Ever wonder who’s bossing you around when you say, “Hey, Siri” or “Alexa, what’s the weather today?” The cool, calm, and all-knowing voices that live inside your gadgets didn’t just appear out of thin air. Behind these digital divas are real people—yes, actual humans—who’ve lent their voices to the tech we’ve come to rely on. And their stories are just as fascinating as the tech itself.
Let’s start with the most iconic of them all: Apple’s Siri. She was the OG virtual assistant, way before we had an entire squad of voices living in our devices. The voice behind Siri? None other than Susan Bennett, an Atlanta-based voice actress. Fun fact: Susan didn’t even know she was Siri until a friend pointed it out. Imagine that! Recorded back in 2005, her voice became the digital sidekick millions of people came to love—or, let’s be honest, yell at. Sorry, Susan.
Now, you’d think being the voice of Siri would’ve made Susan rich enough to buy her own private island, right? Wrong. Turns out, when Susan recorded those lines, it was for a third-party company, and she had no idea her voice would end up in Apple’s hands. So, Apple essentially bought the rights to her voice for pennies, while they made millions. Talk about getting the short end of the stick!
But not every story here is negative, folks. Next up, is Alexa. These days you can’t throw a virtual rock without hitting an Alexa-powered device. But ever wonder who’s behind that friendly, omniscient voice? Her name is Nina Rolle, a Boulder, Colorado-based voiceover artist, though Amazon has remained pretty coy about confirming it (classic Alexa, always keeping secrets)…
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