Perhaps you’ve seen: Siri doesn’t fairly sound like Siri anymore.
It’s not probably the most dramatic shift. Moderately, it is a completely different lilt to its tone or a slight tonal drift. Nonetheless, it is simply sufficient to make you pause and ask, “Hey, Siri, did your voice change?”
Often, Google search tendencies gentle up with individuals questioning whether or not Siri’s voice is completely different — or, quite, whether or not the voice assistant’s many voices are completely different. Perhaps we’re all simply spiraling into collective audio gaslighting.
Throughout the web, customers are reporting that Siri’s voice has turned flat, unnatural, stern, and oddly disengaged. Gone is the upbeat, extra conversational tone we’re used to. The shift appears to hit hardest with the Australian, Irish, and American voices. So, what’s happening?
Mashable Mild Velocity
There’s no have to panic. The wave of on-line chatter that kicked off in December factors again to 1 wrongdoer: the iOS 18 replace and its new Apple Intelligence options. That refined tonal shift you’re choosing up on? It’s seemingly tied to how Siri now operates with the newest software program updates.
With the iPhone 16 and iOS 18 rollout, Apple quietly tweaked Siri’s voice and pure language processing, notably in the way it meshes with the newly launched Apple Intelligence. On the time, Apple known as it “The start of a new era for Siri.” And within the iOS 18 launch notes, Apple stated, “Siri sounds more natural, expressive, and clear, and is now synthesized entirely on device by Apple Intelligence new language models.”
After all, how Siri’s new voice sounds to your ear could be very subjective.
As one person put it in a December 2024 Apple Help Group discussion board thread, “Managed to get original Siri back by disabling Apple intelligence. Will happily go without AI,” stated person VRBe. One other person replied, “Yep, that worked. I disabled Apple Intelligence, and Siri’s voice is back to the way it was pre iOS 18. I’ll use Apple Intelligence, as soon as you put the voice back to the way it was.”
Digging deeper into that thread, two extra customers famous that disabling Apple Intelligence (sure, it’s opt-out) brings again the pre-iOS 18 model of Siri’s voice. The December iOS 18.2 replace might have additionally reset Siri’s voice to its default setting: American, Voice 1.
Credit score: Screenshot courtesy of Apple Help Group
To close off Apple Intelligence, head to Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri > and toggle off Apple Intelligence. Easy as that. Mashable reached out to Apple for clarification on the adjustments to Siri’s voice, however as of now, there was no official phrase. Within the meantime, that toggle may be your greatest wager.
