Siri, Apple's voice-activated assistant for iPad and iPhones, may be getting a personality upgrade in her next incarnation. And from the sound of it, the new Siri will be a virtual personality with enough literary talent and cultural awareness to work at the New Yorker.
Recently Apple posted a job announcement for a writer/editor for Siri, as 9to5Mac first reported. The job, which has possibly been filled, asked applicants to be capable of developing and writing original dialogue for Siri's new capabilities. The job description, which is no longer on Apple's website, went like this:
"We're looking for a uniquely creative individual to help us evolve and enrich Siri, our virtual personal assistant. Siri's known for 'her' wit, cultural knowledge, and zeal to explain things in engaging, funny, and practical ways. The ideal candidate is someone who combines a love for language, wordplay, and conversation with demonstrated experience in bringing creative content to life within an intense technical environment."
So the right person will not actually have to be able to program Siri, but should be really good at puns, alliteration, and understanding witty neologisms. While it clearly looks like the language and interactive capability of Siri will be taken to the next level in her next version, it is still unknown what those new technical improvements might be and when the new Siri will be making her first social appearance.
But given all of the time Apple has had since the old Siri was released, and all of the practical issues that have been discovered and undoubtedly worked through, it will be interesting to see how life-like, sharp, and useful the new Siri will turn out to be.