Siri, Alexa, and similar technologies are "incredibly stupid" when it comes to understanding languag

Siri, Alexa, Google Home--technology that parses language is increasingly finding its way into everyday life. Boris Katz, a principal research scientist at MIT, isn't that impressed. Over the past 40 years, Katz has made key contributions to the linguistic abilities of machines. In the 1980s, he developed START, a system capable of responding to naturally phrased queries. The ideas used in START helped IBM's Watson win on Jeopardy!