Ever since I professionally got into the Speech Technology and Natural Language Processing fields about 15 years ago, I’ve had to grapple with the proposition that “Speech is just around the corner.” The proposition was both an admonishment of how, year after year, my professional community was collectively failing to fulfill its market promise, but at the same time a reminder that sooner or later something big – something epic no less – was afoot, and that we, the Speech Recognition and Natural Language Processing professionals, were contributing to turning the corner to make that magical moment happen.
That moment has happened and it is called Siri.
Many in my industry are reacting — out of habit, I am sure — with caution: maybe we are not there just yet, maybe Speech has still not arrived, maybe this is yet one more bitter disappointment in the making. I think not — and here is why I think we are dealing with the real thing:
1. Apple has come out full force behind Siri: I have yet to see a commercial about the iPhone 4S that didn’t feature Siri as the heart of the message. Also to be noted is that the iPhone 4S looks almost exactly like the iPhone 4, highlighting the point that Apple wants to make about what is new with its newest device: it’s not how it looks but how it sounds that is revolutionary.
2. Apple is obsessed with protecting its brand: The fact that Siri has been released as a Beta product is a good indication about just how carefully Apple is threading, even as it does so boldly. And having taken the plunge and so publicly, Apple has crossed the Rubicon: it will do everything that it can to ensure that Siri is a success. Failure is not an option, because damaging the brand is not an option.
3. Apple obsesses like no other company over the usability of its products: And the only way that Siri will be a success is by ensuring that it is highly usable, like any of its other products. And Apple has understood better than any of its competitors that one cannot take the human out of language. While Google gives the Android phone user “Voice Actions,” Apple gives its users an Assistant, with a name, a voice, and a sassy personality to boot. It is very telling that Google saw the interaction as human speaking at a machine, while Apple has introduced the concept of a human talking to a machine, and crucially, the machine talking back to the human.
4. Apple’s user base is a loyal constituency that will jealously defend and earnestly cheer on Apple’s products: The best way to get a sense of just how ecstatic is the “fanboy” base about Siri is to listen to the iPhone Live podcasts following the release of the 4S.
5. Siri is a monumental endeavor — a mountain to conquer that is worthy of the large collective ego of Apple: Siri tackles two of the most challenging problems in the field of Artificial Intelligence: Automatic Speech Recognition and Natural Language Processing. Only the egos of Steve Jobs and Apple by extension could have been big enough to dare take on such a massively difficult undertaking. But then again, the only quantum leap in usability that remained to be conquered was the ultimate UI frontier: i.e., the interface that is the most natural, the most intuitive, the one that requires no new learning: naturally spoken language.
6. Siri solves the iPhone’s real-estate problem without compromising the need to keep the real-estate small: Indeed, what makes the iPhone (and for that matter any smartphone device) compelling technology is the fact that it is a computer that fits into your pocket. But its very size compromises its usability: it is hard to read from and hard to type into. Listening rather than reading, and speaking rather than typing are elegant solutions in those situations where it makes more sense to listen or talk rather than read or type.
7. Siri solves the iPhone’s keyboard problem without compromising on Jobs’ commandment that there shall never be a non-flat keyboard on any of his mobile devices: At least for those among us in the Speech and Natural Language fields, it was a happy turning point, now looking back, when Steve Jobs decided that we had to do away with the plastic keyboard. People have tried to adapt to the flat screen keyboard, and some have successfully found their comfort zone, but typing on the iPhone or the iPad will never be a gratifying experience.
8. Siri is a direct threat to the business model of Apple’s Nemesis — Google: If I get my answers from sources other than Google and if I can’t click on ads because I don’t get to see them, how is Google going to continue racking it in? Is it just a simple coincidence that Apple bought Siri the company barely a month after HTC introduced an Android phone in January 2010?
9. Siri will only improve with time: Since every single interaction between you and Siri is mediated by a Cloud, Siri is continuously gathering data about how people are using it, what they are asking for, and how they are asking their questions. This means that just like us humans, Siri will learn and improve with every passing day. Imagine Siri a year from now, or five years from now.
10. Apple is company with deep pockets — $86 billion in cash reserves: Apple paid a paltry $200 million for Siri the company back in early 2010, and I am sure it has spent at least that much if not more since then to get the product to market. With its brand riding on the success of Siri and pockets that will only continue to deepen, Apple has what it takes in terms of raw resources to make the several mind boggling quantum leaps that we can happily look forward to.
The conclusion is inevitable: Apple will continue to invest in the product, users will put up with its deficiencies not only because it works well enough even at its very nascent phase but also because they see and understand the noble vision and love Apple for taking such a bold step, and so the product will have enough time to improve and establish not only itself but a whole industry dedicated to building intelligent solutions that people can talk to naturally. And as Steve Jobs would have put it, it will just work — it’s that simple!
Siri Notes 