this post was submitted on 25 Aug 2024
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13
Siri getting dumber lately? (i.imgur.com)
submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
27 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Anyone notice siri no longer recognizes common foreign idoms anymore? Either in TTS or Ask Siri… The only concrete example I have is recognizing “Croque Monsieur” since my love for hot ham sandwiches has spanned the ages… but I feel like there’s something more nefarious at work here.

It feels like used to be able to ask for a info about random foreign words and it would at least trigger a web search for something phonetically similar, which would often get me the translation I was after. But lately* the TTS engine is militantly transforming everything into English. Obviously this is more subtle and open to other interpretations, but for example I just asked her what “hikikomori” were which got interpreted as “Hickam Morty,” with top hits for the show Rick and Morty.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

All of the digital assistants appear to be degrading to me. I suspect directing consumers to paid ‘AI’ versions which allegedly work, are the corporate plan.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

She does seem to have more trouble interpreting some of my requests. To my frustration Siri will show me a correct transcription of what I said and then still ask for confirmation. Or even worse she'll ask me to repeat the entire request after producing a correct transcription. This happens a lot when using HomeKit.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Huh… that sounds a proper bug. I don’t really do anything advanced with HomeKit, just my Hue lights.

I wasn’t having the problem you described, but I did get a few odd glitches after the last update. She would sometimes complain that a light couldn’t be found. Turned out to be an extra space at the end of the names of some bulbs… very hard to see in most UIs, it wasn’t until I just idly renamed one in the Hue app that I realized what had happened.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

works fine on Android

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

LOL 😆

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

Always has been

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Man, it seems like she is getting more useless by the day. It’s really sad how much the development of Siri has been left to flounder since its introduction.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Why are you calling a polite irish male voice "she"?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Old people had no option. Siri had a female voice, it was a she. Now it is an it, the Siri is just an artificial helper, either male or famale, two voices each. Siri can be what you want it to be.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

Seems like the same old pre-iOS 18.1 Siri to me. Famously bad.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Siri on iOS v18.1 knows what hikikomori is

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Noice :-) I’m going to have to work on my pronunciation then 😳

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Based on what little I know of Japanese, the first syllable isn't supposed to rhyme with 'Rick', but should rhyme with 'weak'.

Most eastern languages are very particular about vowel sounds which is what might be throwing Siri off. I think English probably stands out among other languages for playing fast and loose with how vowels are pronounced. Results in some unique challenges for sure.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Rart ya arr guvvna

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

I’m honestly very impressed with the speech recognition. I played with dragon dictate years ago when it needed “about 2 weeks” worth of training to achieve 98% accuracy.

Thanks for the tips. I think I’m going to see if I can get it to work — with a little practice.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I have Siri remind me to make more ice often, but if I say it too fast it’s “make more rice.”

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

I enjoy going back through my to-do list and trying to remember what I asked for. Generally it’s full of things I keep putting off, so it’s all past due and the occasional miss is easy to spot ;-)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Are you noticing this on multiple devices or just one? I know I start to have dictation trouble when my iPhone microphones get too loaded with debris. A clean dry toothbrush will get it clean without too much effort.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Same behavior on my iPad. Although I can’t rule out the mics on my phone going south, it soaks up a lot more abuse than iPad Siri.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

First pass reading the title I thought it read "Still getting dumber lately?" And I'm just like "Yup!"

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Time comes for us all my friend.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Siri isn't as young as she once was. Maybe try speaking a little louder than usual.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

I did ponder the possibility of my mics just getting worn out, but clarity is still excellent in audio recording and generally for TTS or questions in straight English. I suspect Apple tweaked the model to exclude some of the phrases I had grown accustomed to using because they were being falsely recognized.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

it would never even occur to me to ask Siri about such things. I'm surprised it ever worked for you.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Blame that bit in Mr. Robot where the FBI agent asked Alexa when the universe was going to end. I’m always curious what a system is capable of…

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

maybe you’re mumbling more?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Possibly. Though I patiently tested the sandwich scenario.