Thanks to Siri being a voice-activated digital assistant, it means that users can get it to activate and perform tasks without needing their hands. In the case of Beau Austin, the 4-year old managed to get Siri to call 999 to help his mom who had fallen unconscious due to the side-effects of her morning sickness medication.
The boy used Siri to dial 999 where he told the operators that his mom was sick and that he was alone with her. Apparently the kid is used to talking to smart devices like Alexa and Siri, so his instinct to use Siri to call for help almost seemed natural. His mom managed to regain consciousness long enough to provide details like her address before fainting again.
According to the call handler Ashley Page, “We are trained to talk to callers through potential emergencies, and it was Beau’s knowledge of technology, awareness of his address and staying calm that really made a difference and helped his mum and us.” Beau’s mom also expressed how proud she was of her son.
“I was just really proud of him, without Beau being there, something really awful could’ve happened to me. It was just me and Beau in the house by ourselves so he did really, really well. To use Siri like that is incredible. I didn’t even know you could do that on a phone. He said he saw it done before on the TV.” Interestingly enough this is actually not the first time that a child had used Siri to call for help.