Apple announced its voice-assistant Siri more than a decade ago. Since its integration with iOS, the trigger phrase for Siri has also not changed. Siri is now available on all Apple products running the company’s iOS, macOS, tvOS, watchOS, and iPadOS operating systems. Siri can be triggered by saying the phrase “Hey Siri”.
As per the latest report, Apple is about to change it. It is being reported that Apple is working towards making the phrase much shorter with the word “Siri”. This would be quite similar to Amazon’s Alexa digital voice assistant works while using its echo range of devices.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman notes published this news in the latest edition of his Power On newsletter. It is said that Apple is planning to drop the word “Hey” from the “Hey Siri” phrase used to wake up Siri. Even though the change may seem to be a simple one, Gurman says that it is a technical challenge. This would probably need Apple to invest a lot of time and effort in AI training.
It said Apple has been working on this change for several months. As per Gurman, this change won’t be launched very soon. He estimates that the firm will bring in support for this shortened command by next year or maybe the year after. At present time, Apple is testing out a new phase among its employees to collect essential training data. He further adds that the complexity crop up from Siri being able to comprehend and act on a single phrase in various accents and dialects. However, it is reportedly simpler to do with two words compared to one.
Gurman also gives hints that Apple is also rolling out some other changes to its voice assistant. These changes in voice assistants would enable it to offer deeper integration with third-party apps and services. Gurmans also adds that the shorter phrase would also result in faster responses.
It remains to be seen whether Apple will announce these improvements to Siri at the Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) held this year. With such news about new features, expectations for the event are high. Along with new Mac models, the tech titan was anticipated to unveil a brand-new mixed-reality headset. The usual updates to iOS, macOS, and watchOS are also expected to be disclosed at Apple’s WWDC 2023 event. The event would start on June 5 and end on June 9.
