Apple job ad promises wittier Siri responses

Apple ad - Joke (iPhone 4S, Siri, John Malkovich launghing) 002

Apple’s digital secretary (still in beta, by the way) made waves when it arrived as an iPhone 4S exclusive on October 5, 2011. It caught rival gadget makers on the wrong foot, but Google quickly responded to the threat with Google Now, a voice-activated search product which taps Google’s Knowledge Graph to deliver personalized results without users even asking. Siri’s reliance on Google for data was dramatically reduced since iOS 6 and a recent job ad suggested Siri will soon speak a bunch of new languages.

Another job ad has been spotted today, indicating that Apple wants Siri to provide even wittier responses than it currently does. The ideal candidate for the job would be someone willing to “develop and write original dialog to support new Siri capabilities” and help the Siri team evolve Siri as a “distinct, recognizable character”

Jordan Kahn of 9to5Mac spotted a new job ad on Apple’s web site. Based on a job description, he concluded that Apple is looking to enhance Siri’s witty responses and give her even more personality in order to differentiate the voice feature from rival offerings.

This one looks for a creative writer skilled in character-driven dialog to “help the Siri team evolve Siri as a distinct, recognizable character.”

Not only will the person help “refresh and refine” existing Siri content, Apple is also looking for someone to “develop and write original dialog to support new Siri capabilities.”

Apple writes that “Siri’s known for ‘her’ wit, cultural knowledge, and zeal to explain things in engaging, funny, and practical ways”.

Siri (will you marry me)

The ideal candidate will be tasked with refreshing and refining existing Siri dialog. He or she will develop and write original dialog to “support new Siri capabilities” and will also be responsible for “getting dialog into production, and learning from user reaction to it”.

The candidate will also co-lead a working group on cross-cultural  and multi-language issues and more. Siri recently became available across latest iPad models and is said to be coming to the Mac, based on early builds of the upcoming OS X 10.9 software which integrates the Siri voice command module.

Siri (best tablet ever 002)Siri (best tablet ever 001)

Apple’s been aggressively advertising Siri’s laid-back conversational style.

From Apple’s web site:

Talk to Siri as you would to a person. Say something like “Tell my wife I’m running late” or “Remind me to call the vet.” Siri not only understands what you say, it’s smart enough to know what you mean. So when you ask “Any good burger joints around here?” Siri will reply “I found a number of burger restaurants near you.”

Then you can say “Hmm. How about tacos?” Siri remembers that you just asked about restaurants, so it will look for Mexican restaurants in the neighborhood. And Siri is proactive, so it will question you until it finds what you’re looking for.

Maybe if Apple just fixed Siri’s response time and gave her offline mode like Google Now instead of adding more drama to her personality?