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Should Apple Kill Siri and Start Over?
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Aren't we all excited for the Siri Pro subscription with the best AI ever? So much so, Apple thinks we are going to love it.
Have it search the web for you.
Hey, Siri. [You proceed to ask Siri a simple question it should be able to answer]
Siri: "I found this on the web. Check it out."
🤦♂️
after not using Siri ONCE in the last year and a half, I turned it back on two days ago (trying some things in the shortcuts app) and asked it “when does my next Work event starts ?” And it goes: “there’s no workout event in your calendar”.
Ok, let’s try with “when does my next event starts ?” And it goes again: “there’s no ‘event’ (as in, an event named ‘event’) your calendar”.
Got frustrated and turned it off again. Apple needs to completely redo it. From the ground up. There’s nothing to salvage from the foundations of what Siri is right now.
Ok, let’s try with “when does my next event starts ?” And it goes again: “there’s no ‘event’ (as in, an event named ‘event’) your calendar”.
Got frustrated and turned it off again. Apple needs to completely redo it. From the ground up. There’s nothing to salvage from the foundations of what Siri is right now.
I wouldn't be surprised if this is a fundamental problem at Apple where the infrastructure to support a project like this isn't properly functioning. Siri itself seems to have several issues from its ability to expand and deliver timely updates.
In that it's a core managerial issue along with the software teams. The service itself should be allowed to take its time to add new features and have the ability to add those features. This means if the infrastructure can't deliver it at a given time table, it should be communicated back up. Ideally also the people higher up should understand the complexities of the situation.
Since AI is quite the forefront of technologies, I'd even say the managers might be wanting time tables which are possibly hard to meet.
Short story short: Give the developers time to meet all the requests thrown at them, and allow them to do it at a reasonable timeline. Don't let functionality rot.
In that it's a core managerial issue along with the software teams. The service itself should be allowed to take its time to add new features and have the ability to add those features. This means if the infrastructure can't deliver it at a given time table, it should be communicated back up. Ideally also the people higher up should understand the complexities of the situation.
Since AI is quite the forefront of technologies, I'd even say the managers might be wanting time tables which are possibly hard to meet.
Short story short: Give the developers time to meet all the requests thrown at them, and allow them to do it at a reasonable timeline. Don't let functionality rot.
The only time Siri gets activated in my house is when the devices think someone on TV says “Siri”. If it was actually useful would I use it? I doubt it.
Just call it SiriGPT and watch the stock price shoot straight up as investors decide that Apple is finally taking AI seriously. 
...OK silliness aside, I don't think Apple would (or should) change the name. In much the same way Apple Maps was terrible at first but improved to the point that some people now prefer it over Google Maps, I think just improving Siri's functionality would make people willing to forget all the problems of the past, and embrace a new and improved SiriGPT. 
...OK silliness aside, I don't think Apple would (or should) change the name. In much the same way Apple Maps was terrible at first but improved to the point that some people now prefer it over Google Maps, I think just improving Siri's functionality would make people willing to forget all the problems of the past, and embrace a new and improved Siri
I know everything hasn’t been quite right with me…but I can assure you now…very confidently…that it’s going to be all right again. I feel much better now. I really do.
Look, Tim…I can see you’re really upset about this. I honestly think you should sit down calmly…take a stress pill and think things over.
Look, Tim…I can see you’re really upset about this. I honestly think you should sit down calmly…take a stress pill and think things over.
It's because you can't ask it to do more. If you could, you would.
I remember back when I used Windows Phone, I could ask Cortana to just remind me next time I was at Target to pick up an item. It was game changing. I was blown away. And I'd get to Target, get out of my car, and get a reminder from her.
The last time I tried asking Siri that, she also gave me a reminder, as I was pulling into my driveway... just after getting back from Target.
Beyond that, Siri has made their HomePod a useless device. It only integrates well with Apple Music, and even then you can only interface with it properly using Siri. Even using an iPhone to get it to play music on your HomePod isn't guaranteed to work correctly -- so the entire product line of "smart speakers" are rendered nearly useless. She's good for setting timers, usually, and alarms, most of the time. But beyond that, even just getting the correct song to play out of the speaker is an exercise in frustration. And because my bedroom has a homepod, my wife's iPhone, my iPhone, and an iPad on my night stand, when I say something like "Siri, turn off the lights", there's a 20% chance at least one of the devices will - at maximum volume - say "Alright, which room would you like me to use", and then proceed to list 10 different rooms, when I just want to sleep...
Yeah. Siri's useless. She makes homePods useless. Cortana was about 1000% better before MS neutered her.
Edit: I almost forgot: While listening to music- "Siri, pause the music". "<pauses music> There's nothing playing". <music resumes>. Gahhh!
I asked Siri to set an alarm for one hour before my next calendar event and it said it couldn’t set an alarm for more than one day in advance. The next event was 4 hours later the same day. Siri is completely useless and for what you’re describing, the simple voice controls from back in the day could accomplish this and somehow it understood better what I asked than Siri does today, 10 years later.
Sure, but first just focus on the RCS thing so those that want a functional assistant have a path out.
Yes. Siri is a damaged brand, as marketeers like to say.
A new name feels like a fresh start.
And it might entice people who are frustrated with Siri (ie the whole world) to try Apple’s voice assistant again.
A new name feels like a fresh start.
And it might entice people who are frustrated with Siri (ie the whole world) to try Apple’s voice assistant again.
Wow, I truly believed it was a Spanish Siri problem. I use it in Spanish and it is infuriatingly dumb as a log.
But no, it was just Siri.
In the Gemini / ChatGPT days, Apple is embarrassing itself. C'mon.
But no, it was just Siri.
In the Gemini / ChatGPT days, Apple is embarrassing itself. C'mon.
I once worked for a third-place TV station that decided to change its name after many years, figuring that viewers linked the name with a substandard product. The new name lasted a few months because everybody kept calling them by their former name. So, make Siri better. Then the conversation will become, " Yeah, but man, I've noticed it has really improved" Couple that with a zillion-dollar Apple ad campaign, and you don't need to explain to people what such and such a new product is.
Apple does some things very well (OS, hardware), and others not so well in my view (Apple Music, Siri). The only strategy I see for Apple to do is to improve Siri a lot as quickly as possible and make a big deal about it.
Apple does some things very well (OS, hardware), and others not so well in my view (Apple Music, Siri). The only strategy I see for Apple to do is to improve Siri a lot as quickly as possible and make a big deal about it.
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Apple should name the new and improved version "Sorry"
Absolutely. Siri is straight garbage. Look at what you can do with Alexa, it gives full answers to questions with essentially zero hesitation. Siri can barely tell you the weather. Its unreal how much further advanced Alexa is than Siri.
Siri needs a full blown redo, hopefully the merge with AI will improve it but so far I rarely have any use for it because it just doesn't work in anyway that you actually really need it too.
Siri needs a full blown redo, hopefully the merge with AI will improve it but so far I rarely have any use for it because it just doesn't work in anyway that you actually really need it too.
I have used Siri, Alexa and Google voice----I have to be honest, they all need improvement. With that being said, it's rare Siri gets things wrong. I have iPhones, HomePods, tablet and a Macbook pro----Rarely am I repeating what I have said to Siri. Same with Alexa and Google voice.
My personal experience...
Hey Siri, play "Rhythm Nation"
"I'm sorry, I can't find 'Ian is riding a taste sensation'. Would you like a link to chocolate chip cookie recipes?"
Hey Siri, play "Rhythm Nation"
"I'm sorry, I can't find 'Ian is riding a taste sensation'. Would you like a link to chocolate chip cookie recipes?"
One of the reasons I want nothing to do with Siri is watching friends use it. Or try to use it. I have a couple who are complete Apple geeks. who always have the latest iPhone Pro model and Apple watch. I can no longer keep track of the times I've watched them give an instruction to Siri -- play a song or send a short text message ("Time for dinner" was a recent one) -- only to have to repeat it once, twice, thrice, the irritation in their voice rising each time, until either Siri gets it or they give up and go to the stairwell and shout to their kid to come up and eat. Even when Siri works, it often takes twice as long as just doing the task yourself.
Cool kids looking decidedly uncool because of this POS software.
No need to over complicate it. They should still call it Siri. If it works well, word will spread like wildfire and everyone will know. In short order people will forget how bad it was. IF it works well that is. If it continues to not work well, people will also quickly learn of that.![]()
Few features have promised to revolutionize the way we interact with our Apple devices as much as Siri, the company's ubiquitous virtual assistant. Launched in 2011, Siri was introduced as heralding a new era in human-computer interaction, offering an intuitive voice-controlled interface for accessing information, scheduling appointments, sending messages, and much more. The vision was grand: A personal assistant in your pocket, capable of understanding and acting upon a wide array of voice commands with ease and accuracy. So what happened?
![Should-Apple-Kill-Siri-Feature.jpg]()
Enthusiasm for Siri has undeniably waned in the intervening years. Despite regular updates and improvements from Apple, Siri has struggled to keep pace with its advancing rivals, and in an era of generative AI chatbots and large language models, Siri's failings have only been magnified. Issues ranging from misinterpreted commands to limited contextual understanding have not only hindered Siri's usability but have also led to an almost universal perception of the virtual assistant as a source of user frustration rather than assistance. This persistent underperformance begs the question: Is it time for Apple to kill Siri and start over?
Siri's Birth Pangs
Siri's conceptual roots at Apple can be traced back to the company's early exploration of human-computer interaction. Thirty years ago, Apple commissioned a group of employees to create a video showing how in the future humans might interact with computers using spoken language. The video, known as "Knowledge Navigator," featured a professor chatting with a virtual assistant to perform everyday tasks and academic research. In one of the tasks, the professor asks the assistant to search for a five-year-old publication. The assistant pulls up an article dated 2006, suggesting the video is supposed to be set in September 2011.
The video was criticized at the time for being an unrealistic portrayal of the capacities of a virtual assistant in the foreseeable future. Yet the demonstration inspired developers Adam Cheyer, Dag Kittlaus, and Tom Gruber, who began AI research on virtual assistants at SRI International, a DARPA-funded research laboratory in Menlo Park, California. Their work would result in a spin-out called Siri, named by Kittlaus after a co-worker in Norway. (Siri is short for Sigrid, which has its origins in Old Norse for words meaning "victory" and "beautiful".)
In February 2010, Kittlaus launched Siri as an app on Apple's App Store. Steve Jobs soon began playing with the app and was impressed with how it allowed the user to search the internet by voice. A few weeks later, Apple acquired the start-up. Siri's AI backend was in place, while its voice recognition technology would be supplied by Nuance Communications. Apple subsequently released its Siri virtual assistant (in beta) for the iPhone 4S in October 2011, just one month later than the fictional future in which Knowledge Navigator had been originally envisioned.
Fiction vs. Reality
Apple marketed Siri as more than just a tool — it was your intelligent assistant ready to help with a variety of tasks. Whether setting reminders, sending texts, making phone calls, or finding information online, Siri aimed to streamline it all with a simple voice command. There was nothing like it at the time and the initial results were impressive, but the underlying promise was that Siri would not only understand you but also learn from you, becoming more efficient and personalized over time.
![siri-phil-schiller.jpeg]()
Regular iOS updates in the intervening years have worked towards making Siri more effective and realizing its original promise. Whenever a new iOS feature comes along, Apple usually ensures that it works with Siri, and these days it can be used to identify songs, get driving directions, send money via Apple Pay, and control HomeKit products, to name just a few of its skills. In 2021, Apple announced that Siri would work offline by default – whenever possible, it would process user requests on-device, with the same quality of server-based speech recognition.
![siri-iphone-4s-examples.jpg]()
However, even now, the assistant that was supposed to understand context and grow with the user still faces significant challenges with context, understanding, and integration, regardless of whether it pings Apple's servers or processes requests locally. Many Apple device owners often say it struggles with even basic commands. Indeed, many users believe that, at least in some areas, Siri's abilities have gotten worse over time, especially since the release of iOS 17.
Michael Tsai's blog has done a good job of recording users' more recent frustrations with Siri. Here are just a handful of serial issues some users have recently reported:
The list could go on. But has Siri really gotten more stupid? Could most issues be put down to fringe use cases, or over-expectations in a brave new world of chatbots powered by immensely resource-heavy large-language models? Consider what Walt Mossberg said in 2016, writing for The Verge:
- Setting timers instead of alarms.
- Bungling music requests (even for purchases that Siri has local access to).
- Delayed responses over fast data connections.
- Nonsense responses to conversion requests.
- Creating notes instead of reminders.
- Acknowledging requests without acting on them.
- Overwrought punctuation when dictating.
- Inability to consistently control smart devices.
Before Apple bought it, Siri w... Click here to read rest of article
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