📱 Siri Dictates “Moby Dick” (iOS 17.6.1)
Using classic literature as a benchmark for smartphone dictation.
iOS 17: Improved Speech Recognition
Fall 2023: Apple debuted iOS 17 along with the iPhone 15. How did Apple describe dictation in iOS 17? They proclaimed, “Improved speech recognition. Dictation has improved accuracy and supports more languages on device using an all-new speech recognition model.” Improved, yay!
In practice? I disabled my automatic punctuation within a week. iOS 16 worked far better!
Since then, I’ve vented about iOS 17’s cognitive decline in “Hey, Siri, play dumb.” As for dictation, I’ve complained yet lacked a simple accuracy test. That is, until watching my six month old play with toys in his bath. As water sloshed and splashed, he crashed toy boats, watching them sink as if he were fate himself. Then it hit me:
Why not ask Siri to dictate a simple selection from Moby Dick? Why not repeat when new iterations and updates hit?
The Test
Dictate the first few paragraphs of Moby Dick then run the results through an online text comparison tool.
Specifications and Settings
Model: iPhone 12 (256 GB)
OS: iOS 17.6.1
Auto punctuation has been disabled.
The Test (8/24/2024)
Call me Ishmael. Some years ago – never mind how long precisely – having little or no money in my purse, and nothing in particular to interest me on sure, I thought I would sell about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have driving off the spleen, and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself in voluntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and breaking up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hippos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking peoples hats off – then, I count it high time to get to the sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and Paul. With a philosophical flourish keto throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in this. If they knew it, almost all men and their degree, sometimes or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.
This is your insular city of the Manhattans, belted round by wolves as Indian isles by coral Reeves – commerce surrounds it with her surf. Right and left, the streets take you water word. It's extreme downtown is the battery, where that noble mole is washed by waves, and cooled by breezes, which a few hours previous were out of sight of land. Look at the crowds of water gazers there.
Circulate the city of dreaming Sabbath afternoon go from couriers hook to Conti slip, and From, by Whitehall, Northwood. What do you see? – Posted like silent sentinels all around the town, stand thousands upon thousands of mortal men fixed in ocean reveries. Some leaning against the spiles; some seated upon the pierhead; some looking over the bowl works of ships from China; some high aloft in the rigging, as if striving to get a better seaward peep. But these are all Landsman; weekdays pent up and laugh and plaster – tied to counters, nailed to benches, clinched to desks. How then is this? Are the green field gone? What do they hear?
The Results
After copy-pasting both texts to Count Words Free, here’s how they stacked up (below). Note: I just want ballpark numbers—this is far from scientific.
Common (%): 90.87
Difference (%): 9.13
Common (symbols): 2050
Difference (symbols): 206
The Verdict
So 90% isn’t horrible. In regular speech, it still accounts for words dropped and words misheard. Siri’s sense of homophones elicit cringe from my English teacher brain. Meanwhile, if this reflected daily use, she’d refuse to hear punctuation and would just refuse to continue hearing if I went back and changed any errors.
But consider: How would 90% accuracy fair in every day speech? Yes, I choose a tougher test than the 2024 vernacular, minus fads like rizz and skibidi. I can only hope that iOS 18, complete with the so-called Apple Intelligence and the iPhone 16, fares better. Otherwise, the Pequod would never leave the harbor.
Post Script
As for blogging, while I’ve spent August filing out posts for HappyCasserole, I’ve been working on many new posts for The Paste Eaters Blog this fall. So stay tuned!
🎉 While you’re here, check out some other posts from my side blog, HappyCasserole.
iPhones Need a “Classic iPod” mode. Sometimes your music player shouldn’t interrupt with Amazon flash deals.
Terrible Audiobooks (Listen then Delete). When audiobooks resemble neither albums nor books. Bad UI’s render them disposable.
Awful Coffee, Abandoned Shopping Carts, and Fake Art. A summer Note scrapbook complete with flying pigs.
🏆 Also, check out some other posts from my teaching newsletter, The Paste Eaters Blog.
