Bizarre mis-heard Siri command

May 23, 2019 8:01 PM

Siri is constantly asking me if I want "Oye Lucky Lucky Oye." I do not. WTF?

I use Siri on by iPhone/Airpods to play music when I ride my bike. I usually say "play song X" or "play artist Y." Sometimes "play song X by artist Y." Most of the time this works OK, but at least once per ride/session, Siri will mis-hear the command and do something I don't want, like offer to call somebody or play the wrong song/artist, or tell me where there is pizza nearby. All of that is fine and a normal result of wind/road noise, I figure.

But, at least once per ride, I will ask Siri to play a certain song and it will respond: "I found two, Quien Quierro my lover [phonetic] and Oye Lucky Lucky Oye, which one?" It will then give the "bing" listening tone, so I can tell it which one. Every time I get this error, it will offer me those same two choices. It never says "I found two" and then two different things - it is always those two titles/things. I get this response all the time, without regard to what song or artist I am asking for -- i.e., it is not misinterpreting one specific song or artist title, I don't think. Sometimes, I will get this same response 3+ times in a row, even when I am trying my hardest to clearly articulate that I am asking for a song and changing the way I phrase the question. It has gotten to the point that, when it says "I found two," I know exactly what it is going to say next -- "Quierro my lover" and "Oye Lucky" are the only two options.

Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! seems to be some kind of Bollywood movie from 10 years ago. I have no idea what the other choice is, and I am probably garbling it somewhat (it sounds Spanish, fwiw).

Here is my question: WTF does Siri think I am asking for that it always offers me these two choices, one of which is a Bollywood movie? Why "I found two?" Two what? I am having trouble imagining the question that generates those choices -- and only those choices -- in the whole world of movies or music or whatever it is pulling from. Keep in mind that my command is "play song X" or something similarly short - whatever specific question it is imagining I am saying must be more than 3 short syllables to generate only those two choices (i.e., "What are some Bollywood movies" or whatever).

posted by Mid to Computers & Internet (13 answers total)

Response by poster: I should have included - the songs/artists I am asking for do not sound anything like these "choices," and the choices themselves do not sound like one another - i.e., it does not seem to be asking me to disambiguate a title it is having trouble understanding; I think it thinks I am asking for a category of thing and giving me these two choices in that category. Among other puzzles, why would this unknown category only have those choices?
posted by Mid at 8:04 PM on May 23, 2019

When this happens, can you look at the screen to see how it's transcribing your question? You might have to scroll back up if it inserts one of those infoboxes.
posted by Rhaomi at 10:07 PM on May 23, 2019 [4 favorites]

Also, what language do you have Siri set to? Is it the default of English (American)?

And while Siri is not my dept, if you can answer Rhaomi’s question, I’ll try to reproduce and file a bug report on your behalf.
posted by sideshow at 11:27 PM on May 23, 2019 [3 favorites]

You should try this indoors while not moving around, for a similar length of time. This sounds like something to do with the microphones on the airpods getting windblasted and Siri interpreting the wind noise as these two songs.

I'm not familiar enough with airpods to know where the mic is, but perhaps you could turn your head to shelter, somewhat, the airpods from the airstream long enough for your song request?

Also, is there a way for you to submit failed Siri requests to Apple for review? I know that Alexa does have this function, and it may help improve the speech recognition, or at least offer you different songs as a misinterpretation.
posted by Sunburnt at 11:36 AM on May 24, 2019

I'd try listening to Oye Lucky Lucky Oye because maybe it's a secret message from your future self?

It seems like someone wants you to listen to it really badly anyhow. Maybe the universe it trying to tell you something? Maybe it's time travel! I'd probably listen to both options just to make sure.
posted by some loser at 11:49 AM on May 24, 2019 [9 favorites]

What words are you actually saying to Siri? It would be helpful to know which song or artist you're asking for.
posted by emelenjr at 10:15 AM on May 25, 2019

Response by poster: Thanks all - I will try to catch the Siri screen the next time this happens - maybe it will show what it thinks I am saying.
posted by Mid at 1:17 PM on May 27, 2019

So curious!

Just to add some data in case anyone is trying to puzzle this out ... the second song might be Marc Anthony, A Quién Quiero Mentirle.

Also, when I asked Siri to play Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye, the film's title song from the album came up, with the artist as Mika Singh.

Not that this helps explain the error (all I see is a slight similarity with Mika / Marc), but I thought I'd throw it in here. ‾\_(ツ)_/‾
posted by taz at 11:41 AM on May 30, 2019

Response by poster: OK, I got it. It is simpler than what I expected. I have no idea why it is understanding multiple different band names/songs as "Play Oye," but that is what it is doing. It seems like whenever one of my commands is garbled by noise (wind noise etc.), the default understanding is "Play Oye." Which is weird because i am asking for multisyllabic songs/bands - you would think it would parse five garbled syllables as something other than "Play Oye." Can someone try "Play Oye" on Siri and see if they get the same "I found two?"
posted by Mid at 6:22 PM on June 6, 2019

I tried “play Oye” and Siri thought I said “play boy” but when I edited the text to reflect what I was trying to say, she said “Which one?” (but not “I found two”) and provided those two options.

Is it possible she’s only hearing the first syllable (which may sound like “oye” even if only vaguely?) and then disregarding the rest, either due to a glitch or discounting the rest as too garbled?
posted by brook horse at 6:52 PM on June 6, 2019

Mid: ""Play Oye." Can someone try "Play Oye" on Siri and see if they get the same "I found two?""

Yep, it's doing the exact same for me!

brook horse: "I tried “play Oye” and Siri thought I said “play boy” but when I edited the text to reflect what I was trying to say, she said “Which one?” (but not “I found two”) and provided those two options."

FWIW, oye (pronounced OY-yay or OH-jeh) is a common Spanish interjection meaning "hey!" or "listen up!" In fact, Spanish iOS users have ¡Oye, Siri! as the default activation phrase instead of "Hey Siri", which suggests to me there might be some weird language bug at work here. Try pronouncing it like the Spanish and you'll probably get a match.
posted by Rhaomi at 1:59 AM on June 7, 2019

Response by poster: I think it must be when I say "play song x," it is interpreting "song" as "Oye" and discarding the rest?!
posted by Mid at 11:16 AM on June 7, 2019

Response by poster: Although, both of these thing seem to be movies?
posted by Mid at 11:19 AM on June 7, 2019