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When you train your phone to understand "Hey Siri" it requires an internet connection for the training so that it can verify that you are actually saying, "Hey
by kempbellt 5y ago
When you train your phone to understand "Hey Siri" it requires an internet connection for the training so that it can verify that you are actually saying, "Hey Siri" and not "Yo, phone spirit". After the initial training, it no longer requires (or uses) the internet to detect the keyphrase.
You are asked to do a few iterations of training so that the phone has a model on your voiceprint for "Hey Siri". Which is why, when someone who does not have a similar voice to you says "Hey Siri" it does not trigger. But someone who does have a similar voice to you can sometimes trigger it. The model is super basic.
The microphone is always passively passing input data to the "Hey Siri" detector (and a buffer), which acts as a sort of internal switch. If it detects the trigger phrase, it then sends the audio data to the cloud to be transcribed, and acted upon accordingly.
It is not always sending voice data to the cloud. If it were, your battery life would be noticeably impacted - worse than being on a phone call.
- angelzen 5y agoGood explanation, thanks. The scenario is 'translate on device, steganograph the output on background traffic'. There is a huge push for 'on device ML', driven by noble intentions of hiding raw data from Skynet. Alas, the end of that road is devices that compress the raw sensorial input and report, possibly stealthily, the digest to Skynet.
- TeMPOraL 5y agoThis explanation does not explain why neither Google nor Apple allow you to change the wake word. Myself, I believe any technical reason, if it actually exists, is a secondary factor - the primary reason is branding. They don't want people changing wakewords, because as long as everyone uses the same, "Ok Google" and "Siri" are terms/brands.
- kempbellt 5y agoTo my understanding, there is no technical reason behind not being able to use custom wakewords besides them just not wanting you to. I also believe it is restricted mainly for branding and easy marketing.