 At the time of Searle’s construction of the argument, personal computers were very limited hobbyist devices. Weizenbaum’s ‘Eliza’ and a few text ‘adventure’ games were played on DEC computers; these included limited parsers. More advanced parsing of language was limited to computer researchers such as Schank. Much changed in the next quarter century; billions now use natural language to interrogate and command virtual agents via computers they carry in their pockets. Has the Chinese Room argument moderated claims by those who produce AI and natural language systems? Some manufacturers linking devices to the “internet of things” make modest claims: appliance manufacturer LG says the second decade of the 21st century brings the “experience of conversing” with major appliances. That may or may not be the same as conversing. Apple is less cautious than LG in describing the capabilities of its “virtual personal assistant” application called ‘Siri’: Apple says of Siri that “It understands what you say. It knows what you mean.” IBM is quick to claim its much larger ‘Watson’ system is superior in language abilities to Siri. In 2011 Watson beat human champions on the television game show ‘Jeopardy’, a feat that relies heavily on language abilities and inference. IBM goes on to claim that what distinguishes Watson is that it “knows what it knows, and knows what it does not know.” This appears to be claiming a form of reflexive self-awareness or consciousness for the Watson computer system. Thus the claims of strong AI now are hardly chastened, and if anything some are stronger and more exuberant. At the same time, as we have seen, many others believe that the Chinese Room Argument showed once and for all that at best computers can simulate human cognition.