The Talk Show With John Gruber · Tuesday, August 11, 2026
In the iOS 17 betas, Siri AI has exhibited issues with understanding and clarifying names, as demonstrated by its repeated questioning about the name 'Andrea'. Furthermore, basic commands like adding items to a shopping list have failed, sometimes requiring the user to re-create lists or encountering errors in list creation.
“And Siri AI on the phone said, was that Andrea, Andrea, you know, spelling the name different ways.”
“And it just asked again, was that Andrea, Andrea, Andrea, or whatever.”
“And I said, you pick.”
“It doesn't matter to me.”
“And it said, I don't have the ability to create lists or reminders.”