Asking Siri for something you actually need? Don't count on getting a good answer.

Asking Siri for something you actually need? Don't count on getting a good answer.

Siri Not That Great After All

Just because she hears you, doesn't mean she's listening.

By: Jena Kehoe

Web2Carz Contributing Writer

Published: July 6th, 2012



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ost of the time when we ask Siri a question, it's something of a joke. And thankfully so, since most of the time if she answers, it's not with the answer we're looking for. New research found that out of 1,600 requests, she only answered an average of 65 percent of the time...and that's not even going for accuracy, that's whether or not she actually answered at all.

On a loud street, she answered correctly 62 percent of the time, while in a quieter area she answered 68 percent of the time, earning the technology a grade of "D" for accuracy.

Some people have even filed a class-action lawsuit against Apple, claiming the ads for Siri were false advertising.

Siri, of course, is the defining technology between the iPhone 4 and 4S, with the latter the one boasting the electronic assistant. But the technology, though cool, isn't reliable.

Gene Munster, the Piper Jaffray analyst who conducted the study, said, "You're playing the lottery when you're using Siri. They have a plan to be more competitive, but it's going to take a couple of years."

Some people have even filed a class-action lawsuit against Apple, claiming that the ads, which feature celebrities like Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, were false advertising. And let's be honest here for a second, they kind of are. And aside from being inaccurate a lot of the time, Siri has her moments where she doesn't work at all; we've probably all experienced the "I'm sorry, I can't do that right now," answer.

And instead of fixing what's broken, Apple has plans to add even more (probably poorly-working) features to Siri, like movie listings and sports scores. And while Siri is alright at deciphering what people are saying, it's the "finding the answer" that she stumbles on.

"Apple right now gets a B in comprehension and a D in accuracy," Munster said. "There's a big difference between comprehension and her actually doing what you want her to do."

In other words, it might be best to stick to asking Siri goofy questions.