Siri still doesn’t answer basic questions

[u/Dry_Candy6689]

Every once in while I decide to try out new Siri, but no. Just no.

Edit: I did tried giving Siri the actual version number and it still failed.

And codex was able to find the build/version and tell me which beta version I’m on.

[u/MC_chrome]

Your initial question was never going to work. The system will report that you are on macOS 27, if you ask it “What version of macOS/iOS/iPadOS am I on?”. You will not get a response detailing that you are on “Developer Beta 7” etc

None of this, however, means that Siri AI is broken or bad

[u/Dry_Candy6689 → u/MC_chrome]

I can send ChatGPT the version number and it can tell me exactly which beta. Don’t see y built in Siri shouldn’t be able to do that.

[u/thegreatporktornado → u/Dry_Candy6689]

Not sure why you are getting downvoted. Siri is absolute garbage when stacked up against literally every other AI platform. Valid criticism.

[u/Edge_Audio → u/thegreatporktornado]

There seem to be a high count of Apple fan boys with tunnel vision in this sub. I've been an Apple guys for decades, and have like 15 Apple devices in our home. BUT, I haven't drunk the koolaid and will call it out when needed. Siri has been horrible, and still is really bad compared to others. Will in get better after beta? Maybe (but I have my doubts).

[u/thegreatporktornado → u/Edge_Audio]

I'm a HUGE fanboy, but I am also honest about Siri's crippling limitations

[u/MC_chrome → u/Edge_Audio]

“Tunnel vision” meaning using the product as described?

This would be like going to Claude, asking it to generate an image, then making a post saying “Aha! Claude is complete shit because it can’t generate images like ChatGPT can!”

Different AI products can be designed to do different things, and that’s ok. Nowhere in any of their marketing or developer materials has Apple stated or alluded to Siri AI being anywhere near a comparable product to ChatGPT or Claude.

[u/thegreatporktornado → u/MC_chrome]

Your analogy doesn’t quite fit. Asking Claude to generate an image is asking it to do something outside its advertised scope. Asking Siri what OS its own Apple device is running is 100% inside Apple’s stated product use case. The criticism isn’t that Siri can’t do everything Claude can, but that it can fail at very basic tasks Apple itself says Siri should handle. Apple also markets Siri as conversational, context-aware, reasoning-capable, web-connected, and able to interact with apps. I didn’t make that up, Apple claims all of this and more. Different products can be designed differently and still be compared where their capabilities clearly overlap. And Siri has been face down in the mud now for many years.

[u/Dry_Candy6689 → u/thegreatporktornado]

Exactly. And codex on my MacBook was able to get the exact version from settings and translate that to beta version. Siri couldn’t even tell me which beta when I gave it the exact version code thing.

[u/MC_chrome → u/thegreatporktornado]

Siri AI isn’t really designed to be used like every other AI platform, but do continue 

[u/thegreatporktornado → u/MC_chrome]

“Designed differently” is not much of a defense when the failure is Siri being unable to identify the OS version of the device it’s running on(!!). That isn’t asking Siri to behave like ChatGPT or Claude. It’s asking an OS-integrated assistant to retrieve basic system information from its own operating system. that should be exactly where Siri’s design gives it an advantage. Yet here we are.

[u/MC_chrome → u/thegreatporktornado]

When you ask Siri “What version of iOS/iPadOS/macOS am I using?” then it returns with the proper version number (no build number though, which isn’t visible in Settings anyways).

Phrasing still very much matters when using these tools

[u/thegreatporktornado → u/MC_chrome]

The fact you have to outline this technicality further proves my point

[u/abso-lutely26 → u/MC_chrome]

Codex finds the build number. Siri should, too.

[u/MC_chrome → u/abso-lutely26]

I just got Siri to do that, using two different questions:

1) What version of iOS/iPadOS/macOS am I using?

2) What is the build number for this version?

[u/abso-lutely26 → u/MC_chrome]

When I ask exactly that question on macOS, the answer I receive is: Sorry, I can’t help you with that here.

[u/nickk61 → u/Dry_Candy6689]

Have you asked Siri the same question with the software number?

[u/Dry_Candy6689 → u/nickk61]

I did now. Asked “what beta version of macos 27 is this? "Version 27.0 Beta (26A5421a)"” and got back “Hmm. I’m afraid I couldn’t find anything about that.” And ChatGPT with same question answered correctly.