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Siri Is Also Capable of giving very tongue in cheek replies!

Siri is the new virtual assistant found only on iPhone 4S. It is a voice activated, voice recognition AI that tries to interpret what the user is saying and work accordingly. It can be used to search for places to eat nearby, set appointments on calendar, set reminders, call people, etc. Developed by a combined effort of DARPA and several universities and institutes, it has wowed and entertained the whole industry ever since it was officially made available as an iOS app from Apple.

Inventor Craig Knudsen recently found out that Siri can also play the piano without any hacking or modification. She (Siri has a female voice) needs a WiFi connection to send a converted song file via AirPlay to an Apple Airport Express base station. From there on, the audio out of the Airpor Express is passed to a Yamaha Disklavier (a mere £30,000 piano) via an analog MIDI audio cable.

Knudsen is the developer of SmartKey for the Disklavier and he recently demonstrated this ability of Siri on video.
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLKUcUlutRk]

Siri still has problems understanding different accents but she continues to learn from her user whenever she does understand what is being spoken. Apple claims that the actually learns its user’s preferences over time and personalizes results and actions accordingly. The idea of an AI learning about our personal preferences over time might take time getting used to but the idea sure is appealing.

So far Siri has been able to play the pieces Rhapsody In Blue, Waterfall and As Time Goes By. And there’s no telling how many more pieces she can actually perform without any external input. What is interesting is that Siri is still in Beta, which means development work is still going on in the background. But given the amount of buzz that this single feature has generated, it is clear why Apple chose to release a feature to the public even though it is carrying a Beta tag. Apple, unlike Google, is not known for putting out its software for extended public Beta phases. Everyone will remember how long Gmail was in its Beta phase.

Siri is one of the premiere features of the iPhone 4S and many have upgraded to the new model just so that they can use it. It has also been the center of attraction for quirky replies that it gives out when asked questions like “What is the meaning of life”. One user decided to be funny and ask Siri “Who’s your Daddy!” and promptly got the following conversation: —

“Me: Who’s your daddy?
Siri: My Daddy?
Me: Who’s your daddy?
Siri: Now now,
Me: Who’s your daddy?
Siri: You are, now get back to work!”

Siri has even inspired entire threads dedicated to collection funny replies from the app. Here’s one such thread where the conversation above comes from — http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1793989.

Even though some people have called it a gimmick, Siri has helped push a lot of iPhone 4S off the shelves and that is ultimately what matters to a company. And no one can deny that it is useful to some extent and might get better with time as the Beta tag gradually comes off.