Introduction
Voice recognition. Big deal, right? When Apple first announced its voice recognition feature, many people were not amused. Other mobile devices such as Android, already had it for more than a year before Apples big announcement. So what makes Siri different from other voice recognition features? Siri is a voice controlled personal assistant that Apple released in 2010. Siri can help users in many different ways, which I will be showing an example in the video. Although some people prefer other devices such as Alexa, I prefer to use Siri because it is built into my phone, which makes it easier for me to use her wherever I’m located. The way that Siri works is she listens and interprets to what someone’s instructions are, and if it’s possible she will complete the action she was told to do. Some actions she is unable to do because of the way she was programmed, or if she hasn’t learned to do a certain action. Some commands that she is able to do is contact people on your cell phone, ask her to remind you about something important, such as an appointment, or to study for your college exam.
Siri is far from other voice recognitions that I’ve seen. When you ask Siri to perform a task, she is loud and clear instead of doing something silently, and she might question something if she believes she didn’t hear something correctly, so you can correct her if needed. So how does Siri work? Siri communicates with servers in the cloud (which stores everything) to retrieve some of the information needed. For example, since your phone contacts are backed up on icloud, you can ask her to call someone from your contacts. Siri continues to learn and grow, so the more information that is given to her, the easier it is for her to perform an action. She will retrieve the information needed, and then complete the action.
In this webstory, I will first be talking about what Siri is, and how Siri is able to help an apple user if they ever need something. Further on, I will go in a bit more detail of how I believe Siri currently impacts us, and how she might impact humanity in the future. For the video, I will provide a visual of how someone can use Siri, it’s a very helpful tool, so hopefully after this webstory is finished, more people will use Siri for their advantage.
“The Most Useful Things You Didn't Know Siri Can Do for You.” Interesting Engineering, 12 Mar. 2018, interestingengineering.com/most-useful-things-you-didnt-know-siri-can-do-for-you.
“Siri and the Visually Impaired: Call Me Apple!” Statistics on Blindness, Visual Impairment & Deafblindness, 18 June 2018, www.perkinselearning.org/technology/blog/siri-and-visually-impaired-call-me-apple.
Purewal, Sarah Jacobsson. “The Complete List of Siri Commands.” CNET, CNET, 27 Nov. 2017, www.cnet.com/how-to/the-complete-list-of-siri-commands/.
Current Impact
For my second artifact, I drew a picture that shows what other things Siri can do besides the commands that I’ve mentioned previously. While doing more research about Siri, I learned she has also impacted humanity by saving lives. I was confused a bit about it too, but after I read the article, “ How Siri Is Saving Lives and Connecting People in Times of Turmoil” Writer Reegan Von Wildenradt explains the many situations in which Siri has saved people's lives, and allowed them to reconnect with their loved ones when they’re in emergency situations. Some examples that Wildenradt provided are, Siri saved a man's life after walking into a house that exploded. Siri was able to recognize the mans voice when he said “Hey Siri.” A toddler was also able to save her mother’s life by asking Siri to call 9-9-9 (United Kingdom's version of 911) It was surprising to learn how such a small device was able to save many peoples lives. Siri is also able to help those who are visually impaired.
I read an article called, Siri and the Visually Impaired: Call Me Apple! Which writer Brian Mackey describes the many ways of how Siri is helpful for those who are blind. The article states. “Siri assists those of us who can’t see by allowing us to use our voices to get things done just by asking.” Some of examples he lists are: calling 911 reading texts and other sorts of writing, and a simple task such as asking Siri to play some music. This has created a big impact on the visually impaired. It makes everything a lot simpler for those who need the extra assistance. From the article The most useful things you didn’t know Siri can do for you, It states, “The progress of intelligent assistance is also making its steady pace towards the highly advanced future.” As I continue my webstory, I will predict about how the progress of intelligent assistants, such as Siri, will impact the future.
Wildenradt, Reegan von. “Here's How Siri Is Saving Lives and Connecting People in Times of Turmoil.” Men's Health, Men's Health, 25 May 2018, www.menshealth.com/trending-news/a19537428/las-vegas-shooting-survivor-siri-apple/.
“Siri and the Visually Impaired: Call Me Apple!” Statistics on Blindness, Visual Impairment & Deafblindness, 18 June 2018, www.perkinselearning.org/technology/blog/siri-and-visually-impaired-call-me-apple.
http://www.perkinselearning.org/technology/blog/siri-and-visually-impaired-call-me-apple
https://www.menshealth.com/trending-news/a19537428/las-vegas-shooting-survivor-siri-apple/
Prediction
As I’ve stated in my previous artifacts, Siri is a very unique tool that Apple users can use in order to make their day a bit easier. I’ve had an IPhone for years now, yet while I appreciate the many things that Siri does for me, (turns on my alarms, reminds me of things I have to do, or to set a time) there are some things that Siri can improve on that can may impact the future in 10 years. Since Apple products are continuously improving, I believe Siri will also face a major change. Since I’ve taken this course, I’ve learned a lot about AI and how they work. Something that stuck out to me is the fact that they’re able to learn by using algorithms that notice patterns. The article Artificial Intelligence: What it is and how it really works also went into a bit more detail about it. “This is achieved by using algorithms that discover patterns and generate insights from the data they are exposed to.”
Going back to Siri, I think over time, she’ll be able to notice more patterns from the Apple users. Which is why I predict that there will be a “Siri house” In the future. Some of the examples that this house will be able to do is retrace your steps and be able to help you locate things such as your keys if you misplace them. The Siri house will also be able to detect faces and notify home owners if they see an unfamiliar face. The face will be sent to your IPhone so you can either tell Siri to turn off an alarm or to call the cops if you believe there is an intuder. There will also be a suction on the floors of the house, which will allow for Siri to vacuum the entire house.
I got this idea from the Homepod after I read the article, 7 Things You Can Do With the Apple HomePod by Seth Porges. He mentioned that Home Pods are able to control some things such as turning lights on and off, but the Siri House would be able to do some of the advanced features that I have mentioned before. Some other patterns that Siri House will be able to do is notice the times you wake up everyday and when someone goes to sleep at night. This will allow the house to turn on alarms automatically. For example, if Siri notices the user turning on their alarm everyday of the week at 6 AM, Siri will learn this behavior and start automatically turning on alarms. Since I use my IPhone to turn my alarm, I sometimes do forget to turn it on and I end up being late to school ( which has happened a lot.) I’m sure that other people have had that happened to them before as well. It’s not a huge impact on humanity, but it will allow people to not have to stress about being late to classes, or not being able to get to class/meetings at all because they’ve overslept. From the article How Self-Learning Software Is Already a Huge Part of Your Life it states “Siri primarily stays on mobile devices.” In the future, I believe that Apple will be able to give people the option to have a Siri Chip Implant.
I got this idea from the film The Circle. Although in the film it makes it seem like we would have a dystopian future because of the advancement of technology, my vision of having the option of having a Siri Chip implanted in you will impact humanity in a good way. I also got some ideas out of the Richard Yonck novel about affective computing. This chip will detect your mood and tell you how you can better yourself and give you some ideas of what you can do to improve your mental health. It will “Perfect your Imperfections.”
Boitnott, John. “How Self-Learning Software Is Already a Huge Part of Your Life.” Entrepreneur, Entrepreneur, 17 Jan. 2017, www.entrepreneur.com/article/287826
“Artificial Intelligence: What It Is and How It Really Works.” Futurism, Futurism, 28 Dec. 2016, futurism.com/1-evergreen-making-sense-of-terms-deep-learning-machine-learning-and-ai/.
Gleiberman, Owen. “Tribeca Film Review: 'The Circle'.” Variety, Variety, 28 Apr. 2017, variety.com/2017/film/reviews/the-circle-review-tom-hanks-emma-watson-1202400029/.
Porges, Seth. “7 Things You Can Do With The Apple Homepod -- Other Than Listen To Music.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 12 Apr. 2018, www.forbes.com/sites/sethporges/2018/04/12/7-things-you-can-do-with-the-apple-homepod-other-than-listen-to-music/#7884e6af51c2.
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/287826
https://futurism.com/1-evergreen-making-sense-of-terms-deep-learning-machine-learning-and-ai/
https://variety.com/2017/film/reviews/the-circle-review-tom-hanks-emma-watson-1202400029/
Conclusion
For those who have read my webstory, and those in the future who may, I hope you got an understanding of how useful of a virtual voice assistant such as Siri is. I started my webstory explaining how many Apple users weren’t amused by a voice recognition feature, but over time, it did begin to impress people by what it is able to do. As my webstory continued, you got a deeper understanding of how Siri works, and what she is able to do for you, such as sending you reminders and giving you directions to a destination. In such a small device, she is able to complete most of your commands. As I continued to do more research on Siri, I thought that as the evolvement of technology advances, Siri will be able to do more complex things without your commands.
People see the future as a scary place that will be taken over by robots, and other machines, but our future will be utopian because we’ll have tools that will make our lives safer and easier. Although this webstory is finished, my research is not. Completing this assignment showed me how exciting the future may be, so i’ll continue to learn more about Siri and other devices. In the future, I’ll return back to this webstory and see if any of my predictions do come to life.