This article is from The Verge by Mossberg and I chose it to practice my English-to-Chinese translation.
Mossberg: Why does Siri seem so dumb?
莫博士：为什么Siri显得这么笨？
I’ve been familiar with Siri longer than most people.
我了解Siri的时间比大多数人要早。
Way back in 2009, two years before Apple incorporated the intelligent digital assistant into the iPhone, I stood onstage with the inventors of the service while they debuted it at a tech conference I co-produced.
2009年，苹果把这个智能数字助理集成到iPhone的两年前，在我参与组织的一次技术会议上，Siri首次推出，而我和它的发明者们就站一起在舞台上。
At the time, it was just a third-party app on the iPhone App Store.
那时， Siri只是iPhone应用商店上的一款第三方应用。
Not long thereafter, Apple bought the company and the assistant reemerged in 2011 with a splashy introduction as a core feature of the iPhone 4S.
在那不久，苹果买下了这家公司，而这个智能助理在2011年再次出现，并作为iPhone 4S的一个核心特色得到隆重的介绍。
In addition to the iPhone, Siri is now on the iPad, and was recently added to the Mac.
不仅在iPhone上， Siri现在在iPad上也可以使用，最近又增加进了Mac。
It’s also on Apple TV.
它也存在于苹果电视上。
Via the phone, it’s the key user interface in Apple’s CarPlay infotainment system for autos and even the soon-to-be-released wireless AirPod earbuds.
iPhone上的Siri是苹果在汽车上的CarPlay娱乐系统甚至马上会发布的无线Airpod耳机的一个关键的用户接口。
Why does Siri seem so dumb?
为什么Siri显得这么笨？
Siri is also the point of the spear for Apple in the coming tech war, just getting started, to make artificial intelligence a natural, conversational part of your world — at home, on your phone, in your car, everywhere.
Siri也是苹果在即将到来的科技战中的一个重点矛头。这场科技战才刚要开始，将使得人工智能成为你的世界里一个自然的，对话式的一部分，不管是在家里，在你的手机上，你的车上还是任何地方。
And Apple had a big head start with Siri.
而苹果凭借Siri本来有很大的先发优势。
So why does Siri seem so dumb?
那为什么Siri显得这么笨？
Why are its talents so limited?
为什么它的能力如此受限？
Why does it stumble so often?
为什么它经常犯错？
When was the last time Siri delighted you with a satisfying and surprising answer or action?
上一次Siri给出了一个让你满意甚至惊奇的回答或回应是什么时候？
For me at least, and for many people I know, it’s been years.
对我和我知道的很多人来说，至少已经几年了。
Siri’s huge promise has been shrunk to just making voice calls and sending messages to contacts, and maybe getting the weather, using voice commands.
Siri宏大的功能承诺已经缩水成使用语音命令打电话，给联系人发信息或者查询天气情况了。
Some users find it a reliable way to set timers, alarms, notes and reminders, or to find restaurants.
一些用户发现用Siri设定计时器，闹钟，笔记和提醒或是找餐馆还是很可靠的。
But many of these tasks could be done with the crude, pre-Siri voice command features on the iPhone and other phones, albeit in a more clumsy way.
但很多这些任务可以用iPhone和其它手机上的，在Siri之前就有的原始的语音命令功能实现，尽管要不方便很多。
A blown advantage
一个被夸大的优点
It seems to me that Apple has wasted its lead with Siri.
在我看来，苹果浪费了它用Siri得到的领先地位。
And now Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, and others are on the march.
现在，谷歌，亚马逊，微软，Facebook和其它公司加入了这场比赛。
Apple has made excited announcements each time it added knowledge domains like sports and movies and restaurants to Siri on the iPhone.
每次苹果给Siri增加了新的如体育，电影和餐厅这样的知识领域，它都会兴奋地宣布出来。
But it seems like it hasn’t added any major new topic domains in quite a while.
但苹果似乎有一段时间没有增加新的话题领域了。
Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, and others are on the march The only new domain listed on Apple’s Siri webpage is for controlling home devices compatible with Apple’s HomeKit platform, a use case that’s quite small.
谷歌，亚马逊，微软，Facebook和其它公司加入了这场比赛。列在苹果Siri网页上的唯一一个新领域是控制家具。这些家具需要和苹果的HomeKit平台兼容，这是个很小的用例。
You can now use Siri to “turn the lights blue” or “turn on the bathroom heater” — integrations Amazon’s Echo and Alexa assistant have led the way on.
你现在可以用Siri来切换灯为蓝色或者打开卫生间取暖器。这种集成方面，亚马逊的Echo和Alexa助理已经领先了。
And the always-listening Echo is faster than pressing the iPhone’s home button to call up Siri and more reliable than the “Hey Siri” command that can be hit or miss.
并且听Echo比按iPhone的Home键唤起Siri要快速，比成功率不高的“嘿，Siri”功能要可靠。
When’s the presidential debate? Siri had no clue.
总统辩论是在什么时候？Siri不知道。
If you try and treat Siri like a truly intelligent assistant, aware of the wider world, it often fails, even though Apple presentations and its Siri website suggest otherwise.
如果你把Siri当做一个了解广阔世界的真正的智能助手来使用，你经常会失败。尽管苹果做的展示和Siri网站说的都是相反的一面。
(And I’m not talking about getting your voice wrong.
（我不是在说识别错你的声音）
In my recent experience, Siri has become quite good at transcribing what I’m asking, just not at answering it.)
根据我最近的使用经历，Siri已经能很好的转录我问的问题，只是回答得并不好。
In recent weeks, on multiple Apple devices, Siri has been unable to tell me the names of the major party candidates for president and vice president of the United States.
上几周，在多台苹果设备上，Siri不能告诉我美国主要政党的总统候选人和副总统候选人的名字。
Or when they were debating.
或是他们什么时候辩论。
Or when the Emmy awards show was due to be on.
或是艾美奖颁奖典礼什么时候开始。
Or the date of the World Series.
或是世界职业棒球大赛的进行日期。
When I asked it “What is the weather on Crete?” it gave me the weather for Crete, Illinois, a small village which — while I’m sure it’s great — isn’t what most people mean when they ask for the weather on Crete, the famous Greek island.
我问Siri克里特的天气怎样时，它给了我伊利诺伊州的克里特（这是个小镇，当然我认为它是个很棒的小镇）的天气，而不是大多数人想问的那个著名的希腊岛屿的天气。
Google Now answered every one of these questions correctly Google Now, on the same Apple devices, using the same voice input, answered every one of these questions clearly and correctly.
Google Now能正确回答以上的任一问题。 在同一部苹果设备上，用同样的声音问Google Now，它能正确清楚地回答所有的这些问题。
And that isn’t even Google’s latest digital helper, the new Google Assistant.
而这还不是谷歌最新的数字助手Google Assistant。
If you try most of these broken examples right now, they’ll work properly, because Apple fixed them after I tweeted screenshots of most of them in exasperation and asked the company about them.
如果你现在测试我举的例子，Siri可能能够正常回答了。因为在我在推特上发了测试Siri的截图，并质问苹果后，苹果公司已经修复了这些问题。
Apple stressed to me that it’s constantly improving Siri, and also stressed that it focuses its Siri efforts on the kinds of tasks that it says millions of people ask every day: placing phone calls, sending texts, and finding places.
苹果和我强调说他们在不断改进Siri，并且强调Siri的关注点在于处理几百万用户每天需要的操作：打电话，发信息和查询地点。
It puts much less emphasis on what it calls “long tail” questions, like the ones I’ve cited above, which in some cases, Apple says, number in only the hundreds each day.
苹果在它所称的“长尾”问题（统计学术语，数量比例少的意思）上关注得较少。比如我上面提到的几个例子，苹果说每天这种请求的数量大概只有几百次。
But I suspect people don’t ask those questions because, after trying a time or two and getting no answers or wrong answers, they just give up on Siri.
但我认为人们不问这些问题是因为他们在试过一两次没有得到答案或得到错误的答案之后，就放弃了使用Siri问这些问题。
And I can’t see how asking when the 2016 presidential debates are being held is a more “long tail” query than asking when Abraham Lincoln was born.
并且我不明白怎么问“2016总统辩论的时间”是比问”林肯何时出生“更加”长尾“的问题。
That’s a question Siri not only can answer, but which Apple touts on its website.
林肯什么时候出生的问题，Siri不仅能回答，而且苹果还在官网上以此为宣传。
Everyday stumbles
每天都犯错
Apple also says Siri is focused on enabling you “to work with your device in a hands-free way.” But, in my recent tests, it even fails for me, or is inconsistent, too often when relying on data that’s right on the device or in iCloud.
苹果也说，Siri关注于解放用户用于操作设备的双手。但在我最近的测试中，Siri经常表现糟糕，或是前后表现不一致，并且太过于依赖存储在设备或iCloud上的数据。
For instance, when I asked Siri on my Mac how long it would take me to get to work, it said it didn’t have my work address — even though the “me” contact card contains a work address and the same synced contact card on my iPhone allowed Siri to give me an answer.
比如，当我在我的Mac上问Siri，“去上班地点要花多久？”时，它说它没有我的工作地址，尽管“我”这个联系人卡片里已经包含了一个工作地址。相同的联系人卡片同步在我的iPhone上，iPhone上的Siri却能给我回答。
Similarly, on my iPad, when I asked what my next appointment was, it said “Sorry, Walt, something’s wrong” — repeatedly, with slightly different wording, in multiple places on multiple days.
同样的事也发生在我的iPad上，当我问我的下一个预约是什么时，它说，“对不起，沃特，出错了”。这样的回答反复出现，只是用词稍有不同。
But, using the same Apple calendar and data, Siri answered correctly on the iPhone.
但是使用同样的苹果日历和数据，iPhone上的Siri就能正确地回答。
When I asked it for pictures I had taken in York, England, this summer, it mixed them up with pictures I took years ago in Yorktown, Virginia.
我问Siri给我显示我今年夏天在英国约克拍的照片时，它把我几年前在弗吉尼亚州的约克镇拍的照片混在一起。
And yes, it had transcribed the question itself perfectly.
不过它能完美地转录这些问题。
It couldn’t find recent iMessages from my daughter-in-law, saying I had none, on the very day she’d sent two.
它找不到我儿媳妇最近发来的iMessage信息，跟我说没有信息，但那天，她给我发了两条。
And, if you have duplicate information for frequent contacts, Siri isn’t smart enough to know which one you use most often or used last time to call or text.
如果你的常用联系人名字信息有重复，Siri并不能知道哪个是你经常联系的或者是最近联系的。
Who is Tim Cook?
谁是蒂姆·库克
It also can’t distinguish between the question of “who is” a person, and a request for that person’s contact card.
它也不能分别是问“某人是谁”这一问题还是请求某人的联系人卡片。
For instance, I have a contact card for Apple CEO Tim Cook.
例如，我有苹果公司首席执行官蒂姆 · 库克的联系人卡片。
When I ask “Who is Tim Cook?” Siri shows me the contact card, not his bio.
当我问”蒂姆 · 库克是谁？”时，Siri 显示了他的联系人卡片而不是他的简介。
But, on a Samsung Galaxy S7 (Samsung’s non-exploding model) which also has a contact card for Cook, Google Now understands the question perfectly and gives me his Wikipedia entry.
但在三星Galaxy S7（三星不会爆炸的型号）上，上面有库克的联系人卡片，Google Now能够完美地理解这个问题并给我他的维基百科词条。
If I ask Google Now on the Galaxy to “email Tim Cook,” it does that, too — just like Siri.
如果我让Galaxy上的Google Now给库克发邮件，它就和Siri一样，给库克发邮件了。
Some consolation
一些安慰
Siri isn’t the only element of Apple’s artificial intelligence strategy.
Siri不是苹果的人工智能战略的唯一部分。
Its latest operating systems and core apps do some smart things, like guessing an unknown caller’s name from information in an email.
苹果最新的系统和核心应用能做一些智能的事情，比如根据电子邮件的信息推测一个未知来电的拨打者姓名。
Or automatically marking on a map where you parked your car.
或是自动在地图上标出你在哪里停放了你的汽车。
Or notifying you via your Apple watch how long your commute is when your phone connects to the Bluetooth in your car at a certain time of day.
或是在你的手机通过蓝牙连上你汽车后，在一天中某个特定时间，通过苹果手表告诉你往返路程是多少。
Bottom line
底线
Yes, Siri can usually place a call or send a text.
是的，Siri通常可以用来打电话和发信息。
It can tell you sports standings, Yelp restaurant reviews, and movie times — features Apple added years ago.
它能告诉你体育排行榜，Yelp上的餐馆评价还有电影的播放时间。这些苹果几年前就加入的特性。
And it must be said that all of its competitors have their own limitations and also make mistakes.
有一点必须说的是苹果的所有竞争者都有他们的局限性，也会犯错误。
The AI revolution will demand more But, in its current incarnation, Siri is too limited and unreliable to be an effective weapon for Apple in the coming AI wars.
人工智能的革命有更高的要求。 但在现在这个人工智能的初始阶段，Siri的能力太过有限，在接下来的人工智能战中，不能称为苹果能够依赖的有效武器。
It seems stagnant.
Siri似乎正停滞不前。
Apple didn’t become great by just following the data on what customers are doing today.
苹果之所以伟大，不是因为它根据现在用户在做什么这样的数据来决定方向。
It became great by delighting customers with feats they didn’t expect.
它之所以伟大是一位它给了用户意想不到的东西。
The AI revolution will demand even more of that.
人工智能的革命会有更高的要求。
Siri vs. Alexa comparison
Siri和Alexa的对比