Helix, a voice authentication startup, has secured backing from Siri co-founder Adam Cheyer for technology it says can verify users by voice on an iPhone 13, the company announced. Cheyer, who helped create Apple's voice assistant before co-founding Viv Labs, endorsed Helix's approach to voice identification, which the company claims can operate on consumer hardware without specialized equipment. The endorsement lends credibility to Helix's efforts in a competitive biometric sector where voice recognition is increasingly viewed as a complement to fingerprint and facial authentication. Financial terms of Cheyer's involvement were not disclosed.
Helix said its voice ID system is designed to confirm a speaker's identity through vocal characteristics, potentially enabling secure access to devices and services without passwords. The company's claim that the technology runs on an iPhone 13, a handset released in 2021, suggests it relies on on-device processing rather than cloud infrastructure, which could address privacy and latency concerns. Voice biometrics have drawn interest from banks and device makers, though experts caution that accuracy can be affected by background noise, illness, and recording quality. Helix has not indicated when its technology will be commercially available or which partners it is working with.
Independent reporting synthesized from primary wires and global correspondents.