Asking Siri for help is going to be easier what with Apple reported to be working on a shortened trigger phrase to invoke the digital assistant. So, instead of ‘Hey Siri, it is simply Siri that users henceforth will have to use each time they need to call up the Apple digital assistant. It is not known what prompted Apple to go for the change though one benefit from it is going to be the enhancement in performance it will usher in.
This also makes for a significant development considering that this is the first time Siri is being subjected to a makeover of sorts. It has been Hey Siri that was being used to call the assistant ever since its inception back in 2011. Prior to that, Siri used to be an iOS app before Apple acquired the same and integrated it into iOS. In fact, the smart digital assistant went on to be one of the key highlights of the iPhone 4S that was introduced in the fall of 2011.
One of the obvious benefits of the shortened trigger phrase is that this will lead to a better response time. Users will have it easy as they need to speak a single word to call the assistant, which should make it more convenient for them to initiate a Siri conversation. This is going to be more applicable to those devices such as the HomePods that lack a dedicated button to call the assistant, relying instead on voice commands for the same.
Also, no matter how simple the change might seem to the user, it in reality poses a significant underlying technological challenge to the engineers working behind the scenes. From the users, and the underlying programs, to the assistant itself, everyone had become used to the Hey Siri command. Changing it to Siri will be akin to asking for readjustment in that knowledge base so that they are now able to respond to the Siri command.
Perhaps even more important is that Siri will have to learn to respond to users’ commands each time they are called upon. It will have to learn to correctly decipher multiple accents and dialects. With Hey Siri, it has two words to catch up with what the user has to say. That being reduced to just one word, Siri will have to work harder to make out the user’s commands while also being wary of not responding to other similar sounding words. Apart from this, it will have to readjust itself to the change in accents, tone, and dialects that might happen when the same person is uttering the word Siri instead of the phrase Hey Siri.
As such, it is going to be interesting to see how the change pans out. This also is the first time that the smart digital assistant trigger phrase it being altered. Amazon and Google continue to rely on the same keywords – Alexa and OK Google respectively – that were used since they came into being.
