'Hey, Siri': Apple wants to shorten its digital assistant’s trigger phrase, but it’s been a ‘technical challenge’

Apple is said to be working on changing the trigger phrase for its digital assistant on its ecosystem of hardware products. The tech giant reportedly wants to change “Hey, Siri” to simply “Siri.”

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported in the latest Power On newsletter that Apple has been working on shortening the “Hey, Siri” trigger phrase for months now. While the change essentially means just dropping one word to wake Siri, the journalist said the iPhone maker has been facing a “technical challenge” after working on it for months.

The same report noted that the simple removal of the word “Hey” in the trigger phrase would require a “significant amount of AI training,” along with vital engineering work, to teach Siri to understand the shorter wake word. Teaching the digital assistant to understand the shorter “Siri” wake word in different accents and dialects reportedly adds to the complexity of the update. But Apple has reportedly been collecting data by testing the Siri update among its employees.

Apple device owners will have to keep using the trigger phrase “Hey, Siri” for a while, though. Gurman said Apple may be able to roll out the simpler “Siri” wake word either next year or in 2024.

The company is also reportedly working on improving other aspects of Siri by further integrating the digital assistant into third-party apps and services. This means, in the future, Siri should be able to understand more commands and execute them accurately, even those for third-party apps.

While Siri is one of the most widely available digital assistants, Apple still has some catching up to do with other digital assistants in the market. And the rumored plan to shorten its trigger phrase to just “Siri” suggests Apple would take a similar approach that Amazon did for Alexa.

Google Assistant still requires the trigger phrases “OK, Google” or “Hey, Google.” But the company has improved other aspects of its digital assistant by training it to take voice commands without needing to hear wake words or trigger phrases for follow-up commands. Reports expect that shortening “Hey, Siri” to “Siri” should have some similar benefits for Apple device users.

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