Chapter 2: Strategic Decision Making{0}
Section 2.1: Decision-Making Systems
Siri – An Artificial Intelligence System
In the article “Siri launches voice-powered iPhone ‘Assistant’”, Dylan F. Tweney describes a new artificial intelligence system called 
Siri. Siri is a new iPhone application which is free of charge and is a personal computer assistant which recognizes speech. Siri currently works in the United States only. It understands language and is able to learn new things from the user. Furthermore, Siri interprets enquiries, thus, it can obtain information about the weather, a taxi, restaurants and a lot of other things. The response is quick because Siri is connected to a lot of different web information services. The article states that the initial testing of the personal computer assistant was very good as Siri is widely connected and looks at various sources of information. Apparently, it is a much more comfortable and faster way to obtain information than searching in the Yelp iPhone application for example.
This article relates to chapter 2.1 of the textbook since Siri is a form of artificial intelligence. According to the textbook, “Artificial intelligence (AI) simulates human intelligence, such as the ability to reason and to learn” (Baltzan, P. & Phillips, A., 2009, page 55). This is exactly what Siri does. The more a person uses this application, the more it will learn about his/her preferences and the more precise information will be. Thus, Siri is one example of an artificial intelligence system.
I really like this article because I think that Siri is a very efficient tool. It is particularly useful for obtaining information quickly, such as when the user does not have a lot of time to search for information on the internet. Moreover, I really enjoyed reading this article because I was not familiar with this application before as it is not available in Germany. In addition, it really shows in a simple way how artificial intelligence works.
Works cited:
Photo: Retrieved August 30, 2010, from: http://www.iphonebuzz.com/siri-virtual-assistant-for-the-iphone-277425.php
Tweney, Dylan F. (2010, February 5). Siri launches voice-powered iPhone ‘Assistant’. Retrieved August 30, 2010 from www.wired.com: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/02/siri-voice-recognition-iphone
Baltzan, P. & Phillips, A. (2009). Business Driven Information Systems (second Edition). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.