In 2011, Apple added its Siri voice assistant to every iPhone running iOS 5 or later, and Siri has since made its way to the entire range of Apple products.
Technically, Siri’s original developers should get credit here – many people still don’t know that it was a third-party iOS app for only a few months before Apple acquired it, holding back any plans to bring the software to rival operating systems like Android and Blackberry.
In response, we witnessed the real rise of the world’s largest tech companies trying to compete. Microsoft introduced Cortana in 2013, Amazon Alexa joined the fray in 2014, Google with Google Assistant in 2016, and until recently we’ve seen newcomers like Bixby and Baidu.
However, as these apps struggled, a new player emerged with a completely different skill set that could completely disrupt the voice assistant space; ChatGPT.
Notice the difference
So let’s get rid of the differences first. ChatGPT is an incredibly powerful chatbot with a human-like vocabulary enhanced by near-unfettered access to information. Siri and other voice assistants, alternatively, are programmed to be more binary, with fixed requests and responses they can understand.
If you asked ChatGPT for help with typing or troubleshooting or even something more special use cases, you will probably be surprised and delighted with its capabilities. Based on the same technology, Bing can also understand more difficult questions, even if you ask them about love.
ChatGPT was created by OpenAI, a company that – as the name suggests – allows other organizations to deploy its technology instead of the proprietary, closed-source technology found in Siri. This means that app developers can easily add ChatGPT to all kinds of interesting and exciting apps.
Siri, however, would not be able to do the same. It’s great for helping with tasks, especially when aided by shortcuts, and for quickly navigating tasks hands-free on your phone.
However, it is otherwise frustratingly limited in scope and struggles to handle more complex requests, even compared to Alexa, despite Apple’s efforts to improve it over the years. Plus, I still have a problem with how crap voice recognition can be.
Download with the program, Apple
Microsoft is now stealing the lead in the innovation race from Bing, despite some early teething problems, But Google is on his heels. Now, while these are advancements in the search engine space, it’s only a matter of time before eyes turn to voice assistants.
Siri Is finally used for search – but despite many years of iteration, search remains one of the most frustrating unwieldy features.
Already, avid users are creating ways embed more advanced ChatGPT conversational processing into Siri. It’s far from perfect, and there are some natural, very legitimate security and privacy concerns on the part of ChatGPT, but this willingness to bolster Siri’s capabilities shows the potential Apple can tap into.
So why is Apple lingering?
He plays the long game
For me, there’s only one reason why a giant like Apple wouldn’t move with the pace to reclaim the voice assistant market. Like Cruella de Vil’s great tactician, Apple may just be waiting for its time before it strikes back to reclaim the voice assistant market.
“You realize you saw her eyes watching you from under the rock”
Disney’s 101 Dalmatians
Apple did tons of AI acquisitions We haven’t seen much in recent years, and despite a few minor rumors indicating something might be coming, the tech giant has been characteristically reticent since Bing and Bard’s big bang.
I believe Apple was always planning to release something, but I find it hard to believe that ChatGPT and Bing didn’t shock it in some way. Eventually even Google seemed to be pushing a bit to get Bard up and running quickly in answer. As a result, Apple had two choices; hurry to join the race or wait and watch the chips fall. He apparently chose the latter.
Now, while Apple wouldn’t have much to lose by waiting its time, it has a lot to gain if it comes out with Siri far more powerful than anything else on the market – and if we look at Apple’s wider ecosystem and advances elsewhere in the tech space, it seems likely that the company is hoping to start off with a bang.
Take, for example, the space of a smart home. This year, Matter, the software standard driving smart home interoperability, will start to make a real difference to people’s homes. If Siri can make the jump to Alexa and Google Assistant, a more conversational and customizable Siri could take Apple Home to the forefront. Think Disney Smart homebut without the killer vibes.
We’re only a few months away from WWDC, Apple’s developer conference in California where the company usually showcases the latest software updates (and also launches some weird hardware). By the time it rolls, the dust will settle a bit on Google and Microsoft’s forays into artificial intelligence. As long as Amazon doesn’t step in with its own major overhaul of Alexa, this could be the perfect opportunity for Apple to step in and steal the spotlight – potentially even with much more carefully thought out AI.
Time will tell – but one thing is for sure: slow and steady may win the race, but not if you never leave the starting line.