Siri AI and The Spam Call Problem

Listening to podcasts after each WWDC is always a bit of information overload, but occasionally you catch a bit of analysis that seems perhaps pertinent. 

One of the podcasts I listen to his John Gruber’s Talk Show Live event that he’s been hosting for a few years now. After his infamous Something Is Wrong In The State of Cupertino post last year, Apple execs stayed away after having been guests in years previous. They stayed away this year as well.

This year, like last, Gruber put together a panel that featured The Verge’s Nilay Patel and Joanna Stern, formerly of The Wall Street Journal, now with her own gig, New Things With Joanna Stern. This year and last offered excellent commentary by both, and given the wait and see cynical posture I’ve adopted for all of Apple’s upcoming offerings, worth a listen. 

One interesting tidbit stood out that I want to highlight in the context of my ongoing complaints and requests to Apple about making the handling of spam and unwanted phone calls easier. 

Joanna seemed to be quite impressed with what she’s seen of Siri AI in the early going, citing a number of examples that she tried out during the event. The one that stood out to me is this:

I said, “What could I do that’s fun near the California Theater? I have some time to to kill,” and I don’t know if… I don’t know exactly what was the prompt or what was the thing, but it started suggesting things I could do locally. But also, it had access to my voicemail, so it knew that I had just gotten a message from my uncle who asked me to speak at his book club, and it said, “You… you could get back to my your uncle about his book club engagement, you would have some time to do that.” Okay, that’s crazy. It really is, right? And but what if that was sensitive information, right?

The key is Siri AI having access to voice mail. Regardless of however you feel about what data and info Siri AI needs to have about you to develop “Personal Context,” if Siri AI has access to your voice mail it seems it should be a relatively easy technological hop, skip, and jump to just automatically delete the flood of spam calls that have already figured out ways around any of the current wack-a-mole tricks that are being used. 

Obviously the larger point Joanna makes about “Personal Context” and a new level of trust is spot on. It is one many iPhone users will have to reckon with. But I’ll tell you this. For my own personal context, if Siri AI can automatically banish to digital hell all of the fake calls that now use names to try and circumvent current spam call prevention I’ll be grateful. 

The only reasons I can think of for Siri AI (or Google’s Gemini on Android phones) are business reasons and relationships with the mobile carriers. Apple’s “Personal Context” or Google’s “Personal Intelligence” are the names of the game, or so they claim. It seems logical to me that the technology exists to eradicate more of this curse that same technology makes possible and we all are prey to, whether it be phone calls, emails, or texts. 

Thanks for reading. You can subscribe to this blog if you care to. You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above. This site does not use affilate links. 

Apple nie pojawi się na „The Talk Show Live” Johna Grubera podczas WWDC 2025

Po raz pierwszy od 2015 roku przedstawiciele Apple nie wezmą udziału w corocznym specjalnym odcinku podcastu „The Talk Show Live” Johna Grubera, organizowanym podczas konferencji WWDC. Decyzja ta budzi kontrowersje, zwłaszcza w świetle niedawnej krytyki Apple przez samego Grubera. Informację podało MacRumors.Choć oficjalnie Apple nie podało przyczyny, spekuluje się, że ma to związek z marcowym wpisem Grubera pt. „Coś jest nie tak w Cupertino”, w którym skrytykował firmę za prezentowanie niedokończonych funkcji Apple Intelligence i Siri na WWDC 2024. Według niego, Apple pokazało „technologiczne obietnice bez pokrycia” – coś, co wcześniej było nie do pomyślenia w ich strategii.

Gruber, będący blisko Apple przez lata, otwarcie zarzucił firmie odejście od dotychczasowej transparentności i rzetelności w prezentacjach.

A może Apple unika trudnych pytań? Gruber nie jest jedynym dziennikarzem, który mówi w ostatnim czasie o zaburzonych relacjach z PR-em Apple.

Nie możemy wykluczyć, że nieobecność u Grubera może być próbą uniknięcia niewygodnych pytań o opóźnienia Siri i stan faktyczny Apple Intelligence. Może to także świadczyć o napiętych relacjach między Apple a jednym z najważniejszych komentatorów technologicznych.

Rozmowę z poprzedniego roku znajdziecie poniżej i na każdej platformie podcastowej.

#Apple #AppleIntelligence #AppleNews_ #AppleWWDC #Cupertino #JohnGruber #krytykaApple #opóźnienieSiri #podcastTechnologiczny #relacjeZMediamiApple #Siri #technologia2025 #TheTalkShowLive #WWDC2025 #wydarzeniaApple

Great show, once again! #TheTalkShowLive is for me a part of #WWDC since years. Thank you @gruber !

https://youtu.be/J7al_Gpolb8?si=OYjznJu0tnE7ba2l

Wow, I did not know @gruber's #TheTalkShowLive had an open bar "stocked with top-shelf liquor and quality beer," but it makes sense.

#wwdc #wwdc24

The Talk Show Live zur WWDC23
Einmal im Jahr gewährt Apples Top-Management Einblicke hinter die Kulissen. Auch dieses Jahr durfte The Talk Show Live stattfinden.

Das Gespräch wird vom amerikanischen Blogger und Podcaster John Gruber moderiert. Die Atmosphäre ist locker, doch echte Geheimnisse verrät das Management nicht. Dennoch lassen sich zwische
https://www.apfeltalk.de/magazin/news/the-talk-show-live-zur-wwdc23/
#iPad #iPhone #Mac #News #WWDC23 #TheTalkShowLive #Apple #JohnGruber