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Apple Intelligence brings incredible new features across iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

The first set of features is now available, with many more rolling out in the coming months.

⏺ Overview

⏺ Compatible Devices

⏺ iOS 18

⏺ iPadOS 18

⏺ macOS Sequoia

User profile for user: Paul-nz
Paul-nz Author
User level: Level 1
45 points

Siri and Apple Intelligence mainly respond with "here's what I found on the web"

I know this has been raised many times in the past, but those were focused on how bad Siri is. I am now including Apple Intelligence in this question. (I've signed up for and enabled AI).


99% of the questions I ask of Siri/Apple Intelligence get "Here's what I found on the web". Even simple questions like "when is the next high tide in XYZ", "what is the current value of AUD to USD", or "who won the last Australian election" go nowhere. These are questions with a single simple answer likely able to be extracted from a simple web page.


Even when I ask these questions on my watch or Carplay, Siri/AI still gives me a set of web pages to look at.


After experimenting, I have only been able find a few extremely simple questions that get verbal responses, such as "what is the time" and "where am I". Most other questions go to a web search. Asking "where is the nearest <store name>" takes me to maps, from which it's difficult to extract an address on the watch/CarPlay. Asking Siri "Read out to me the address of the nearest <store name>" gets a text response with the address, but that I have to click and scroll to read when on the watch.


This is unchanged (or perhaps even worse) than a couple of years ago. I thought AI was supposed to be a big jump, but I'm not seeing any improvement in answering simple questions.


Is there a secret sauce to how to make Siri and Apple Intelligence actually useful? Thx.


[Edited by Moderator]

Apple Watch Series 9, watchOS 11

Posted on Nov 5, 2024 5:16 PM

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User profile for user: Paul-nz
Paul-nz Author
User level: Level 1
45 points

Posted on Nov 5, 2024 6:24 PM

If there is a question with a single simple answer... then it should simply say it.

"What time is high tide here" should reply with (for example) "4:34". Not provide a web page to be read.


You seem to be happy with Siri just giving you websites that you then have to click through, and not actually answering the question. That's great for you, but

  • It means that Siri is not useful on HomePods, Watches, or CarPlay.
  • its no better than just using google search as at 20 years ago.
  • IMHO that is not the expectation of the market.
  • Its not a time saver since you now have to scan through the website for the answer.


Other Assistants (Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa) do a lot more with voice - that is you ask a question and they tell you an answer. An example comparison (admittedly old): https://www.kagstv.com/article/news/nation-world/we-asked-google-assistant-alexa-and-siri-150-questions-heres-who-won/507-550146568


The answer might be focus - google definitely wants to provide useful answers to questions whereas apple seems to emphasis managing your alerts, messages, timers (which it does well).

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User profile for user: Paul-nz
Paul-nz Author
User level: Level 1
45 points

Nov 5, 2024 6:24 PM in response to lobsterghost1

If there is a question with a single simple answer... then it should simply say it.

"What time is high tide here" should reply with (for example) "4:34". Not provide a web page to be read.


You seem to be happy with Siri just giving you websites that you then have to click through, and not actually answering the question. That's great for you, but

  • It means that Siri is not useful on HomePods, Watches, or CarPlay.
  • its no better than just using google search as at 20 years ago.
  • IMHO that is not the expectation of the market.
  • Its not a time saver since you now have to scan through the website for the answer.


Other Assistants (Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa) do a lot more with voice - that is you ask a question and they tell you an answer. An example comparison (admittedly old): https://www.kagstv.com/article/news/nation-world/we-asked-google-assistant-alexa-and-siri-150-questions-heres-who-won/507-550146568


The answer might be focus - google definitely wants to provide useful answers to questions whereas apple seems to emphasis managing your alerts, messages, timers (which it does well).

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User profile for user: lobsterghost1
lobsterghost1
User level: Level 10
150,138 points

Nov 5, 2024 6:29 PM in response to Paul-nz

As opposed to expressing your dissatisfaction with the new Siri here on this user to user only forum, I'd recommend you share your feedback with Apple --> Feedback - iPhone - Apple


No one here works for or is associated with Apple. And we have to recognize this is new and if you recall when you downloaded Apple Intelligence, it's still in Beta, so we can assume much more progress will be forthcoming over the coming months.

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User profile for user: lobsterghost1
lobsterghost1
User level: Level 10
150,138 points

Nov 5, 2024 6:01 PM in response to Paul-nz

OK. I tried the high tide question on my iPhone 16 Pro Max with Apple Intelligence, where I live and Siri didn't say this if what I found, but provide three links I could tap which provide the exact high tide where I am.


I'm not sure what else I should expect, but for me that is helpful enough for my needs. Plus for something like High Tides, which can vary by exact location in the same region, I'm not sure Siri would be able to verbally give you an exact answer. Personally, I'd prefer Siri offer me options to tap to get my answer, as opposed to verbally providing an answer as I don't think I need people around me hearing what Siri has to say. Maybe that's just me though........

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User profile for user: Paul-nz
Paul-nz Author
User level: Level 1
45 points

Nov 19, 2024 1:12 AM in response to Jeff Donald

Mine mostly just offers web pages.

I've just tried a few more questions:


Q: "what time is high tide" A: "I found this on the web" (shows a few websites, all of which show the correct location so it does know where I am)

Q: "who is the head of government in wales" A: "here's what I found" (shows a few websites)

Q: "If it's 5pm in New York, what time is it in Sydney" A: "I found this on the web" (shows a few websites)

Q: "Who is the prime minister of the united kingdom" A: "Kier Starmer is the prime minister of the united kingdom".

Q: "who is the leader of Russia". A: "I found this on the web"


Of this set of 5 questions, each of which has a single answer, only 1 was answered with voice. That is an improvement!


I decided to try variations of "who is the prime minister of X" and "what time is it in X". The results were inconsistent, sometimes answering, sometimes "here's what I found on the web". Sometimes phrasing the question differently got a voice response.


Note that I do have "Siri Responses" set to "Prefer spoken responses".


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Siri and Apple Intelligence mainly respond with "here's what I found on the web"

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