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Apple is reportedly gearing up to release the iPad 3 in early March, and now the Washington Post believes the next-generation tablet will also feature Siri, the AI virtual assistant currently exclusive to the iPhone 4S that can write and send texts and e-mails, place calls, schedule meetings and reminders, play music, surf the Web, and answer complicated and context-sensitive questions.
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Siri may have debuted on the iPhone, but it can make a name for itself on the iPad.
Siri has grown considerably since it was an iPhone application. The Siri app, which similarly understood conversations with its user to provide accurate answers, was originally a spinoff of a project co-developed by SRI Ventures and the Department of Defense's innovation arm called DARPA, or the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The project was called CALO, which stood for "Cognitive Assistant that Learns and Organizes," and it was the largest artificial intelligence project in U.S. history, with DARPA investing $150 million into CALO over five years.
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The project later raised $24 million in two rounds of funding, led by Menlo Ventures and Morgenthaler Ventures, and was launched as an iPhone app on Feb. 4, 2010. Apple quietly bought the app two months later for an undisclosed sum.
"Apple has started a whole new paradigm with real AI... for the benefit of people," said Norman Winarsky, VP of SRI Ventures and the original co-founder of Siri. "I think it's a great achievement of Steve Jobs and all of Apple."
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Winarsky says Apple has made Siri far more intelligent, and has bestowed the personal assistant with more power so she can access the device owner's personal information, contact list and calendar.
"Siri needed to be bought by Apple for that to happen," Winarsky said. "Because of that, you can ask questions and arrange meetings and find your music... things that you couldn't have done in Siri before."
Siri has been the most popular feature on the iPhone 4S by far, driving the smartphone to record sales since its Oct. 14 release date. A ChangeWave Research survey of 215 iPhone 4S owners found that 96 percent of respondents were "very satisfied" or "satisfied" with the iPhone 4S, and about half of those said Siri was the reason why.
"It's faster, simpler, more effective and more time-saving than talking to a person," Winarsky said. "I think people will like that more than they dislike talking to a computer."
When Apple released the iPhone 4S, Scott Forstall, Apple's VP of mobile operations, warned that Siri was still in beta. The software isn't perfect, only works with a Wi-Fi connection and still has yet to add support for more languages like Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Italian and Spanish, but the current software could definitely shine on the iPad, even more so than on the iPhone.
Why Siri on iPad Makes Sense
The one gripe about Siri is that it's, well, embarrassing to use. In its current state, there's no way to ask Siri questions without speaking to it, and having Siri respond out loud. It gets worse if Siri announces your incoming texts and calls in public, from, say, your mom.
More people own smartphones than tablets, but people approach iPads for business, education, and productivity purposes. Given that Siri is meant to boost one's production, helping the user schedule and remember meetings and become better organized, the technology, when paired for with iPad, has incredible potential.
An iPad with Siri could have a tremendous impact on education. Imagine a student holding an iPad. The iPad could read aloud a selection from a new iBooks textbook, or remind the student to study for an upcoming test. If a textbook doesn't answer the student's question, they could simply ask Siri, which could then search its own database or try a Web search.
