Why Apple could end “Hey Siri”

(CNN Business) — Apparently, Apple wants to end the “Hey” in “Hey, Siri” (“Hey Siri”, in English), according to several reports.

The company is said to train its Siri voice assistant to identify commands without needing to say “Hey.” The full phrase is currently used to activate Siri on various products, including the iPhone, iPad, HomePod, and Apple Watch.

BloombergApple, which first reported the news, said the change could happen as soon as next year or in 2024. Apple has not responded to a CNN Business request for comment.

While the update might seem like a minor update, experts say it may signal broader changes to come and could require extensive AI training. Lian Jye Su, research director at ABI Research, explained that a two-word trigger phrase allows the system to recognize requests more accurately, so the switch to a single word would have to rely on a more advanced AI system. advanced.

“During the recognition phase, the system compares the voice command with the user’s training model,” Su said. “‘Siri’ is much shorter than ‘Hey Siri,’ giving the system potentially fewer comparison points and a higher error rate in a large echoing space and in noisy environments,” such as in the car or when There’s wind.

The Siri command change would allow Apple to catch up with Amazon’s “Alexa,” which doesn’t need a wake word first. Microsoft moved away from “Hey, Cortana” in 2018, now allowing users to just say “Cortana” on smart speakers. However, “OK, Google” is still required for most Google product requests.

The end of “Hey Siri” would also come when Apple, Amazon and Google collaborate on the Matter automation standard, which will allow automation and internet devices from different providers to interoperate with each other.

With this in mind, James Sanders, principal analyst at market research firm CCS Insight, said “redoubling efforts to improve Siri’s functionality is likely a priority at Apple.”

Siri launched in February 2010 as a standalone iOS app on Apple’s App Store before the tech giant acquired it two months later. The company then built Siri into the iPhone 4S, which launched the following year, and introduced the ability to say “Hey Siri” without physically touching a button in 2014.

Siri has gotten smarter over the years, due to integration with third-party developers, such as travel request and payment apps, and follow-up questions supported, more languages, and different accents. However, it still has problems with not understanding users and responding incorrectly.

“While the ‘Hey Siri’ change requires a considerable amount of work, it would be surprising if Apple announced just this change for Siri,” Sanders said. “Given the rumored timing, I would anticipate this change to be coupled with other new or improved functionality for Siri, perhaps along with a new HomePod model and integrations with other smart home products through Matter, such as a reintroduction to the Apple voice assistant.