Apple wants to drop ‘Hey’ from ‘Hey Siri’ wake phrase: report

Apple is said to be working on changing the wake phrase for its Siri voice assistant, and will change the phrase from ‘Hey Siri’ to ‘Siri’. This once implemented will make it much easier to implement the voice assistant on supported devices, but according to the report the change is said to be technically challenging as it involves AI training and a lot of engineering work. More words in a phrase usually make it easier for voice assistants to understand the voice assistant’s invocation, so implementing it properly will be a challenge for Apple.

The report comes via journalist Mark Gurman. power on newsletter on Bloomberg, and states that Apple has worked on shortening the wake phrase over the past several months. Siri has long supported voice invocation via a wake phrase, which until now has been the familiar ‘Hey Siri’. The company is now working on creating the phrase ‘Siri’ similar to Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant, simply called ‘Alexa’.

Long phrases are generally less prone to errors, and shorter phrases can be pronounced differently according to languages ​​and pronunciations around the world. Apple is said to have incorporated these challenges into its work, and is already testing the simplified phrase with company employees. If everything goes according to plan, we may see Apple products, including those iOSmacOS, WatchOS, tvOS and HomePod devices work with the simplified ‘Siri’ wake word.

A key challenge for voice assistants is miscues—phrases that sound similar to the key wake phrase wake up devices and make them hear commands. This is a frequent problem for smart devices and smartphones that have always-on microphones, as it can cause the device to respond even when no response is expected. Short wake phrases usually increase the likelihood of these misunderstandings, but are certainly very handy for users who use them frequently. Siri serves as the default (and in some cases, only) voice assistant on many of Apple’s devices, including homepod mini and the Apple Watch range.