Actor accidentally becomes ‘virtual assistant Siri’: No commission from Apple, only wishes each user to donate 1 USD, never did this with iPhone

Voice actress Susan Bennett said she got into her career as a voice actress by accident and started singing jingle songs for commercials. Here is the “Siri voice” confide about his memorable experience:

I got into voice acting by accident. I used to sing songs for commercials, work at several studios in Atlanta. One day, while I was recording there, they suddenly needed a voice actor due to a sudden absence from an ex.

When we finished singing, the studio owner said, “Susan, come over here and try recording this.” It went well, I had a good record, and that was the beginning of it all.

Accidentally became Siri virtual assistant

In July 2005, 6 years before Apple launched Siri, I made recordings used for this famous virtual assistant.

I got a contract to record for IVR (interactive voice response) company ScanSoft, now called Nuance. I think the recorded dialogue will be just regular IVR statements, such as “Thanks for calling” or “Please dial”. However, I had to read nonsense sentences like “Cow Hoist in the tugboat today” or “Talk about a new problem today” – they were trying to capture all the combinations of sounds in English. They also asked me to read the name of the address and street.

I’ve been recording at home 4 hours/day, 5 days/week during July. The first 100 or so recordings were interesting, then quite tiring.

Six years later, a co-worker emailed me and said, “Hey, we’ve discovered something interesting with the new iPhone – is this you?”. I don’t even know what they’re talking about. I went straight to Apple’s website to listen to it and immediately recognized it as my voice. (An audio analyst with 30 years of experience has tried analyzing both voices and is “100% sure” that the two are the same, according to CNN.)

I was paid for my contract with ScanSoft the other day, and then Apple bought the recordings from ScanSoft, but I have never received a penny of compensation or any recognition from Apple. In general, this is also a strange situation.

Not receiving remuneration from Apple, the work is affected

Of course, I’m very proud, but I’m also worried that my voice will become so pervasive that it affects my ability to sign other gigs. I love voice acting and don’t want to be seen as just a voice assistant.

Apple later released different voice and language versions of Siri. I met John Briggs, a well-known BBC broadcaster in the UK, who voiced the British version of Siri. I also reached out to Karen Jacobsen, a voice actor and singer who recorded an Australian version of Siri. Through our conversations, it turned out that we were all in the same situation: They also made the recordings in 2005 without knowing what they would end up being used for, which Apple later bought and applied. used for Siri.

Apple’s failure to pay also means we don’t have a non-disclosure agreement. And we all wanted to see if this opened up more opportunities for us. We started promoting ourselves.

I’ve been featured on TV shows, spoken on TEDx, and spoken on the radio. 15 years ago, I never had the opportunity to do these things, and they are really fun.

You may have heard my voice in other places, too. If you’ve ever been to Atlanta Airport, I’m the one sounding the announcement at the gate of Delta Airlines. And apparently companies are still monetizing my voice to this day. My son still hears his mother’s voice in various commercials.

I always tell my friends, ” Watch my voice when you’re watching TV !”. A few years ago, my colleagues recognized my voice in an advertisement for a major car company. Luckily, they were able to contact the advertiser and ask for money for me. I am a member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and as an association they are very active in ensuring the rights of their members.

I think a lot of people don’t even think that there’s a human behind the AI’s voice, or that there’s a real person who made the recording as the basis for it and deserves to be paid.

I like “to be Siri”

Apple has updated Siri’s voice many times over the years, so now Siri is no longer me. The originals are a bit slick, in a fun way – they give Siri a great sense of humor and sharp intelligence. I think a lot of people tried talking to Siri just to see how she would respond. Now, to me, Siri sounds more bland. I’ve also never talked to Siri with my own voice version, because that’s kind of weird.

I still go to auditions here and there from time to time, but I don’t record much anymore. In the dubbing industry, most of us don’t get many jobs as we age — except for Morgan Freeman, who will probably still be in charge even when he’s 100.

There’s no way to estimate the damage or jobs I might have lost from recording to Siri, but I like to look at the positives. It’s fun to “be” Siri. That has really presented me with a lot of great opportunities that I wouldn’t have been able to have without recording Siri.

But I still like to joke that if all the iPhone users send me just 1 USD, that’s still a pretty good commission!