The move to a natural interface — for Apple, it's Siri — is happening so quickly that Apple is expanding it with more functionality and adding it to the new iPad in iOS 6. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak recently spoke up on Siri's intelligence, praising it as the way of the future, but also expressing his discontent with how Apple's made its A.I. dumber.
Long before Siri became the new poster-child for the iPhone 4S, it was an an app available to all for free in the App Store and according to the TimesUnion, Steve Woz says Siri was smarter too:
"I would say, 'Siri, what are the five largest lakes in California?' and it would come up, one, two, three, four, five. And I would ask 'What are the prime numbers greater than 87?' and they would come up all in a row. That was pretty incredible," Wozniak said.
"Then Apple bought Siri," he said. He then paused, lifted his right hand and gave it a big thumbs down.
"'What are the largest lakes in California?' I'd get all these lakefront properties. And I'd say 'What are the prime numbers greater than 87?' And I'd get prime rib," Wozniak said.
Ouch. Woz strikes Apple again! He went on to call Siri "poo-poo." Hang in there Woz, Siri will get there, it's still in "beta" form, remember?
And with all the new info that Siri will be collecting from its debut on the new iPad this fall, it can only get smarter. Still, it's good to know that Woz is ahead of the curve when it comes to ID'ing the future. He told the TimesUnion that he was "using [the Siri app] to make reserverations long before Apple bought it."
Oh, and he's super psyched for the MacBook Pro with Retina display, but why wouldn't he be? He's a proud 17-inch MBP user.
TimesUnion, via CNET
