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Apple has made many innovations so far in 2022, and another change is coming with the interactive Siri functionality.
The tech giant reportedly intends to drop the “Hey” prompt.
The report
According to reports, Apple is training Siri, its voice assistant, to follow commands without saying the first half of the phrase “Hey Siri.”
The activation phase launches Siri on Apple products such as:
- The iPhone
- The iPad
- The HomePod
- The Apple Watch.
According to Bloomberg, the move could occur in 2023 or 2024.
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Changes
Although the update is minor, experts believe it is a sign that more changes are underway and that in-depth training in artificial intelligence will be necessary.
Lian Jye Su, research director at ABI Research, said the system recognizes requests from two keywords more accurately.
The transition to the use of a word would depend on a more advanced AI system.
“During the recognition phase, the system compares the voice command to the user-trained model,” explained Su.
“‘Siri’ is much shorter than ‘Hey Siri,’ giving the system potentially less comparison points and higher error rate in an echo-y, large room and noisy environments.”
The move
Apple’s change would allow them to catch Amazon’s “Alexa” prompt, which doesn’t require an initial activation word for the voice assistant.
In 2018 Microsoft said goodbye to the “Hey Cortana” prompt, allowing users to simply say “Cortana” to smart speakers.
However, users still need to use the phrase “Ok Google” for Google products.
The “Hey Siri” change comes when Apple, Amazon and Google are working together on the Matter automation standard.
The Matter automation standard enables automation devices and the Internet of Things from different vendors to interoperate.
James Sanders, the chief analyst at market research firm CCS Insight, says Apple’s priority is likely to increase efforts to improve Siri features.
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Siri
Apple’s voice assistant has been online since February 2010, more than twelve years ago.
It started as a standalone app on Apple’s App Store before the tech giant bought it two months later.
Apple then integrated Siri into iPhones, starting with the 4S.
It introduced the ability to say “Hey Siri” without using the home button in 2014.
Over the years, Siri grew smarter by integrating third-party developers like ride-hailing and payment apps.
It also supports follow-up questions, multiple languages, and other logins.
Despite the improvements, Siri still has problems, including misunderstandings and wrong answers.
“While the ‘Hey Siri’ change requires a considerable amount of work, it would be surprising if Apple announced only this change to Siri,” said Sanders.
“Considering the rumored timing, I would anticipate this change to be bundled with other new or improved functionality for Siri, perhaps alongside a new model of HomePod and integrations with other smart home products via Matter, as a reintroduction to Apple’s voice assistant.”
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