She Whose Name Must Not Be Spoken Unless You Say “Hey”

 


Adobe Firefly image of a woman with large eyes

Everything I’ve read about the new IOS 17 Siri that will respond to both “Siri” and “Hey Siri” seems to be positive and welcoming. Apparently prefacing with “Hey” was quite onerous for the people now praising its demotion to being optional. You’d think that before this you had to say “Begging your pardon, Siri, but would you please” before every request.

Well, now you will have to be more careful when you talk about Siri. That is, when you invoke her name without wanting any response. This was easy in the olden days because you’d have to accidentally say “Hey Siri” and that’s pretty easy to avoid.

Apple did apparently think about this. I’ve found that Siri won’t light up when her name is buried betwixt words. Saying “I want to ask Siri something about turning on a light” is safe. Putting her name last — “Apple really needs to improve Siri” — also won’t get her attention.

Siri at the beginning of a sentence will always get her attention — the “I’m listening icon” will appear — but in most cases she’ll realize you weren’t talking to her and it will fade away. 

Screenshot of Siri’s reaction to my sayiong “Siri at the beginning of a sentence will always get her attention — the “I’m listening icon” will appear — but in most cases she’ll realize you weren’t talking to her and it will fade away.”

So this highly praised new time saver is not as likely to plunge you into darkness as it might have been had Apple been sloppy about it, though it might be possible to accidentally be ignored with a carelessly constructed request.

But c’mon, is this what we wanted? No, no, a thousand times no! We want SiriGPT!

How Apple's AI project could bring a long-overdue Siri breakthrough
Apple engineers are actively looking into language-generating AI, similar to the systems that underlie chatbots like…www.macworld.com

Yes, Apple, we know you are working on this. Our spies are everywhere, Tim, and you’ll never find all of them. 

Or so we wish, anyway. But seriously, Siri is embarrassing and making “Hey” optional doesn’t make me want to invite her to our next gabfest. So what’s the holdup?

Part of it surely is Apple’s typical “Let’s not throw something at the wall and see if it sticks” conservatism: Siri is too important to break. As much as I’d like a smarter Siri, I don’t want her core abilities damaged. I want Siri to be able to control HomeKit as well as plot an efficient route to my destination that involves a sudden side trip I just realized that I need to add. I don’t want any more “Sorry I can’t do that while you are driving” when the result I want could be read to me, but I don’t want to break anything she does well now.

Maybe that’s harder than we might think. My thought was perhaps Siri could stay pretty much as she is but have the ability to pass my demands to an AI when she’s confused or thinks she can’t do what I asked. But maybe that’s harder than yanking her out, roots and all, and replacing.

Okay, Apple, it’s hard, but this is getting really bad. I’m already using bard.google.com far more than Siri and I do NOT like to use anything by Google! 

I hope this gets fixed soon.

  • You might think that writing here means big money. Actually, it usually gets me only a dollar or so a day. That is why donations, one time or monthly, are always appreciated. See https://ko-fi.com/pcunix
  • Even better would be to leave a comment. Comments are payback by giving me and other readers new ideas. So disagree with me or point out something I missed — your thoughts matter!



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Telegram From Mark Twain to My Great-Grandfather

Image
  A Telegram From Mark Twain to My Great-Grandfather We have some written history and some oral history. Do they tell the same story? Anthony Lawrence (Pcunix) Photo by author — one of my most favorite books One of my cousins is very interested in genealogy. He has a lot of fun with it, perhaps because he often visits or has extensive phone contact with cousins he finds through his research. I’m not disinterested in my ancestors and living relatives. Still, I also realize that we are all cousins; for every famous person we might find a close connection with, dozens of rapscallions and worse are just as closely related. I also tend to question family lore. For example, my paternal great grandfather was an artist of some minor renown. The history passed down to me has him involved with many things, including: From Wikitree  https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Lawrence-5332 .. an interior designer for the White House under McKinley, the Toronto Parliament Building, the Boston Public Library (ce
Read more

A Major League Ballplayer Who Quoted Shakespeare at the Umpire

Image
  A Major League Ballplayer Who Quoted Shakespeare at the Umpire And who happened to be my mother’s uncle Anthony Lawrence (Pcunix) HISTORY My mother’s uncle wrote this book Lloyd Garrison “Chick” Davies was an unusual baseball player .  He only played four widely separated seasons in the major leagues and four more in the minors, but he did distinguish himself playing for the New York Giants in the 1926 World Series, leading the National League with 6 saves and 29 games finished. He also happened to be my great-uncle . See below for an update that explains that he did not play in the 1926 World Series but did play against Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, and Shoeless Joe Jackson. Oh, and he wrote a book about pitching .  I vaguely remember seeing a copy of it when his sister, my grandmother, lived with us after her husband died.  I wasn’t interested then in pitching or great-uncles I had never met; I wish now that I had been. My quest I  recently bought a well-worn copy of that book, titled  “Art
Read more

My Great-Grandfather’s Toy Cannon

Image
  My Great-Grandfather’s Toy Cannon I’m not sure that “toy” is the right word, however, that is the word my father and his mother used. Anthony Lawrence (Pcunix) History The “toy” cannon The picture above is a Lawrence family heirloom. I’m not sure that “toy” is the right word, however, that is the word my father and his mother used. I know that it was a gift to Herbert Myron Lawrence, my father’s grandfather. My father gave it to me and I, in turn, have given it to my oldest daughter. HML engraving I do not know how old Herbert was when he received this. He was born in 1851 and died in 1937, which does not identify the time frame of the gift. However, my father did say it was a gift, not something he bought for himself. That could be a misunderstanding. The cannon is engraved with HML initials. One  reference I found  asserts: In fact, toy cannons date back to the American Civil War and before, and not only were they popular toys for children, they were remarkably dangerous. Many of t
Read more