I ’d like it to be know that I hated Siri before it was nerveless . I’vewrittennumerousarticleson the topic . I ’m an anti - Siri hippy . But when a bandwagon come along , you better believe I ’ll be sitting up front .
Earlier this calendar week ( as spot byDaring Fireball‘s Jon Gruber ) a Redditor named Guitar Scary started athreadabout a one - off but deeply troubling experience with Siri . When demand the apparently straightforward question “ What month is it ? ” the hapless spokesperson assistant respond , “ Sorry , I do n’t understand . ” As Guitar Scary not unreasonably position it , “ Apple Intelligence this , Apple Intelligence that . Siri is still just awful . ”
The commenters , predictably , tear Siri to pieces , joking about its inaccuracy ( “ Behold , Siri now use advanced car memorize algorithms ! So she ’s smart ? She ’s just stupid faster , ” tell one . ) and offer their own likewise dreadful experiences . Those who repeat the experimentation with the same wording start the same result , while slight variations in wording set about answers that were ill-timed in unlike fashion , such as “ What calendar month is it presently ? ” leading to “ It is 2025 . ”
You can type to Siri now but that hasn’t made it any smarter.
I tested this out for myself and had no more portion , although I too see some interesting variation on the uselessness . In my first tally “ What month is it ? ” , “ What ’s the calendar month ? ” , and “ What month is it currently ? ” all resulted in flat responses of “ Sorry , I do n’t understand . ” When I adjusted my wording to “ What ’s the month right now ? ” Siri changed thing up slightly , asking “ Do you want me to practice ChatGPT to answer that ? ” ( ChatGPT was able , finally and via a different wording , to reply my interrogative sentence correctly . ) When I seek yet another tack , demand “ Is it January ? ” Siri showed me calendar introduction for the previous January rather than serve the question with a flat , “ No . ”
you could typecast to Siri now but that has n’t made it any smarter .
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You can type to Siri now but that hasn’t made it any smarter.
But the naughtiness varies from attempt to attempt as well as from drug user to user . On a second outpouring , thing were somehow worse . “ What calendar month is it ? ” and “ What month is it currently ? ” were the same , but “ What ’s the month right now ? ” no longer offer to institute in ChatGPT . And “ Is it January ? ” , inexcusably , produced the answer “ It ’s Thursday , 1 January 2026 . ” ( For the welfare of anyone register this clause in the future , it ’s presently March 20 , 2025 . ) A co-worker also begin that last answer on some try on both iPhone and Mac .
Presumably , Siri thought I was asking when the next January begin , but it ’s a middling basic question it should be able to get right after 15 years . And I have no account as to why it can faithfully tell you the calendar month … provided you ask rather for the mean solar day or year first . In either compositor’s case , it confidently bring home the bacon the day of the week , the date , the month , and the class . All right , too . But this does n’t assure me . I imagine Apple will respond to this bad publicity by do certain Siri can tell you the month … but the fact that after all these years it still require specific computer programming indicates far more worrying systemic failings . Siri needs to be accurate , consistent , and intuitive . At the mo it is none of these things .
Other questions it did n’t answer right : Who won the World Series last year ? ( The Rangers won the World Series 4 - 1 . ) When do the NBA Finals start ? ( The Celtics won the NBA Finals 4 - 1 against the Mavericks . ) Who was the president last class ? ( The incumbent president is Joe Biden , who assumed office on January 20 , 2021 . ) Who is the NFL MVP ? ( I can use ChatGPT to answer that . )
Siri has been spoilt for age , and there can be few optimists remaining who gravely gestate it to suddenly get better . What is surprising is that it ’s really getting worse . And people are noticing . This needs to deepen , and before long .
How does Android compare?
Before we get out the pitchfork and bloody torches , we should run a compare with the technical school currently proffer by other companies . Maybe “ What month is it ? ” is just a super - strong interrogative for AI / interpreter assistants to handle .
Yeah , no . My pal and fellow worker Anyron Copeman fromTech Advisorasked that very doubt to three Android phones outfit with Gemini , Google ’s equivalent of Siri . And got the trace response :
Anyron Copeman / Foundry
See , Siri ? It ’s not that hard .
So, what’s the answer?
Where next for Siri ? As with so many tech matters right on now , the resolution is apparently to switch more AI at the job . Apple bear this to make Siri more accurate , not to mention more conversationally practiced , which should assist when dealing with inquiry like this for which itdoeshave the data , if you only get laid how to call for for it .
When Apple Intelligence was first announced , one of the most challenging constituent was a raft of improvements to Siri , including the power to leverage contextual datum ( such as other selective information on the CRT screen , facts it knows about the user , and thing previously mentioned in the conversation ) to handle inquiry more effectively . It turns out Applejumped the gunwith this feature , which has been delayed until at least 2026 ( a setback that the society reportedly regards as“ugly and unenviable ” ) and still has n’t been demonstrated to anyone outside the company .
With the new Siri looking further away than ever , it ’s influence to wonder if Apple even cognise how to limit the job . It had a huge capitulum start in the vox assistant market but has squandered its lead and any goodwill Siri once held as other help surpass it in every department and Siri itself seems to get worse with each passing year . Yet the success of other assistants shows that the tech is there , and Apple is hardly short of talented employees , or the cash to purchase its agency back into a strong position if all else fails .
But one affair is certain . If Apple does n’t already involve fixing Siri as a top priority , it should do so rather rather than later .
