Apple wants to make summoning its virtual assistant easier, and instead of “Hey Siri”, with the simple “Siri” we can already ask her what we want.
Since its launch with the iPhone 6S (it has rained a lot since then) the only way to invoke Siri through our voice has been the unmistakable “Hey Siri”, but Apple is working to change this in the near future, and that we can invoke the virtual assistant with a simple “Siri”. This may seem like a small change, but It is a real technological challenge that requires artificial intelligence of our devices a much more refined voice recognition than with the traditional “Hey Siri”. This is what Mark Gurman says, who has advanced this news in his newsletter “Power On” (link).
“The complexity is that Siri will have to understand the word ‘Siri’ in multiple different languages and accents. Having to say two words (Hey Siri) makes the recognition system much easier.”
Reducing the command to simply “Siri” will require some very hard work at Apple to avoid false positives. Just think about how similar “Siri” is to “Yes” in SpanishI don’t want to imagine how many times my HomePod assistant can go crazy when watching a movie at home or with our conversations.
Apple is also working on other changes, such as integrating the voice assistant more deeply into third-party apps and services, as well as improving Siri’s ability to understand users and perform the actions that are actually requested of it. The current situation of Siri, despite the objective improvements that it has been having since its launch, is not that it is very gratifying for the majority of users who see how you frequently confuse your commands, or just don’t recognize them and therefore does not execute them.