Typing for AI assistants could be the way to go

There is a time and place for everything. In the privacy of my home, I have no problem saying “hello” to Google, Alexa, Siri, Meta, and occasionally Bixby. But in public? Where can other people notice me? I’d rather crawl under a rock.

This has been one of my biggest issues with AI gadgets over the past few months. Everyone seems convinced that the best way to interact with AI assistants is to actually to speak for them, not unlike the movie Her. In fact, I’ve rarely seen my friends and family use their phone’s assistants when we’re talking privately and Never in public. So it felt like a little “Aha!” at which point, during last week’s WWDC keynote, Apple mentioned that iOS 18 will let you type in Siri.

Technically, you can already do this through your iPhone’s Accessibility settings. (Go to Accessibility > Siri > Type to Siri.) This opens a fairly basic window and keyboard for you to type a command. But in iOS 18, Apple embraces the feature, letting you double-tap the bottom of the screen to bring up a Siri keyboard. You’ll also be able to see quick suggestions that you can simply tap instead of typing (or saying) an entire query.

There are a number of reasons why this makes sense. Although digital assistants have improved the understanding of commands, it is still difficult to speak to them naturally. At home, I feel like I’m affecting a certain tone and tone when I use a wake word. I find myself thinking in advance about how I want to phrase a query. Despite myself, I still occasionally screw up by asking Google to increase the brightness of my living room lights to 25%. I feel even more embarrassed if I have to do this in public.

Outside, it’s also incredibly noisy. When testing the multimodal AI capabilities of the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, the AI ​​often told me that the glasses couldn’t hear me properly. Either my environment was too noisy or I was unconsciously so embarrassed that I spoke too quietly for the device to clearly pick up what I was saying. This led to a lot of frustration, which in turn made me pull out my phone – exactly the opposite of what the AI ​​hardware wants me to do.

It’s not just about new AI devices. Talking on a smartwatch sounds cool if you’re James Bond. Most of us are not. In fact, most people I see doing this seem a little confused and frustrated. Is this vain? Yes. But self-consciousness is a big reason people may be hesitant to try voice-controlled assistants when they’re out and about. A PwC Survey 2018 on using voice assistants found that 74% of consumers prefer to use voice assistants at home, with participants saying that using them in public “feels weird.” In the same survey, a lack of trust was identified as another major obstacle to using voice assistants in general – people simply didn’t believe that a voice assistant would correctly understand commands. If experience tells you that an AI assistant probably won’t understand you, why would you bother trying to use it in a place where you’re more likely to be judged? (Also, imagine saying “Hey, Siri” and waking up your coworkers’ iPhones. New nightmare unlocked.)

Technological logistics aside, typing on your AI assistant also offers 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 music or setting a timer. Mostly, I don’t want to dictate texts out loud when other people can hear me. Typing this type of query allows me to keep my business to myself – and to do that, I’m happy to sacrifice some hands-free features.

I’m not denying that there are reasons why you might to need talk to an assistant, even in public places. Voice commands are especially useful if you don’t use your hands or are driving a car. But having multiple ways to interact with AI assistants allows them to better adapt to how we want to use our gadgets – rather than forcing everyone to adopt new paradigms. Maybe one day it won’t be weird to talk to a chatbot out loud while walking down the street. For most people, that day is not today. And until that moment comes, I’ll happily type in Siri.