iPhone Assistant called a "world-changing event" by Siri co-founder

One of the expected announcements in tomorrow's "Let's Talk iPhone" event revolves around the iPhone Assistant, a powerful voice recognition and artificial intelligence tool that will enable real-time searching and control of iPhones. The tool, based on technology acquired in Apple's 2010 purchase of Siri, is so powerful that Siri co-founder Norman Winarsky is referring to its release as a "world-changing event."

Winarsky is no longer with Siri, so he's offering pure speculation based on his prior knowledge of the company's technology. He believes that inclusion of the Siri artificial intelligence capability might explain why an iPhone announcement wasn't made until October (rather than the usual summer timeframe), noting that "AI takes a lot of computing power." Rumors floating around the web note that Assistant may only run on a next-generation iPhone due to the need for more RAM and a faster processor.

In an interview with iPodNN News, Winarsky waxed enthusiastic about the capabilities of Assistant, noting that "If the rumors are true, Apple will enable millions upon millions of people to interact with machines with natural language ... We're talking another technology revolution. A new computing paradigm shift."

View Tags

Source: http://www.ipodnn.com/articles/11/10/03/siri.co.founder.clai…

Categories

Rumors iPhone iOS

Siri co-founder Norman Winarsky is referring to its release as a 'world-changing event.'

Add a Comment

Sign in »

19 Comments

Filter by:

John Rogger

"Just what do you think you're doing, Dave?"

October 04 2011 at 12:02 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

ShaunP

Lets face it, the event is called "Lets TALK iPhone". Would make sense to announce it.

October 04 2011 at 7:05 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Lee Patterson

Scotty: Computer! Computer?
[He's handed a mouse, and he speaks into it]
Scotty: Hello, computer.
Dr. Nichols: Just use the keyboard.
Scotty: Keyboard. How quaint......

October 04 2011 at 5:39 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Rob

So voice search that's been on android for years.

October 04 2011 at 5:14 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Rob's comment

Daniel

Pretty much. Of course, I think Siri was around for a while before this too.

October 04 2011 at 3:12 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

wilmcdaniel

Hello Michael

October 03 2011 at 9:12 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Peter Payne

I want this. I do use the phone while driving and would love to do this:
Open SMS. Send to Kazuki. "What time should I meet you at the station?" Send message.
Open Reeder. Open feed 1. Reed article.
Open email. Send to Peter.
blah blah etc.

October 03 2011 at 8:17 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Juan Bermeo

Except I've used Siri, and it's ok at best. It isn't like using HAL or talking to the Enterprise. I kept trying to add a reminder and it just never understood what I was saying, but it could get me the weather no problem.

October 03 2011 at 5:59 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

2 replies to Juan Bermeo's comment

bones_boy

Juan - it's amazing - Colin Castro said the EXACT SAME THING

October 04 2011 at 1:04 AM Report abuse Permalink +1 rate up rate down Reply

Marco Chacón

Yeap, but now it's on Apple's hands...

October 04 2011 at 10:37 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Troy Moore

I won't be happy until machine can speak to us like Jarvis did on Ironman. That's what I call AI... Hopefully this is the beginning.. doubtful, but we'll see.

October 03 2011 at 5:08 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Shannon Doherty

I'm sure it'll be cool at first but the effect will wear off. Plus, nobody will really use it that much at all and it'll be forgotten about fairly quickly, with future blog posts titled, "Do you even use Assistant anymore?"

October 03 2011 at 5:06 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply