Apple's 'Hey Siri' helps mom call ambulance, saves life of baby

Siri is expected to gain volumes of new skills if and when Apple releases a rumored software development kit, but it was the virtual assistant's existing abilities that recently proved critical in preserving the life of a baby girl.

Stacey Gleeson will never turn Siri off again. In March, Apple's voice-recognizing assistant called an ambulance on Gleeson's behalf, affording the Cairns, Australia, mother critical seconds that helped save the life of her daughter, reports Australia's 7 News.

Recalling the incident, Gleeson said she checked in on her one-year-old, Giana, after noticing the child had turned blue on the baby monitor. Giana had stopped breathing. In a panic to clear Giana's airways, Gleeson dropped her iPhone on the floor. Luckily, Apple's "Hey Siri" feature was activated, meaning iPhone was listening for the trigger phrase, ready to accept commands.

By the time the ambulance arrived, Giana was breathing again. But the clutch voice-activated call to first responders freed Stacey's hands for those precious seconds in which Giana was brought back from the brink.

The Gleesons encourage everyone to learn about their smartphone's capabilities, especially iPhone owners who have access to always-on "Hey Siri." Powered by Apple's M9 motion coprocessor, the functionality is currently limited to iPhone 6s and 6s Plus handsets. Those interested can switch "Hey Siri" on by visiting Settings > General > Siri and activating Allow "Hey Siri".

In a somewhat amusing testament to the feature's effectiveness, the 7 News report that originally aired on TV censored "Hey Siri" references to avoid triggering the feature on iPhones of viewers at home.

Apple is anticipated to announce an SDK for Siri at the Worldwide Developers Conference keynote on Monday. In addition, there are rumblings that the company will finally bring the digital assistant to Mac with OS X 10.12, also slated to debut at WWDC next week.

25 Comments

charles1 91 comments · 10 Years

About 8 years ago

In a somewhat amusing testament to the feature's effectiveness, the 7 News report that originally aired on TV censored "Hey Siri" references to avoid triggering the feature on iPhones of viewers at home.
Ha... I think I recall Phil Schiller in a keynote speech, he said that when they talked about Hey Siri he learned to say "Hey... ... ..Siri" and the pause between words prevented Siri from being triggered on his own phone.

dunks 1252 comments · 16 Years

How long until we have television advertisements trolling us by including phrases like "Hey Siri, remind me to buy X tomorrow"?

cali 3494 comments · 10 Years

THIS is why AI is important, improvement is welcome. Imagine if Siri responded with. "I can't find anything on the web for "hey Siri call an ambulance"'. If people are going to rely more on Siri it would be nice if Apple improved it soon.

charles1 said:

In a somewhat amusing testament to the feature's effectiveness, the 7 News report that originally aired on TV censored "Hey Siri" references to avoid triggering the feature on iPhones of viewers at home.
Ha... I think I recall Phil Schiller in a keynote speech, he said that when they talked about Hey Siri he learned to say "Hey... ... ..Siri" and the pause between words prevented Siri from being triggered on his own phone.

""TV censored Hey Siri to avoid triggering iPhones"

Imagine all the promotion Apple is losing and will lose until they fix this issue. It's pathetic. You can bet a large amount of viewers couldn't tell the iPhone from a Samsung knockoff on TV.

Yes I remember Phil saying that on stage and if I remember correctly he did it to avoid triggering the entire audience's iPhones.
Apple could fix this with voice recognition so Siri learns YOUR voice. Again pathetic.