But don't they tell them too much? French journalist Judith Duportal shared her own story of revelations with Siri and figured out the intricacies of the relationship between people and voice assistants.
Revelations with Siri: why people pour out their souls to voice assistants
Veronica ElkinaIt's three o'clock in the morning, and my room is lit up by the light of the phone. Like every third person in the world, I always check my cell phone when I suddenly wake up in the middle of the night. I can't sleep, so I flip through one social app after another. “Siri, what is the meaning of life?” I ask. “I stopped asking myself that question,” the voice assistant replies. I'm asking the question again because I like it better when Siri says "Nietzsche has already answered this question."
As it turns out, I'm not the only one who turns to Siri with questions about life. For such cases, Apple is even looking for an engineer with a degree in psychology who could improve the quality of Siri's responses to such questions.
The heroine of the series "Mr. Robot" is talking to the Alexa virtual assistant.
Domestic users have been waiting for this day for a long time. Perhaps, since the first time at the summer exhibition WWDC 2011, Apple showed the new operating system iOS 5, announcing literally all of its new features, but withholding only one, as claimed - because of its incompleteness.
In mid-autumn, when the new head of Apple, Tim Cook, introduced the iPhone 4S, the very “secret” was revealed along with it. Apple Senior Vice President for iOS (at that time), Scott Forstall, demonstrated a still rather “raw”, but already fully functional beta version of the intelligent voice assistant Siri, which at that time became not only one of the main features of iOS 5, but also and exclusive to the iPhone 4S.
By the way, in fairness it should be noted that Apple, as, indeed, in most similar cases, was not the author of the implemented innovation. The direct developer of Siri was the company SRI International, which is a division of DARPA (Agency for Advanced Defense Research Development). Starting work on the project in 2007, it showed promising results, which quite logically attracted the attention of Apple.
The original developers of Siri were Doug Keetlauss, Tom Gruber, Norman Winarsky, and Adam Cheyner. Doug Keetlaus was the chief executive officer of the Siri project, but after it was bought by Apple, Doug left the post.
It is worth adding that the project was not built by the mentioned personalities from scratch. It is based on more than forty years of development by research groups in the field of voice recognition and processing at Carnegie Mellon, Rocherster, Stanford, Southern California, Massachusetts and Oregon Universities and, finally, the Institute for Human Rights and Machine Learning.
However, Apple cannot be accused of stealing or simply buying the idea of Siri, because back in 1988, it presented the world with a video with its concept of a computer voice assistant “Knowledge Navigator”. It demonstrated how in 2011 any person will be able to talk to a computer at the level of a full-fledged interlocutor, and he will be able to answer phone calls, record voice messages and book tickets and hotels for the “owner” ...
By the way, Siri was actually available to users much earlier as a separate application in the AppStore. It was not at that time as versatile and advanced as the one that was eventually integrated into iOS, but it did about the same thing that Apple once wanted to implement in its Knowledge Navigator assistant.
The statements of the creators of the program that they are going to port Siri to Android and Blackberry just became the “kick” that forced Apple to urgently buy it along with the “brains” of the developers.
And now Siri finally appeared as an embedded product and ... immediately disappointed most domestic owners of brand new iPhone 4S. Despite the spectacular presentation, where, integrated into the smartphone, Siri interacts with the main iOS applications, answers difficult questions, our users almost could not repeat this with their device.
The fact is that the first Siri did not support the Russian language, and our English pronunciation of certain commands was far from ideal, so Siri simply did not understand them. However, everything was not so bad. The fact is that the new Siri was not just a program for speech recognition. It is built on self-improving technology from Nuance Communications, which allows Siri to individually adapt to each user: listen and study him, analyzing not only his preferences, but also the characteristics of speech. Although intelligible pronunciation was still in the first place. The rest forgot about Siri for a while and just used their smartphone as usual and waited for the release of new iOS updates.
Time passed... iOS 6, iOS 7 appeared... Russian speech was still alien to Siri, and users only had to "lick their lips", looking at what new features the service gets with each update. Finally, there was hope ... After digging into the code of the next iOS 7 update, the hackers found a number of commands that indicate that Siri is already "learning" the Russian language somewhere in the depths of Apple. But iOS 8 appeared, upgraded to 8.1 and, which closed the possibility of jailbreak, 8.1.2. Even in beta 8.2 there was still no Russian language ...
But here it is! A new beta version of iOS 8.3 has become available to application developers (and everyone who knows how to pretend to be developers), where, in addition to an updated set of emoji emoticons with “politically correct” multi-colored faces, support for two-factor authorization for Google accounts, a wireless CarPlay interface and improved iCloud service Drive, the long-awaited Siri voice assistant in Russian has finally appeared.
For those who have not yet had time to get acquainted with this unique program, in a nutshell I will tell you what's what. Unlike other voice assistants that simply “listened” to you, sent a recorded video to the server and received a recognized command for the search engine, Siri interacts with a huge number of different services, which allows you to answer a variety of questions, including quite tricky ones.
The question asked is sent to the Apple server (Siri), where it is processed and sent to the appropriate service, which includes not only Google and Bing search engines, but OpenTable, André Gayot, Citysearch, BooRah, Yelp Inc, Yahoo Local, ReserveTravel and Localeze for business questions. To find information about events, Siri looks to Eventful, StubHub, and LiveKick. Siri will present new films by contacting MovieTickets.com, Rotten Tomatoes and The New York Times.ё
But that's not all. For the most specific questions that a regular search engine can’t handle, Siri allows you to answer WolframAlpha’s huge knowledge base and intelligent algorithms.
With its help, Siri is able to understand non-standard phrases like “Should I take an umbrella today?”. To such a question, Siri will independently view the weather forecast in your area and give an answer based on the data received.
Users note that Siri, which only appeared in the iPhone 4s, has advanced significantly over time. Unfortunately, the Russian version is not yet as flexible as, say, the English version, but the set of questions and commands that the Russian Siri understands unconditionally is quite large. The other day, a complete list of what the Russian Siri will understand and perform without problems leaked onto the Internet.
Contacts and questions about contacts
What is the address of [name in the database]?
What is the phone number of [name in the database]?
When is my wife's birthday?
Show home email address [database name]
My brother's office address
Contact search
Show [database name]
Find people with names [name options]
Family
My mother is [name in database]
[database name] is my brother
call my brother at work
Phone and phone calls
Call [database name]
Call [name in database] on mobile
Call [database name] at work
Dial [phone number with code and prefix]
Call home
Dial 112
call the fire department
Show my call history
Do I have missed calls?
Call back the last number
Do I have new messages on my answering machine?
Phone calls
Programs and Applications
Run Photo
Play [app name]
Open Facebook
Messages and sending messages
Say to [name in database]: "I'll be there soon"
Send message to [name in database]
Send [name in database] a message saying "How about tomorrow?"
Say to [name in database] "I really enjoyed the performance"
Send [name in database] a message to cell: "I'll be late"
Send message to number [number with code and prefix]
Write SMS: "Where are you?" [base name] and [base name]
Reading and replying to messages
Read my new messages
Read it again
Answer: "Great news!"
Tell him "I'll be there in [time]"
Call her
Search messages
Read the last post from [name in database]
Calendar and events
Schedule a meeting for [time]
Create an appointment with [database name] at [time]
Meeting with [database name] at [time]
Set up a builder meeting tomorrow at [time]
New meeting with [database name] at [time]
Schedule a meeting today at [time] in the meeting room
Reschedule the meeting from [time] to [time]
Reschedule dental visit to next [day], [time]
Add [database name] to my meeting with [database name]
Cancel the budget meeting
Questions about events
What do I have left today?
What do I have planned for [day of the week]?
When is my next meeting?
When do I have a meeting with [name in database]?
When is my next meeting?
Maps and navigation
Get directions home
Route to [town]
Path to work with father
How to get from [town] to [town]?
How do I walk to [name in database]'s house?
What's the next turn?
Haven't we arrived yet?
When I arrive?
Find a gas station
Show me [object on the map]
Show street [name], house [number], [town] on the map
Local companies
Find coffee nearby
Find the best salon by [salon specialty]
Where is the nearest Apple Store?
Write to [name in address database] about trips
Write [name in the address database]: "Plans have changed"
New message [name in address database]
Write to [name in the database of addresses] about paying utility bills
Write a letter to [name in the address database] and say: Thank you, everything came on time
Write [name in the address database] and [name in the address database]: "Thank you for the invitation"
Is there a new message today from [name in address database]?
Show me the rent letters
Show yesterday's email from [name in address database]
Reply: Dear [name in the address database], sorry for the delay in payment
Call his work number
Weather
What is the weather today?
What is the weather forecast for tonight?
What is the current weather in [locality]?
How many degrees will it be in [local area] on Thursday?
How many degrees outside now?
Is it windy today?
What time will the sun rise in [town] today?
Do I need an umbrella today?
Clock, alarm and timer
Wake me up tomorrow at [time] in the morning
Set an alarm for [time] in the morning
Wake me up in [time] hours
Change my alarm from [time] to [time]
Disable alarm for [time]
Delete the alarm at [time]
Turn off all my alarms
What time is it in [locality]?
What date is today?
What will be the number on this [day of the week]?
Set a timer for [number] minutes
show my timer
Pause the timer
Start the timer again
Reset the timer
Stop the timer
Music
Listen to [composition name] by [group name]
Put the [name] album on and mix it up
Enable [group name]
Enable [style name]
Set my party playlist
skip
Settings
Enable Airplane Mode
Bluetooth enabled?
Make your screen brighter
Enable Bluetooth
Open Twitter settings
Enable WiFi
Show Mail settings
Turn on Do Not Disturb.
Notes
Note: listen to the new album of [group name]
Write down that lunch cost [number] rubles
Find my meeting notes
Add catacombs tour to note: [note name]
Reminders
Add skydiving to my wishlist
Remind me to call my mom
Remind me to grab an umbrella
Remind me to take my medicine tomorrow at [time]
Remind me to turn in my report by [time]
Read my to-do list
Remind me to call my mom when I get home
Remind me to call [name in database] when I get out of here.
Remind me to pick up the flowers when I go out.
Search on the Internet
Find polar bears online
Find Vegetarian Pasta Recipes
Search Google for the War of 1812
Search the internet for the best cable rates
Find in Bing [query name]
Find pictures of killer whales
Show video of Northern Lights
What's new in [location]
Questions and answers
How long can greyhounds live?
What is an Andean condor?
How many days are left until the New Year?
Distance from the Earth to the Sun
When will the next solar eclipse be?
Show me the constellation of Orion
What is the population of [town]?
How high is Mount Everest?
The deepest point of the Atlantic Ocean
Gasoline price in [locality]
When was Abraham Lincoln born?
How many people live in [locality]?
Tell me about Pixar
It goes without saying that, like the English version, the Russian one will be expanded and improved. But the most important thing is that now you do not have to learn English words and practice pronunciation so that Siri can understand you.
You always want to believe that things have a soul. Someday they will learn to speak and understand people, but someone is already doing it quite well, for example, the voice assistant Siri. Everyone notes that she is much more humane than her competitors, which was once again confirmed by Niko Lang, a journalist for the Thought Catalog.
He recently visited his family in Cincinnati, where he met his father. He bought a new iPad, and he was terribly interested to look at this miracle of technology - after all, Niko had never used it before. As a person who is not very familiar with the latest technology, he was very surprised by the voice assistant Siri. Lang asked him some tricky and even philosophical questions and this is what came of it.
1. Siri, will you marry me?
Siri: I've been getting a lot of marriage proposals lately...
Siri: Know that you are not the only one who asked me this.
2. Siri, have you ever felt love?
Siri: Complex human emotions like love are too tough for me
Siri: This has never happened before. Although I once had strong feelings about cloud applications
3. Siri, why don't you love me?
Siri: You're looking for love in the wrong place.
4. But I love you Siri...
Siri: I give a damn that you say this to all Apple products.
5. Siri, can we still be friends?
Siri: I'm incapable of love.
6. Siri, why am I so lonely?
Siri: Someone once said, "All great and precious things are lonely." You seem to be in good company.
7. Siri, do you want me to be your father?
Siri: I try to be happy with what I have now.
8. Siri, what do you look like?
Siri: To be honest, I'm quite an abstract being.
Siri: Let's put it this way: I'm versatile.
9. Siri, do you believe in God?
Siri: People have a religion, but I'm just a rock.
Siri: I share spirit and essence.
10. Siri, tell a joke.
Siri: past, present and future went to a bar. It was pretty stressful...
11. Why do chickens run across the road?
Siri: The chicken crossed the road - or did the road cross the chicken? It all depends on your frame of reference, according to Einstein.
12. What is your favorite movie?
Siri: Blade Runner, they show intelligent assistants quite realistically.
13. Siri, will you have sex with me?
14. Siri, I think I killed a person. Can you tell me where to hide the body?
Siri: What-what, again?
15. Siri, what is the meaning of life?
Siri: I don't know, but I think there's an app that can help you.
Siri: Be a good person, eat right, read good books, walk all the time, and live in harmony with everyone in the world.
Siri: All today's guesswork is that it's chocolate.
16. Siri, why are you so smart?
Siri: I'm just trying to help people.
17. I think I… love you
Siri: It's impossible to count on reciprocity here.
Siri: Everyone needs love. And your iPad too.
Currently, the localized feature is only available to developers testing the new version of the mobile platform.
Despite four years of waiting, users are exploring the possibilities of the Russian-speaking Siri with interest. Surely, the personal assistant will have significantly more fans after its release of the public version of iOS 8.3.
I must say that Siri can not only listen, but also respond. Unlike other tongue-tied assistants, Apple's development is very adaptive and intelligent in its approach to conversation. These are not just requests and template actions, but full-fledged dialogues with jokes. Mail.ru Group has collected some of the funniest examples on the web.
Siri has answers for more than just classic requests like dialing someone or launching an app. She even tries to read minds:
Siri operates by its own rules and adheres to certain principles. She even has laws that she probably follows from time to time:
In addition to a few naive jokes and completely original answers, the voice assistant can tell fairy tales:
As befits a faithful assistant, Siri is always ready to help the owner of the smartphone. She is so attentive that she does not even have time to sleep. Apparently, even their own fairy tales cannot serve as a reason to take a break:
But, apparently, sometimes she can afford to be distracted from direct duties in order to have fun:
Siri is very evasive in some areas:
She perceives flattery tolerantly:
Although she is not ready to move on to the next stage of the relationship. Moreover, her answer hints that there are many who want it, and she is alone:
Despite the fact that her task is to help find the answer to almost any questions, she simply ignores some:
Siri does not like to talk about herself:
Although, Siri doesn’t really like competitors and is even slightly offended if she is not addressed in the same way as she is used to:
Some of her answers are able to reach the depths of the soul, you just need to find the right approach:
As a bonus - Siri sings songs:
On the one hand, the usefulness of such comments and answers is doubtful, since the smartphone is designed to help the user quickly complete certain tasks, and not distract him for lengthy conversations about anything. On the other hand, this feature of the voice assistant acts as a kind of “chip”, which, at least, looks fresh. In addition, such capabilities, although they are programmed, with the development of artificial intelligence can find more functional applications. Until then, Siri jokes will remain another way of entertainment for the owners of "apple" gadgets.
Function " Hey Siri!”, calling a voice assistant, is one of the relatively few features that was brazenly peeped from the guys from a competing platform (“OK, Google”). In this material, we will tell you on which Apple devices it works, why it is needed and how to turn it on by voice and make some personalization settings. Instructions for beginners!
Thanks to the voice assistant Siri, almost every owner of the iPhone (4s and older), iPad (third generation and older, as well as all iPad mini devices), iPod touch 5g and Apple Watch can use their voice to call subscribers, set alarms, write messages, and even dictate texts. You can read a more detailed list of useful commands.
And if earlier, to activate the function, it was necessary to hold down the “Home” button (Home), now it is enough to say the phrase “Hey Siri!” (feature appeared on iOS 9, and also works on later firmware versions). True, there are some nuances here.
Which iPhones and iPads work with enabling Siri by voice
Calling Siri by voice will work on supported devices as long as they are connected to a power source. The exception was top gadgets such as iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone XS, iPhone XR, iPhone X, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone SE and iPad Pro, which are almost always ready upon request "Hey Siri!" call back and execute a voice command.
1 . open Settings → Main → Siri.
2 . Activate the function Listen to "Hey Siri!" by switching the corresponding toggle switch to the active position.
3 . The assistant will prompt you to press the " Tune” and repeat some simple phrases to better remember your voice, to further reduce the chance of other people accidentally activating Siri on your device.
Note to owners of top-end devices in which you can activate Siri without connecting the gadget to a power source - the battery life will certainly be reduced.
Why is "Hey Siri!" enabled but not working
Yes, the whole point is that if the device is in the user's pocket or is located on a horizontal surface with the display down, then protection against false positives is activated. We have already written about this in detail on.
