Yahoo Finance Apple wants to get rid of ‘Hey Siri’, report claims
Apple wants to get rid of the famous ‘Hey Siri’ phrase, according to a new report.
Instead, the company would like users to only be able to say “Siri”, and have their request answered by the eponymous voice assistant.
The change would allow people to wake up their phone with just a word, bringing it in line with competitors such as Alexa. But it will also require significant engineering work and artificial intelligence training to make sure that the phone can recognise the word.
That deep work has been going on for the past months and is expected to be finished next year or in 2024, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who first reported the change.
The changes could come along with other improvements to Siri, such as better integration with other apps and services. Apple also hopes to improve Siri’s ability to understand its owners, the same report claimed.
Apple has recently made a number of tweaks to the Siri system, including better dictation and a new voice that aims to avoid conforming with gender norms.
Most voice assistants currently require at least three syllables to be said before they are activated. Amazon’s Alexa and Microsoft’s Cortana can be woken up with just their name, but include three syllables, and Google still requires owners to say “OK Google” or “Hey Google” to wake up its assistant.
Apple supports ‘Hey Siri’ on many of its devices, including iPhones, iPads and its newer Macs. On the Apple Watch, users are able to wake the assistant without saying the phrase, but just lifting the watch to their mouth.
