Apple reportedly wants to simplify how its users trigger Siri. According to a new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple is working on dropping “Hey” from “Hey, Siri” and wants the voice assistant to trigger using the phrase “Siri.”

Currently, on all Apple devices, users have to say the phrase “Hey, Siri” to invoke the digital assistant. According to Gurman, Apple wants to drop the “Hey” part of the phrase, so you’d only have to say “Siri” followed by a command to activate the assistant.

“Hey Siri” → “Siri…”

“While that might seem like a small change, making the switch is a technical challenge that requires a significant amount of AI training and underlying engineering work,” says Gurman in the report. He adds that the feature has been under development for the past few months, and the Cupertino-giant plans to roll out the feature next year or in early 2024.

Apple is currently training the system to pick up multiple different accents and dialects. The company is currently testing this change with employees and is collecting the necessary training data as part of that process. Having two words (“Hey Siri”) increases the likelihood of the devices picking up the signal, but switching to just one word requires a lot of training, which is why the rollout could be as far as 2024.

In addition to shortening the hotword, Apple is planning to deepen the support for third-party applications and services in Siri. Apple is working to improve how its voice assistant works in third-party apps. The company wants to improve its “ability to understand users and take the correct course of action,” as per the report.

Source: Power On