Luc Julia, often presented as “Siri’s father,” Apple’s famous vocal assistant would be a charlatan? This is in any case what many observers suggest on social networks.
It all started on Monday, August 11, when the YouTubeur Mr. Phi, a scientific popularizer followed by more than 378,000 subscribers, published an unequivocal video: “Luc Julia in the Senate: Autopsy of a great thing.” In this production of more than an hour, he returns to the audience of the “Pope of AI” by the senators of the Committee of Economic Affairs, on June 18, and challenges his CV and his career, as well as his role in the creation of Siri.
Who is Siri’s father really?
Invited in the Tech & Co set on September 1, Luc Julia has reached the heart of the matter. When asked about his role in the creation of Siri, widely questioned by Mr. Phi, the engineer was final.
For his part, Mr. Phi, present by Visio on the Tech & Co set, wanted to remember that Siri’s subject was “only a small part of the video, relatively accessory.” “And if I had seen my video, I would have seen that there is an extract in which it is presented as Siri co -founder,” he replies, citing a numeral video. A semantic debate that seems to shake the two men.
“All Siri creators are very clear about the fact that the patents on which Luc Julia is co-author has not served,” insists Mr. Phi, while remembering that he had found “no evidence” that the project “the assistant exists when we look for the Adam Cheyer’s side (Co-Co-Director of Siri, note of the editor). When he talks about Siri’s origin, he speaks of other projects.” “Reference is referred to the Assitant in documents of 1995. You can go to my website to find documents,” says Luc Julia simply. “My name is in patents, with Adam’s.”
“You had a pretty vague role in the patents and then arrived after the battle, after the development of Siri from 2007 to 2010 and after the second development of Siri, between April 2010 and October 2011. It was ten months, a relatively flash passage,” summarizes Mr. Phi. “I had privileged relationships with Adam Cheyer throughout the period when they argued me when I was in HP before joining Apple,” Luc Julia insists.
The minutes flow, but the two men camp in their positions. “Adam Cheyer is ready to say that Luc Julia is part of a cooking circle that would include one hundred people,” says Mr. Phi. “If it was written, it is one of Siri’s 100 cookers, I would have no problem there.”
“There were 15 people between 2007 and 2010. I completely recognize that these 15 people contributed. They can boast of being Siri’s creators, for having created Siri pieces,” Luc Julia said simply. “When I directed Siri, we went from 15 people to 85 people. Therefore, the 85 people who were there at this time can say they contributed.”
Is AI 36% of the time?
The two men returned to the famous figure of 36%. In fact, during his conferences, Luc Julia says that LLM is often wrong. In particular, a study dating from 2023 by stating that its reliability did not exceed 64% and decreased by 2% per year.
A completely refuted figure by Mr. Phi. “It seems quite alarming to me that for two years I have presented exactly the same conference. Much has happened,” insists the YouTubeur. “It permanently presents this 64% relevance figure that makes no sense. It makes no sense to talk about such a figure without reference because it is the result of a reference point. And it is an extremely outdated figure because it is related to Chatgpt 3.5”.
For his part, Luc Julia does not seem to be blushing in his presentation in front of the senators. “At the point of relevance, it is extremely difficult to determine. It is clear that I repeat almost the same for thirty years in AI in general. What is true is that these relevance rates are good for specialized AI. That is why AI is useful when specialized. But in generic matters, these Ais are bad,” said the engineer. “And it deteriorates.”
Despite the exchange, the two men seem to remain in position. “You take a figure that refers to Chatgpt 3.5, you must show that in this same reference point, Chatgpt 5 works less well. It does not exist,” replied Mr. Phi.
Source: BFM TV
