Wait what was so bad about siri before? I've been using it for years on homepod, asking it for weather and setting timers.

I realise this is a joke, but I have to pile on.

Even weather was/is comically bad. Ask it anything specific and it would fall over, repeating the broadest, least helpful version of weather data, even if all that data is clearly available in the ios weather app. Specifics on wind, precipitation hourly, etc.

So no, you can't really ask a homepod for the weather either - Homepod's weather was more like a shitty version of sticking your head outside and looking up at the sky.