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Atlanta Voice Actress Susan Bennett Comes Forward as Original U.S. Voice of Siri

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Apr 12, 2001
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Atlanta resident and veteran voice actress Susan Bennett has claimed in an interview with CNN that she is original voice of Siri, Apple's popular iOS voice assistant that was first introduced with the iPhone 4s two years ago today. While Apple has not confirmed the information, the report states that professionals within the technology industry are familiar with her voice, and cites an audio forensics expert with 30 years of experience who is certain that Bennett's voice and the voice of Apple's digital personal assistant are the same.
The story of how Bennett became this iconic voice began in 2005. ScanSoft, a software company, was looking for a voice for a new project. It reached out to GM Voices, a suburban Atlanta company that had established a niche recording voices for automated voice technologies. Bennett, a trusted talent who had done lots of work with GM Voices, was one of the options presented. ScanSoft liked what it heard, and in June 2005 Bennett signed a contract offering her voice for recordings that would be used in a database to construct speech.

...The surprise came in October 2011 after Apple released its iPhone 4S, the first to feature Siri. Bennett didn't have the phone herself, but people who knew her voice did.

"A colleague e-mailed me [about Siri] and said, 'Hey, we've been playing around with this new Apple phone. Isn't this you?'"

Bennett went to her computer, pulled up Apple's site and listened to video clips announcing Siri. The voice was unmistakably hers.
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​
Notably, the report also states that a feature titled Machine Language: How Siri Found Its Voice done by technology news website The Verge last month mistakenly gave the impression that another voice actor, Allison Dufty, was Siri:
But a new Apple mobile operating system, iOS 7, with new Siri voices means that Bennett's reign as the American Siri is slowly coming to an end. At the same time, tech-news site The Verge posted a video last month, "How Siri found its voice," that led some viewers to believe that Allison Dufty, the featured voiceover talent, was Siri. A horrified Dufty scrambled in response, writing on her website that she is "absolutely, positively NOT the voice of Siri," but not before some bloggers had bought into the hype.
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Bennett also stated her feelings on then revealing herself to be the original voice of Siri after the video was released:
"I really had to weigh the importance of it for me personally. I wasn't sure that I wanted that notoriety, and I also wasn't sure where I stood legally. And so, consequently, I was very conservative about it for a long time," she said. "And then this Verge video came out ... And it seemed like everyone was clamoring to find out who the real voice behind Siri is, and so I thought, well, you know, what the heck? This is the time."
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Released last month, Apple's new iOS 7 mobile operating system contains a refined version of Siri with a noticeably different voice that does not appear to be Bennett's. But with Bennett's version of Siri having been on every new U.S. iOS device since the launch of the iPhone 4s in 2011 until last month's iPhone 5s/5c debut, millions of users are familiar with her voice.

Article Link: Atlanta Voice Actress Susan Bennett Comes Forward as Original U.S. Voice of Siri
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2013/10/04/atlanta-voice-actress-susan-bennett-comes-forward-as-original-u-s-voice-of-siri/
M

Meandmunch

macrumors 6502
Jan 3, 2002
496
143
I am surprised in her contract Apple ever allowed for this kind of disclosure or reveal. Now that Siri has a face it changes things. Siri was I suppose a kind of AI character, an Apple mascot, a virtual assistant that existed in your phone. The mystique is gone, now it just some lady...
 
jimothyGator

jimothyGator

macrumors 6502
Jun 12, 2008
399
1,320
Atlanta, GA
Ford Sync

Her voice also seems to be the voice of Ford Sync, as it sounds just like the original Siri voice, just lacking her wit.
 
Tankmaze

Tankmaze

macrumors 68000
Mar 7, 2012
1,707
351
chumawumba said:
I wish Morgan Freeman was the male voice. It would have made Siri a lot more fun to use.
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Ha, I wish it was Samuel L. Jackson's voice, would really have good time playing with siri.

siri : What Does Marcellus Wallace Look Like?
 
M

mchoffa

macrumors 6502a
Jul 12, 2008
832
52
Asheville, NC
Meandmunch said:
I am surprised in her contract Apple ever allowed for this kind of disclosure or reveal. Now that Siri has a face it changes things. Siri was I suppose a kind of AI character, an Apple mascot, a virtual assistant that existed in your phone. The mystique is gone, now it just some lady...
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She didn't record it for Apple. She recorded it for Scansoft in 2005, and then SRI used it in their Siri software, which was bought by Apple in 2010.
 
Ellmer

Ellmer

macrumors member
Jul 13, 2009
49
26
Brighton, UK
Meandmunch said:
I am surprised in her contract Apple ever allowed for this kind of disclosure or reveal. Now that Siri has a face it changes things. Siri was I suppose a kind of AI character, an Apple mascot, a virtual assistant that existed in your phone. The mystique is gone, now it just some lady...
Click to expand...

You understand that's not how it works? She was probably payed one time for recordings of her voice, saying hundreds of things like "th" "mer" "ka" ki" etc etc.. for the probable use in an AI years ago, and then Apple bought it. She has no actual interaction with Apple. I doubt she's even seeing any royalties for being used for Siri.

The male voice actor who did the sound for the UK's Siri was announced within a week of its release. It's really not a big deal. Robots don't just have their own voices. They have to come from someone.
 
Small White Car

Small White Car

macrumors G4
Aug 29, 2006
10,966
1,463
Washington DC
Ellmer said:
She was probably payed one time for recordings of her voice, saying hundreds of things like "th" "mer" "ka" ki" etc etc.. for the probable use in an AI years ago, and then Apple bought it.
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Yeah, I'd be more comfortable calling her the "mother of Siri" rather than the voice of Siri.

Still cool, either way.
 
RyanFromQA

RyanFromQA

macrumors member
May 15, 2008
40
20
Ellmer said:
You understand that's not how it works? She was probably payed one time for recordings of her voice, saying hundreds of things like "th" "mer" "ka" ki" etc etc.. for the probable use in an AI years ago, and then Apple bought it. She has no actual interaction with Apple. I doubt she's even seeing any royalties for being used for Siri.

The male voice actor who did the sound for the UK's Siri was announced within a week of its release. It's really not a big deal. Robots don't just have their own voices. They have to come from someone.
Click to expand...

Actually, it would seem they read phoneme-rich sentences rather than actual phonemes. This article and the associated video interview were fascinating to me, and apparently also to Susan Bennett.

http://www.theverge.com/2013/9/17/4596374/machine-language-how-siri-found-its-voice

But you're right, often the talent doesn't even know what their voice will be used for.
 
R

RedWeasel

macrumors 6502
Jul 20, 2010
321
662
Meandmunch said:
I am surprised in her contract Apple ever allowed for this kind of disclosure or reveal. Now that Siri has a face it changes things. Siri was I suppose a kind of AI character, an Apple mascot, a virtual assistant that existed in your phone. The mystique is gone, now it just some lady...
Click to expand...

So Siri just became Susi... :eek: :)
 
JayCee842

JayCee842

macrumors 6502a
Jan 21, 2013
589
0
I've never heard of her before, but it's cool to see who does Siri's voice. It would be even better if she was smokin hot ;)
 
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