I want to love Siri.
It is a full-blown miracle, the kind of thing our ancestors could only dream of.
The problem is Siris an idiot.
Image: Apple/Getty
In 2024, thats going to change.
It may not sound like a big deal, but its a sea change.
Right now, you have to translate your thoughts and intentions into the language of computers.
Thats going to be a major inflection point.
Think about the last time you got mad at your phone.
User experience experts sometimes call this the happy path.
Take one step off that happy path, and youre in for serious frustration.
Now, AI will let you compute with words instead of clicks.
A new way to interact with machines is about to emerge, and its already started.
Despite what you hear from OpenAI, that sci-fi vision of the future may never come to pass.
Hey Siri, grow up.
Among other flubs, the video introducing the product featured its AImaking several factual errors.
In early December,Google introduced Gemini, the companys next-generation AI.
Nano came with a promise.
We certainly believe computing is changing at a fundamental level.
As usual, OpenAI and its partners at Microsoft are first out of the starting gate on this project.
In September, OpenAI gave theChatGPT app voice functionality.
You cant pull it up by saying Hey ChatGPT, but thats an easy fix.
Amazons Alexa is certainly on the same path, as the company unveiled its ownchatbot called Qearlier this year.
Like Siri or Alexa, Google Assistant can take orders like set a timer for ten minutes.
On the other hand, Bard can collaborate, following commands like help me write a letter.
The real possibilities come when you combine these technologies.
It starts with easing minor frustrations.
Forget that, Siri can barely Google things for me.
Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri can only handle commands set up by teams of engineers.
They chose predetermined combinations of words to trigger those commands.
You have to use the exact right language to stay on the happy path.
But if youve used ChatGPT, you know its a different story.
Successfully combine these technologies, and theres nothing you cant ask Siri to do.
AI lowers the barriers.
Cant remember your brother-in-laws name?
Hey Google, call whats-his-name who was texting me about LeBron James yesterday.
What happens when your refrigerator goes woke?
The secret isnt just building an interface between people and computers.
Right now, making your apps and devices interact requires painstaking manual effort.
AI will help solve that problem.
You have your file system and your windowing system.
If your phone gets smarter, that means all your other devices get smarter too.
If you follow that idea to its logical conclusion, were opening the door to a very strange world.
And if your refrigerator can talk, do you want it to help keep you healthy?
Does that mean well have to step in to see to it it wont body-shame you?
A talking rig can not be neutral; someone has to decide what its going to say.
Its artificial, but these chatbots have personalities.
By now youve probably played around with ChatGPT, or at least seen others do it.
Experts disagree about the limits of AI, let alone the possibilities of our current models.
These updates will happen in a long-term series of stuttering changes, so you may not notice the shift.
Its a process that starts in 2024 and goes on for a long, long time.
But when youre looking back this time next year, the world is going to feel a lot different.
News from the future, delivered to your present.
Get your finest dark clothing and all your creepy things, part one ofWednesdayseason two is dropping in August.
