September 27, 2025

Did you ever think Siri’s sweet voice comes straight from a computer? Think again! There’s a real person behind the talk, and her name is Susan Bennett. She’s a voiceover artist from Atlanta, Georgia, and she unknowingly became the original voice of Siri! How did this happen? Back in 2005, Susan spent one whole month recording thousands of phrases for a company called ScanSoft, which later became Nuance Communications. These recordings weren’t meant for a digital helper like Siri — they were for basic phone systems. But little did she know, Apple snapped up her voice through Nuance and turned it into the famous talking assistant on the iPhone 4S in 2011. Susan’s story is full of surprises. Imagine hearing your own voice answering questions all over the world! At first, she was shocked. As she told CNN, “When I first discovered that was my voice, to be honest, it was a little creepy.” She recorded strange sentences like “cow hoist in the tub hut today” just to capture every sound possible in English. Fun, right? Even though she wasn’t hired by Apple directly, her voice became famous globally. She said, “Apple bought our voices from Nuance without our knowing it. That is problematic from a voiceover actor's point of view.” Still, Susan embraced this unique fame and now shares her incredible journey at events everywhere. But here’s a twist! Susan’s voice is not the one you hear today. She revealed in an interview with HowStuffWorks, “My voice was used in the original Siri on the iPhone 4S and 5. Over time, Apple updated Siri's voice to sound more neutral and less distinctive.” Originally, Siri had a friendlier personality – even a little sass! Susan said, “When I first interacted with Siri, I asked, 'Hi Siri, what are you doing?' and she responded with a touch of sass, 'I'm talking to you.'” Now, Siri sounds more plain and blends with other assistants. So next time you say, “Hey Siri,” remember Susan Bennett, the talented artist whose voice helped start the amazing world of talking AI assistants!

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Tags: Siri, Susan bennett, Voice assistant, Apple, Ai voice, Nuance,