Siri is wrong a third of the time

A study has found that Apple’s Siri assistant gives the wrong answer over 30 per cent of the time.

According to Digital Trends, the study was conducted by Piper Jaffray, who asked a total of 1600 questions in both a crowded Minneapolis street and a quiet room.

According to the results, Siri was capable of understanding 83 per cent of the questions on the street and 89 per cent of questions in the quiet room. However, it was with the results that the software faltered, showing just 62 per cent accuracy on the street and 68 per cent accuracy in the quiet room.

In contrast, Google’s voice assistant operated with around 86 per cent accuracy.

Apparently the discrepancy lies in the way that Siri retrieves its search results – mainly through Google but with a little extra help from the review site Yelp and the Wolfram Alpha search engine.

Overall the study awaded Apple’s voice assistant a D, while Google’s received a B+.

“In order to become a viable mobile search alternative, Siri must match or surpass Google’s accuracy of B+ and move from a grade D to a B or higher,” commented Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster.