Siri之父回應(yīng)批評(píng)

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????智能語(yǔ)音助手Siri之父對(duì)摸不著使用竅門(mén)的用戶(hù)有話(huà)說(shuō)：Siri靈著呢。

????本周一晚上，Siri之父達(dá)格?吉特勞斯在克雷恩公司（Crain）于芝加哥舉辦的科技對(duì)話(huà)（Tech Talk）問(wèn)答環(huán)節(jié)中說(shuō)：“有些人說(shuō)Siri不好用，我完全不同意這種觀點(diǎn)。”他對(duì)主持人湯姆?瑞恩（他也是Threadless公司的CEO，這家公司主要生產(chǎn)T恤衫）說(shuō)：“一款產(chǎn)品如果在正確使用的情況下不能在90%的情況下保持正常，根本就沒(méi)人會(huì)發(fā)布這款產(chǎn)品。”

????吉特勞斯并不否認(rèn)Siri存在問(wèn)題。去年10月蘋(píng)果（Apple）發(fā)布了最新款的iPhone 4S智能手機(jī)，其中最大的亮點(diǎn)功能就是人機(jī)交互語(yǔ)音控制系統(tǒng)“Siri”。不過(guò)，它讓許多用戶(hù)失望了。人們最經(jīng)常報(bào)怨的是它的應(yīng)答太慢，而且語(yǔ)音識(shí)別能力太差。Siri在發(fā)布時(shí)罕見(jiàn)地被蘋(píng)果打上了“測(cè)試版”的標(biāo)簽，這說(shuō)明Siri還處在研發(fā)階段。另外，據(jù)一位曾經(jīng)的蘋(píng)果內(nèi)部人士告訴《財(cái)富》雜志（Fortune），蘋(píng)果公司的許多員工“都對(duì)Siri感到尷尬。如果喬布斯還活著，Siri一定會(huì)讓他瘋掉。”

????自然，吉特勞斯在談話(huà)中進(jìn)行了回?fù)簟Ｋ麑?duì)瑞思說(shuō)：“使用中偶爾也會(huì)出現(xiàn)一些連接問(wèn)題。當(dāng)然，肯定有些時(shí)候它的應(yīng)答時(shí)間太長(zhǎng)了。但是這是個(gè)非常復(fù)雜的問(wèn)題，他們正在非常努力地修復(fù)它，使它變得完美。我想你會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)，隨著時(shí)間的推移，它會(huì)變得越來(lái)越好。”

????吉特勞斯用了“他們”而并非“我們”，是因?yàn)樗F(xiàn)在已經(jīng)不再為蘋(píng)果工作了。吉特勞斯最早曾在摩托羅拉（Motorola）供職，2007年，他參與成立了Siri的母公司。2010年4月，蘋(píng)果以約2億美元的價(jià)格收購(gòu)了這家公司。后來(lái)吉特勞斯搬到了位于庫(kù)比蒂諾的蘋(píng)果總部，不過(guò)在一年半后辭職，也就是大約在Siri被集成到iPhone 4S的時(shí)候。經(jīng)歷了四年的馬不停蹄地研發(fā)工作之后，他搬回到老家芝加哥郊區(qū)，花更多的時(shí)間陪伴家人，創(chuàng)作科幻小說(shuō)，同時(shí)策劃更多的創(chuàng)意。他指出自己與蘋(píng)果是和平分手的。

????但對(duì)于批評(píng)Siri的人，他就不那么友善了。瑞恩念了一段Siri用戶(hù)發(fā)給克雷恩公司的留言，他說(shuō)當(dāng)Siri有效地工作的時(shí)候，他還是很喜歡Siri的。只是“有的時(shí)候它處理得比較正確，有時(shí)卻錯(cuò)得徹頭徹尾。”吉特勞斯怒不可遏地說(shuō)：“它不是完美無(wú)缺的。”瑞恩只好開(kāi)玩笑地說(shuō)：“別把氣撒在讀信的人身上啊，我只是在把這些問(wèn)題念出來(lái)而已。”作為Siri的發(fā)明者，他個(gè)人很難在感情上接受這些批評(píng)，這也無(wú)可厚非。吉特勞斯有一半挪威血統(tǒng)，他說(shuō)“Siri”這個(gè)詞在北歐指的是“引導(dǎo)你走向勝利的一個(gè)美麗女性”。他甚至想給他的第一個(gè)女兒起名叫“Siri”，不料他第一胎生了個(gè)男孩。

????The guy who invented Siri has a message for users who can't get the hang of the Apple's virtual personal assistant: She works just fine.

????Dag Kittlaus was speaking at a Crain's Tech Talk Q&A session in Chicago Monday night. "I completely disagree with people who say it doesn't work very well," he told moderator Tom Ryan, CEO of hip t-shirt maker Threadless. "You don't launch a product that isn't into the 90th percentile of working if you're using it properly."

????Kittlaus doesn't deny that Siri has her issues. What Apple (AAPL) touted as the marquee feature of the new iPhone 4S last October, has let many users down. Common complaints have included slow responses and poor speech recognition. Apple launched Siri with a rare Beta label, a tacit admission of work in progress. What's more, one former Apple insider recently told Fortune, that company employees "are embarrassed by Siri. Steve would have lost his mind over Siri."

????Naturally, Kittlaus pushed back during his talk. "You run into some connectivity issues occasionally," Kittlaus told Ryan. "And of course, there are definitely moments where it takes a little bit too long, but it's a very complex problem that they're working very hard at fixing and making it perfect, and I think you'll see it get better and better over time."

????Kittlaus says "they're" instead of "we're" because he no longer works for Apple. In 2007, the former Motorola (MMI) executive helped launch the startup that gave birth to Siri. In April 2010, Apple bought the firm for an estimated $200 million. Kittlaus moved to company headquarters in Cupertino but quit about a year and a half later, around the time Siri was integrated into the iPhone 4S. After four years of nonstop development, he moved back to the Chicago suburbs where he grew up to spend more time with his family, work on a science fiction novel and cook up more ideas. He noted that his split with Apple was amicable.

????But to Siri bashers, he's not as cordial. Ryan read a comment sent to Crain's by a user who said he enjoyed Siri -- when it worked. "Sometimes it gets it right," he read. "Sometimes it flat-out misses." Kittlaus bristled and answered, "It's not perfect," which prompted Ryan to joke, "Don't shoot the messenger. I'm just reading these questions."

????It may be hard to blame Siri's inventor for taking criticism personally. Kittlaus is half Norwegian and says that Siri means "beautiful woman who leads you to victory" in his Nordic tongue. In fact, he wanted to name his first daughter Siri but a son came first.?