Screen Shot 5Apple's senior director of Siri, Alex Acero, will speak at the AI Frontiers conference in San Jose, California, this coming November.

The event brings together specialists in the fields of robotics, natural language processing, virtual assistants, autonomous driving, and more, with speakers from the likes of Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Uber.

As part of a panel exploring the role of personal assistants, Acero will about how deep learning informs the way Siri works on Apple devices. From the AI Frontiers online schedule:

Siri brought personal assistants to the mainstream after its introduction in 2011 in the iPhone. Deep learning is powering many components in Siri: trigger word detection, large vocabulary recognition, text-to-speech, machine translation, and natural language understanding. In this talk I will show a few examples of how deep learning is used in Siri.

Also on Acero's panel are Amazon Alexa director Ruhi Sarikaya and Google research scientist Dilek Hakkani-Tur.

Acero arrived at Apple in 2013 after spending two decades at Microsoft, where he oversaw research into computer vision, speech, neuro-linguistic programming, machine learning and translation, amongst other areas. His work on Siri takes in speech recognition, speech synthesis, and machine translation.

The AI Frontiers conference takes place from November 9 to November 11. For more information on the event and scheduled speakers, check out the AI Frontiers website.

Top Rated Comments

Kabeyun Avatar
89 months ago
In other news, a kindergartner is scheduled to deliver a lecture on the nuances of Shakespeare.

/s
Sry, but afaic Siri is where Apple falls completely flat.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Shunnabunich Avatar
89 months ago
What natural language processing? Siri appears to rely on a limited set of pre-defined phrases that accept variables, and if you stray outside of those you get booted straight to a web search or she answers some unrelated question. Siri is Eliza with operating system tie-ins.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SBlue1 Avatar
89 months ago
What? There is a SENIOR DIRECTOR for Siri???? What the hell is he doing all day?? I thought they let the interns do the Siri jokes.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
KGBguy Avatar
89 months ago
My dog is smarter than Siri. It is a great idea, but, today Siri has a very long way to go to be useful. Dealing with it is nothing but a head ache.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
RickInHouston Avatar
89 months ago
Speech title: natural language processing is HARD.
Google seems to be handling the difficulty quite well.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
foobarbaz Avatar
89 months ago
In other news, a kindergartner is scheduled to deliver a lecture on the nuances of Shakespeare.

/s
Sry, but afaic Siri is where Apple falls completely flat.
Apple is behind in many areas and the way they fix it is usually this:

Work in secret on a replacement for 4 years while everybody complains they’re not doing anything.

That’s how they fixed their file system, their programming language and apparently their maps.

Of course, there are times when they are really not doing anything (Mac Pro), so we can’t know …

The point is, don’t judge that guy on what’s shipping today. (Wait five years, then you may … )
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro 3 4ths Perspective Aluminum Camera Module 1

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Sunday April 13, 2025 7:52 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of April 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
Apple 2025 Thumb 1

10 Products Still Coming From Apple in 2025

Friday April 11, 2025 4:14 pm PDT by
Apple may have updated several iPads and Macs late last year and early this year, but there are still multiple new devices that we're looking forward to seeing in 2025. Most will come in September or October, but there could be a few surprises before then. We've rounded up a list of everything that we're still waiting to see from Apple in 2025. iPhone 17, 17 Air, and 17 Pro - We get...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature Homescreen

Foldable iPhone Resolutions Leak With Under-Screen Camera Tipped

Monday April 14, 2025 3:12 am PDT by
Apple's upcoming foldable iPhone (or "iPhone Fold") will feature two screens as part of its book-style design, and a Chinese leaker claims to know the resolutions for both of them. According to the Weibo-based account Digital Chat Station, the inner display, which is approximately 7.76 inches, will use a 2,713 x 1,920 resolution and feature "under-screen camera technology." Meanwhile, the...
iPad Pro iPadOS

iPadOS 19 Will Be 'More Like macOS' in Three Ways

Sunday April 13, 2025 6:43 am PDT by
A common complaint about the iPad Pro is that the iPadOS software platform fails to fully take advantage of the device's powerful hardware. That could soon change. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today said that iPadOS 19 will be "more like macOS." Gurman said that iPadOS 19 will be "more like a Mac" in three ways:Improved productivity Improved multitasking Improved app window management...
M6 MacBook Pro Feature 1

Waiting for the Perfect MacBook Pro? 2026 Might Be the Year

Thursday April 10, 2025 4:19 am PDT by
Apple in October 2024 overhauled its 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, adding M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max chips, Thunderbolt 5 ports on higher-end models, display changes, and more. That's quite a lot of updates in one go, but if you think this means a further major refresh for the MacBook Pro is now several years away, think again. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has said he expects only a small...
Apple Vision Pro with battery Feature Blue Magenta

Vision Pro 2 Rumored to Have Two Key Advantages Over Current Model

Sunday April 13, 2025 7:15 am PDT by
Apple is working on a new version of the Vision Pro with two key advantages over the current model, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Specifically, in his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said Apple is developing a new headset that is both lighter and less expensive than the current Vision Pro, which starts at $3,499 in the U.S. and weighs up to 1.5 pounds. Gurman said Apple is also...
maxresdefault

The MacRumors Show: New iOS 19, iPhone 17, and Apple Watch Ultra 3 Leaks

Friday April 11, 2025 7:13 am PDT by
On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we catch up on the latest iOS 19 and watchOS 12 rumors, upcoming devices, and more. Subscribe to The MacRumors Show YouTube channel for more videos Detailed new renders from leaker Jon Prosser claim to provide the best look yet at the complete redesign rumored to arrive in iOS 19, showing more rounded elements, lighting effects, translucency, and...
top stories 2025 04 12

Top Stories: iOS 19 and iPhone 17 Pro Rumors, Siri Revamp Turmoil, and More

Saturday April 12, 2025 6:00 am PDT by
It was a big week for leaks and rumors in the Apple world, with fresh claims about iOS 19, the iPhone 17 Pro, and even the 20th anniversary iPhone coming a couple of years from now. Sources also spilled the tea on the inner turmoil at Apple around the Apple Intelligence-driven Siri revamp that has seen significant delays, so read on below for all the details on these stories and more! iOS ...
iPhone 16e Feature

iPhones, Macs, and Other Apple Devices Exempted From Trump Tariffs

Saturday April 12, 2025 9:44 am PDT by
Apple and other electronics manufacturers have received a break from Trump's reciprocal tariffs, with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency sharing a long list of products excluded from the levies last night. iPhones, Macs, iPads, Apple Watch, and other Apple devices will not be subject to the 125 percent tariffs that have been put in place on imported Chinese goods, nor will Apple...