Please, bring Siri to the Mac too.
You’re right, why not bring it to all Intel Macs. Surely they all have the processing power to run a Siri application.
Somebody told me that WP7 has something called Tellme. I have no idea what he was talking about. Anybody?
“Tellme” from MS, because it’s to stupid to figure out what to do on it’s own. No Ai there.
MS. Doesn’t have natural intelligence to creat the artificial intelligence.
What is the meaning iPhone 4s
iPhone for Steve
Could also be iPhone force
Could be “iPhone 4 Siri”
But … but … Android is more open (even if most of its users can’t really tell you how that benefits them).
That is a very cool part of Android for those of us who might want to build a ROM or really hack the software on the phone but for the majority of people you are exactly right… it does not benefit them….
Open has turned into a marketing term for Android and it really means nothing for 99% of everyone out there looking to buy a new phone.
Will Siri be Apple’s entry into the automobile voice command business?
In the presentation, I think Scott Forstall said you can touch the button on the Bluetooth earpiece, like you do now to answer an incoming call. In Apple’s video about Siri, I see the driver and jogger pressing the button on the microphone “nub” of the Apple earbud cord. So it’s not necessary to touch the iPhone.
Siri will be what diferentiates an Apple HDTV fro the others. No remote, just voice, and it will work with any set top box. “Siri, rewind that.” Siri, when is History Detectives on?” “Record it for me.” Now that is the real game changer. The HDTV competition better be quaking in their boots.
That’s a very good point. Siri is a perfect fit for Apple TV (whether it’s an add-on box or a complete HDTV).
this could be done right away if they integrate it to the remote app with ATV
Apple would also need release a new version of Apple TV that uses an A5 (and probably other upgraded specs) instead of the current A4 version.
There you go. AppleTV3 with Siri and A5 processor, with App store. iPhone 4s or iPad 2 for controllers. The incredibly thin 42 inch Apple touch screen display with Siri built in apple TV and A6 with quad core 4mghz processor will be 2013 Holiday! Rock on Apple, Siri was a good choice. In 2013 it won’t be Beta, but integrated into the mobile and desktop lineup. Available in 30 languages.
That would be killer. The 4S doing all the hard work, so that existing ATVs would work better.
Google wouldn’t make anything like Siri unless it could collect data for their clients.
Apple has the advantage.
So, was Abdulfattah Jandali sent back in time to subvert the T sent by Skynet?
CNET pretty much shoots down Siri as nothing special. You can do it all in Android already. Check this out.
http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-20117498-285/how-to-use-voice-commands-on-your-android-phone/
“Sharon Vaknin is a CNET How To expert focusing on mobile devices, Web services, and computing. When she’s not giving tech advice, she’s cooking, working out, or eating sushi.”
Mm hmmm. With those qualifications, she’d def be my go to gal for what’s up in the bleeding edge of tech! Totes!
Eating sushi is a euphemism for being a vagitarian.
I use some of the voice features on my android and it works quite well but i don’t think the people claiming Siri is just copying the voice features in android are grasping that Siri is likely to be a step beyond the current voice software in Android.
Apple may show up late to the party sometimes but they usually bring the most beer and the best drugs when they arrive.
“Apple may show up late to the party sometimes but they usually bring the most beer and the best drugs when they arrive.”
Dude, I am stealing that as of right now. However, being a librarian, I’ll be sure to credit you each time I use it.
I can already see the chief complaint from this generation to the next…
In my day we had to think with one brain!
nahh….i always hate voice command..i prefer manual only ,i will not replace my old phone because siri..its just doesnt make sense for me
Notice how many of the best ‘use cases’ of Siri are when you CAN’T use your hands (eg. the blind woman, the woman baking cookies, etc).
I saw a commercial in Korea where a woman was cooking in the kitchen and her hands were dirty. What did she do when the phone rang? She just passed her hand over the screen (not touching it) and the call picked up.
Brilliant!
I wonder if we can ‘answer our phones’ just by saying, “Answer, or Reject, or Block” when the phone rings. 😛
Yes, you can. Check out the end of the siri promo video. A blind woman controls everything iPhone with voice only…
Siri isn’t voice command. Voice interaction is probably a more accurate term.
Wow. So much cluelessness in one place. The mind boggles at some, if not all, of the comments here.
Please expound on your post or you will be dismissed as a troll.
I don’t have time to watch the keynote again, but I seem to remember Siri only needing the internet when you are dictating text. Anything else having to do with commands and interacting with what is already on the device can be done with an internet connection.
I do agree though that I wouldn’t be surprised if Siri on Apple’s servers will learn from what you dictate and then correct, see what you’ve corrected, and become far more “intelligent” and powerful in the future.
Correction: “… what is already on the device can be done WITHOUT an internet connection.”