The Origins of Siri: A Journey from Innovation to Controversy

The virtual personal assistant, has a rich history rooted in decades of artificial intelligence (AI) research. In today’s Did You Know IT post, we delve into the intriguing history of Siri, Apple’s voice assistant.

Behind the Name

Siri is actually a product of SRI International Artificial Intelligence Center, & is an offshoot of a US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA)-funded CALO project. It’s speech recognition was provided by Nuance Communication.

Kittlaus, SRI’s Co founder named Siri after a co-worker in Norway; the name is a short form of the Sigrid, from Old Norse Sigríðr, composed of elements sigr “victory” & fríðr “beautiful”.

Started as an iOS App

Initially launched as an app for iOS, Siri caught the attention of Apple’s visionary, Steve Jobs. The technology was acquired by Apple and integrated into the iPhone 4S in 2011. However, the launch was overshadowed by the unfortunate passing of Steve Jobs the following day.

Stolen Voices ?

The strangest part of Siri is that NONE of the voice providers were even aware of their voices being used, which were recorded much earlier in 2005.

The American voice was a mystery for a long time till Susan Bennett, finally acknowledged it & was later validated by forensics experts. Apple apparently has never acknowledged this.

The original British male voice was of Jon Briggs, a technology journalist & narrator for the hit BBC quiz show “The Weakest Link.”
He too discovered usage of his voice in Siri by watching television.

The original Australian voice was provided by Karen Jacobsen, a voice-over artist known in Australia as the GPS girl.

Their voices were originally recorded for a US company called Scansoft, who were then bought by Nuance. Apple simply licensed it.

Privacy ? What’s that?

In 2019, a then-anonymous whistleblower and former Apple contractor Thomas le Bonniec said that Siri regularly records some of its users’ conversations even when it was not activated.

The recordings are sent to Apple contractors grading Siri’s responses on a variety of factors.
Among other things, the contractors regularly hear private conversations between doctors and patients, business and drug deals, & couples having sex.
Apple did not disclose this in its privacy documentation & did not provide a way for its users to opt in or out.

In 2019, Apple apologized, halted the Siri grading program, & said that it plans to resume “later this fall when software updates are released to its users”.

Its only with iOS 13.2, released in October 2019, that Apple introduced the ability to opt out of the grading program & to delete all the voice recordings that Apple has stored on its servers.
In 2020, Thomas revealed himself as the whistleblower & sent a letter to European data protection regulators, asking them to investigate Apple’s “past & present” use of Siri recordings.

His argument – even though Apple apologized, it never faced the consequences for its years-long grading program.

In 2019, Apple apologized, halted the Siri grading program, & said that it plans to resume “later this fall when software updates are released to its users”.

Its only with iOS 13.2, released in October 2019, that Apple introduced the ability to opt out of the grading program & to delete all the voice recordings that Apple has stored on its servers.
In 2020, Thomas revealed himself as the whistleblower & sent a letter to European data protection regulators, asking them to investigate Apple’s “past & present” use of Siri recordings.

His argument – even though Apple apologized, it never faced the consequences for its years-long grading program.

The tale of Siri showcases a remarkable technological evolution but also raises concerns about privacy and transparency. As users, it’s crucial to be aware of the impact and implications of voice assistant technologies.

What are your thoughts on this journey of Siri and the challenges it has faced along the way?