In preparation for the rollout of the iOS 8 update later this year, Apple is refining everybody’s favourite sidekick, Siri. In addition to support for new languages like Arabic and Dutch, Apple is working on improving the way the voice-to-text virtual assistant understands and communicates with Australians.
As MacRumors reports, a raft of new Apple job listings calling for Siri Language Engineers indicates forthcoming new language support being added to the service in the coming months, giving the tech giant just enough time to add “chazzwazzers” into Siri’s vocabulary before the likely unveiling of iOS 8 in September or October.
Apple are currently looking for a language engineer to work on Cloud Services Localisation in Australian English. The successful candidate will be “developing natural language processing code specific to [the Australian] language,” thus improving the way Siri understands our whacky accent.
Truth be told, Siri’s ability to understand and communicate in an Australian accent is already pretty good, so the engineer will likely be there to expand the team and streamline the virtual assistant’s ocker capabilities.
But make no mistake, the hire’s work on improving Siri’s understanding of Australian slang is serious business. “This is an opportunity to durably shape the future of human – computer interaction, and walk the bleeding edge of a nascent field,” the job listing reads.
