Siri

Artificial intelligence has been with us for years, even in the little things like identifying the faces in a picture to the recommendations we see in our favorite apps. But more recently, we’ve seen new types of AI capable of doing things unimaginable years ago. This new type of AI is changing how people interact with technology. But at the same time, Apple is clearly falling behind its competitors.

One of the handy capabilities of Siri on HomePod that’s been available since 2018 is Personal Requests. It allows users to make voice commands that deal with what can be more private information from their specific iPhone and iPad. However, as it turns out, Personal Requests are still broken with Siri on HomePod often replying “I’m not sure who is speaking.”

Apple is testing new natural language generation features for Siri, 9to5Mac has learned. Codenamed “Bobcat,” this new technology is being tested starting with the latest tvOS 16.4 beta and will eventually make its way to the rest of Apple’s operating systems. Still, Apple is currently focused on using this technology to improve Siri.

A significant number of users are experiencing multiple HomePods responding to Siri commands simultaneously. This is something that is normally prevented by Apple devices communicating with each other.

Many of us have multiple Apple devices within earshot, any of which could potentially respond to a “Hey Siri” command. In my home office, for example, I have my Watch, my iPhone, the stereo-pair HomePods on my desk, and another HomePod in a nearby bathroom …

If I’d asked the Bing chatbot to support our argument that Apple won’t be adopting ChatGPT type AI tech anytime soon, it really couldn’t have done a better job than some of its recent conversations.

Bing’s AI has threatened some users, insulted others, and told one that his wife didn’t really love him the way Bing does …

A new Apple patent application describes a way to transform an iMessage to a voice note. In this way, the recipient can choose to have your message read to them not in Siri’s voice, but in yours.

To do this, you would each need to share a voice file containing the data the iPhone would need to mimic your voice when reading the message aloud …

Chat AI tech is without a doubt the most exciting thing to have happened in the world of technology for quite some time – providing answers to questions, writing essays, generating working code, or even passing an MBA exam through a conversational UI.

Microsoft announced that a version of ChatGPT will power a conversational search feature within its Bing search engine. Google has been quick to announce that it, too, will use its own AI chatbot, Bard, for searches. Does all this mean that Apple too will climb aboard this next-generation chat AI tech to finally make Siri smarter … ?

A web developer has created a Siri GPT-3 mashup that is intended to demonstrate the potential for a truly smart voice assistant.

The AI system was able to make sense of conversational speech – including some in which the required action was implied rather than directly stated …

So what happened was… kind of unbelievable. Siri on an Apple Watch called emergency services from a gym in Australia, prompting 15 armed police officers to show up expecting an active shooter.

What has to be the most unlikely set of circumstances for a false alarm happened in Australia on Tuesday.

Apple is working on a big change to how its Siri voice assistant works. While you currently have to say “Hey Siri” to activate the assistant hands-free, that may not be the case for much longer. Bloomberg reports today that Apple engineers are working to drop the “Hey” part of the phrase, so you’d only have to say “Siri” followed by a command to activate the assistant…

Apple this week released the first beta of iOS 16.2 for developers, which comes with overall improvements and some new features. The company also released tvOS 16.2 beta, and the update brings an important feature to Apple TV — multi-user voice recognition when using Siri.

Following the announcement of new iPad models this week, Apple also introduced a new generation of Apple TV 4K with the A15 Bionic chip and HDR10+ support. In addition, the company also revealed a new Siri interface coming with tvOS 16.1 for all supported Apple TV models. Read on as we show you what the new interface looks like.

Dictating on the iPhone is, I would confidently estimate, something I do more than typing. Siri is also the main way I control my HomeKit devices.

Any time I’ve mentioned either of these things, there are always comments from people saying how terrible their experience is with both, so I thought I’d share a few things I think make a difference.

If you’ve just updated to iOS 16, now is a particularly good time to give dictation another go, as you can now easily mix-and-match speaking and typing …

Siri has always known how to start phone calls and FaceTime sessions. Starting in iOS 16, Siri will finally be able to end those calls too. Here’s how to use the new Siri Call Hangup feature.

A new study digging into how Amazon uses Alexa voice recordings from its customers has concluded that the company and third parties leverage the audio to deliver targeted ads directly on Echo smart speakers as well as the web. That’s in contrast to Apple not using Siri recordings for ads and sharing voice data being turned off by default on devices like HomePod and iPhone since 2019. However, Amazon contends the new research is based on “inaccurate inferences or speculation.”

Apple is getting in on April Fools’ Day subtly with a hidden Siri easter egg. While we’ve seen clever responses to questions for Apple’s virtual assistant on April 1 in the past, this year the Siri trivia game is aiming to check “how gullible” we all are.

Colin Hughes, a quadriplegic Apple user who often shares his experience of accessibility features on Apple devices, has reported that Apple has quietly added a valuable new Mac Voice Control feature.

Although it isn’t shown in the release notes, it appears to have been added in macOS Monterey 12.3 …

Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman has been teasing a March Apple event for a few weeks now. As people were expecting invites from the Cupertino company dropping today, it looks like we may have to wait a bit more, according to Siri.

After Siri got two new voices for American users with iOS 14.5, Apple today is bringing another option to its personal assistant with iOS 15.4 beta 4. The company says the new voice was recorded by a member of the LGBTQ+ community, although it didn’t offer further details.

Back in 2019, Apple introduced a new option that let users opt out of sharing their Siri recordings with Apple due to privacy concerns. While this option is still available in iOS 15, it seems that the option wasn’t working as expected. The company has now fixed that bug with iOS 15.4.