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Bye Siri, Says Apple AI's Last Remaining Founder (cnet.com)

Posted by msmash on from the time-to-move-on dept.

Tom Gruber, the last of three Siri voice assistant co-founders still at Apple, has retired from his role as head of Siri's Advanced Development group, The Information reports. From a report: The 59-year-old will pursue personal interests in photography and ocean conservation, the publication said citing unnamed sources. Gruber's departure comes as the Siri group is seeing a major haul in its leadership under new boss John Giannandrea, formerly Google's head of AI and search. Dag Kittlaus and Adam Cheyer, with whom Gruber founded the original Siri Inc before it was bought over by Apple in 2010, left the iPhone maker years ago in 2011 and 2012 respectively.

14 of 58 comments (clear)

  1. At 59? I'd have been out sooner by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 1

    In fact, I plan to be, though my net worth is still probably only a fraction of these folks. There's only so long anyone should really want to work for someone else.

  2. Clippy 2.0 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    You seem to be making a resign letter, would you like some help with that ?

  3. Bye bye English by Lije+Baley · · Score: 2

    "from a report"
    "major haul"
    "bought over"
    Bye bye editing.

    --
    Strange things are afoot at the Circle-K.
  4. This is a total non-story by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 2

    It’s about one guy retiring. Meanwhile, in iOS 12 Siri, which up to now has been a voice macro system for Apple stock apps, will be opened up for third-party use. This is when thing will start to get interesting.

    1. Re:This is a total non-story by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      Itâ(TM)s about one guy retiring. Meanwhile, in iOS 12 Siri, which up to now has been a voice macro system for Apple stock apps, will be opened up for third-party use. This is when thing will start to get interesting.

      Siri already is open for third party use. Not sure when (iOS 10 or 11), but any developer can use SiriKit to add functionality to Siri.

      The fun part is I believe because of Apple, the recognition is happening as much as possible on-device, though it needs a trip to the cloud in case the recognition fails and needs more processing power.

      (Remember, Apple is on the privacy thing, so they're starting to do more things on-device rather than rely on the cloud. It's also why the China thing is not a huge deal - you can opt-out of iCloud and keep your data to yourself).

    2. Re:This is a total non-story by AvitarX · · Score: 1

      Apple's privacy is also a weekness though. It makes it far harder for their machines to learn (less data to use), and less easy to use information about the requestor to tune the answer.

      It'll be interesting to see which model works (more effective but evil (Google) vs less effective and less creepy (Apple).

      As a user, thus far I am siding with evil, but it's starting to make me uncomfortable.

      --
      Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
    3. Re:This is a total non-story by thebullshitpatrol · · Score: 1

      Siri Shortcuts is more like AppleScript.

  5. Don't care by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Siri, Alexa and other fucking intruding so-called A.I. crap are not worth the constant spying.

    There's only two persons I wish would leave Apple:
    - Tim Cook, the bean-counter CEO who doesn't care about Macs
    - Jony Ive, the let's-make-everything-thinner designer who keeps making Macs worst every fucking year

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
    1. Re:Don't care by datavirtue · · Score: 2

      Right...I decided to do a test one day to see how sensitive Alexa was. Mind you, this is with a a $25 el-cheapo device.

      I whispered "Alexa".

      I reduced volume even more with a faint whisper: "Alexa"

      I dropped it down to -11 and really just tried to prevent Alexa from hearing me at all. No dice. She responded each time.

      Alexa is now in my "computer junk bin."

      I do realize that the problem of my cell phone remains along with all the other cell phones in the house which I have to assume are capable of the same creepy shit. I have nothing to hide as I'm quite open about my use of ganja and I'm otherwise a "law abiding citizen" but this is just unacceptable. I talk a lot of politics and current world affaris with my son--a lot. Those are things you don't want fed to the beast.

      I recently saw an article on various things that people "say to Alexa." So your whispers and other convo are all being recorded and reported on. Fact.

      --
      I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
  6. Re:Personal photography? by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

    Did you mean this?

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    #DeleteFacebook
  7. Re:At 59? I'd have been out sooner by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

    Photo clubs usually are just equipment masturbation - BORING!

    I bet the Realdoll clubs really are into equipment masturbation.

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  8. Re:At 59? I'd have been out sooner by swb · · Score: 2

    I'd wager "ocean conversation" could be an altruistic version of yachting.

    Managing a long-endurance ocean research vessel and coordinating their research sounds like a great way to fill all of your time plus more, not to mention a lot of social contact even at sea.

    I think the bigger problem for people who retire is that they seldom have the resources to plunge into a hobby immersive enough to fill their time. Too many people count on creativity or something else to stretch their limited resources and fill in their time.

  9. Re:At 59? I'd have been out sooner by cayenne8 · · Score: 1

    Only if you have plenty of activities and social time with people - real people; not social media pseudo-relationships. I see it all the time. People retire or lose jobs for whatever reason and they fall apart - having plenty of money in the bank makes no difference. They become depressed and drunks. All the expensive anti-depressants in the World don't make up for being lonely. (Depression is a symptom; not an illness)

    The people who have plenty of outside meaningful (to them) activities with other people do well.

    Well, I think there is a balance....

    Don't get me wrong, having a good group of REAL friends, ones you actually get together with in meatspace are important.

    However, I don't know if it is a recent thing, or maybe just a problem with some people, but you should also not be afraid of being alone for extended periods of time. Having some time alone and being able to enjoy it is important too.

    Solitude is not the worst thing in the world, it allows you to contemplate things in your life, to get your thoughts together and enjoy pure 101% 'me' time, you know?

    I think this balance is just as important, and I don't understand why some people can't deal with any form of solitude for greater than 30 min???

    To me, it is inherit to my personality that I enjoy periods of solitude, but is it perhaps a learned behavior?

    It is great to have a healthy group of folks around, you...I'm blessed to have a large number of real friends, people I trust with keys to my house...but you shouldn't need to be around someone 25/7/365.

    Learn to deal with and enjoy being alone too.

    --
    Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
  10. Re:At 59? I'd have been out sooner by Darinbob · · Score: 1

    Yes and no. Work can be a substitute for a social life, but on the other hand work is a major time consumer and source of stress. For me, I just don't have time for many outside interests while working full time. And the longer I go at work the more stressed out I get, so I can only imagine that retirement would be good for my health. However I won't necessarily have the money to retire anytime soon and may find myself still working part time just to make ends meet.