There is a time and a place for everything. In the privacy of my own home, I have no problem saying “hi” to Google, Alexa, Siri, Meta, and occasionally Bixby. But in public? Where can other people observe me? I’d rather crawl under a rock.
This has been one of my biggest issues with AI gadgets in recent months. They all seem convinced that the best way to interact with AI assistants is actually conversation for them, similar to the movie Her. In reality, I’ve rarely seen my friends and family use their phone assistants when we’re hanging out privately and never in public. So it felt like a little “Aha!” moment when Apple said during last week’s WWDC keynote that iOS 18 will let you type to Siri instead.
Technically, you can already do this through the iPhone’s accessibility settings. (Go to Accessibility > Siri > Type to Siri.) This brings up a fairly bare-bones window and keyboard for you to type a command into. But in iOS 18, Apple embraces this feature, allowing you to double-tap the bottom of the screen. screen to display a Siri keyboard. You can also see quick suggestions that you can simply tap, instead of having to type (or speak) an entire question.
There are countless reasons why this just makes sense. Although digital assistants have become better at understanding commands, it is still difficult to talk to them naturally. At home I feel that I am affecting a certain pitch and tone when I use a wake word. I notice that I think in advance about how I want to formulate a question. Despite myself, I still mess up every now and then when I ask Google to set the lights in my living room to 25 percent brightness. I feel even more self-conscious when I have to do this in public.
It’s also incredibly noisy outside. While testing the multimodal AI features of the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, I was often told that the glasses could not hear me well. Either my environment was too loud, or I was subconsciously so embarrassed that I spoke too softly for the device to clearly pick up what I was saying. That led to a lot of frustration, which in turn caused me to pull out my phone – the exact opposite of what AI hardware wants me to do.
It’s not just newfangled AI gadgets, either. Speaking into a smartwatch looks cool when you’re James Bond. Most of us aren’t. Most people I see doing it look at least a little confused and frustrated. Is this vain? Yes. But self-consciousness is a big reason why people are hesitant to experiment with voice-activated assistants when they’re on the go. A 2018 PwC survey on voice assistant use found that 74 percent of consumers prefer using voice assistants at home, with participants saying using them in public “just looks weird.” The same study identified lack of trust as another major barrier to using voice assistants in general. People just didn’t believe that a voice assistant would understand commands correctly. If experience tells you that an AI assistant is unlikely to understand you, why bother using it in a place where you are more likely to be judged? (Also imagine saying “Hey Siri” and waking your fellow commuters’ iPhones. New nightmare unlocked.)
Aside from the technical logistics, typing to your AI assistant also gives you a greater degree of privacy. I don’t need people to know what I’m doing on my phone, even if it’s something as innocuous as playing a song or setting a timer. I especially don’t feel like dictating texts out loud if others can hear me. Typing questions like this allows me to keep my business to myself – and for that I’m happy to sacrifice some hands-free capabilities.
I don’t deny that there are reasons why you might do that need to talk to an assistant, even in a public setting. Voice commands are especially useful when you have no use of your hands or are driving. But having multiple ways to interact with AI assistants allows them to seamlessly fit the way we want to use our gadgets – rather than forcing everyone to adopt new paradigms. Maybe one day it won’t feel weird to talk out loud to a chatbot while walking down the street. For most people, that day is not today. And until that time comes, I’m happy to type to Siri.