Apple is considering changing Siri’s trigger phrase from “Hey Siri” to simply “Siri.”, according to a new report
According to The Verge, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman shared the report, and this change would mean that users would only need to say “Siri” followed by a command to activate the smart assistant.
But for the feature to work right, Apple will need to invest “a significant amount of AI training and engineering work” because the smart assistant will need to understand the single wake word in a variety of accents and dialects.
The current two-word trigger phrase, “Hey Siri,” increases the likelihood of Siri picking it up.
According to The Verge, changing to a single wake phrase could help Siri compete with Amazon’s Alexa, which already allows users to activate the smart assistant with “Alexa” rather than “Hey Alexa.”
It would also put Siri ahead of Google Assistant, which requires the “Ok Google” or “Hey Google” phrases to activate but does not require users to repeat the wake word when saying back-to-back requests.
Even Microsoft switched from “Hey Cortana” to “Cortana” on smart speakers before shutting down its voice assistant last year.
Gurman says that Apple could also add Siri to third-party apps and services and make it better able to understand and act on user requests.
The Verge says that Apple recently made a few small changes to the voice assistant. These changes include adding a new voice recorded by a member of the LGBTQ+ community and adding a new Siri activation sound.
Apple has been working on this feature for several months, according to Gurman, and it is expected to be released next year or in 2024.
