Anyone notice siri no longer recognizes common foreign idoms anymore? Either in TTS or Ask Siri… The only concrete example I have is recognizing “Croque Monsieur” since my love for hot ham sandwiches has spanned the ages… but I feel like there’s something more nefarious at work here.

It feels like used to be able to ask for a info about random foreign words and it would at least trigger a web search for something phonetically similar, which would often get me the translation I was after. But lately* the TTS engine is militantly transforming everything into English. Obviously this is more subtle and open to other interpretations, but for example I just asked her what “hikikomori” were which got interpreted as “Hickam Morty,” with top hits for the show Rick and Morty.

  • ChrisG@lemmy.world
    2·
    7 days ago

    All of the digital assistants appear to be degrading to me. I suspect directing consumers to paid ‘AI’ versions which allegedly work, are the corporate plan.

  • drewaustin@lemmy.caEnglish
    2·
    22 days ago

    Man, it seems like she is getting more useless by the day. It’s really sad how much the development of Siri has been left to flounder since its introduction.

      • Nikls94@lemmy.world
        1·
        9 days ago

        Old people had no option. Siri had a female voice, it was a she. Now it is an it, the Siri is just an artificial helper, either male or famale, two voices each. Siri can be what you want it to be.

      • Stovetop@lemmy.world
        0·
        22 days ago

        Based on what little I know of Japanese, the first syllable isn’t supposed to rhyme with ‘Rick’, but should rhyme with ‘weak’.

        Most eastern languages are very particular about vowel sounds which is what might be throwing Siri off. I think English probably stands out among other languages for playing fast and loose with how vowels are pronounced. Results in some unique challenges for sure.