10 years of Siri
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Today is the 10th anniversary of Apple's assistant called Siri.

Few users won't be able to recall the beginnings of Siri, which is the reason we've taken a stroll through time and examined the background that led to the way Siri was born.

We've also examined the experience of use in the beginning days and then considered what the coming 10 years might bring for Siri, the (mostly) helpful voice assistant. We'll take you on this path of constantly evolving voice communications, starting with Siri's first appearance and the capabilities it has with Apple's iPhone 13, as well as iOS 15.

The history: Siri

Siri was a completely different app in the year 2011. It was launched as an application for iOS in February of 2010. It was announced in February 2010 that Siri App was developed as a spinoff of the SRI International Artificial Intelligence Center as well as an offshoot of the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency's CALO project. This artificial intelligence research project attempted to incorporate a range of AI technologies into a cognitive assistant designed by Dag Kittlaus, Tom Gruber, and Adam Cheyer.

The name was derived from Kittlaus's colleague in Norway. It translates to "beautiful woman who leads you to victory" in Norwegian folklore. Other sources have also pointed to the possibility that in Swahili, it refers to "secret".

The initial plan was for the developers to launch Siri on Android as well as BlackBerry devices, but the acquisition of Apple in April of 2010 altered that. In particular, it was an acquisition through Steve Jobs, who died on October 5, 2011, the same day when the iPhone 4S was announced. It was a pivotal moment in the history of Apple. The iPhone 4S was introduced on October 4, 2011, with a pre-release version of Siri that was included.

Who lends vocals to Siri?

Siri has had several distinct voices throughout the time. In the beginning, up to iOS 7 in September 2013, it was using Susan Bennett's voice. Susan Bennett -a voiceover artist who was also a backing singer for Roy Orbison and Burt Bacharach, Bennett voiced her back in 2005, unaware that she would become a major technological success. Apple has not verified the claim, but Bennett herself claimed that she has lent her vocals to Siri. The claim has been confirmed via an American audio expert in forensics.

The first British male voice was recorded by Jon Briggs, a former technology journalist who, as Bennett was unaware, his recordings were to be utilized in this manner in the future.

In the beginning, when Siri was first introduced, the voice has since changed since iOS 11, using new voices which included various voices and expressions to make Siri sound more human and natural in its responses. In 2021's iOS 14.5 updates, Siri also no longer has a default voice available-you'll have to select a different one!

How did Siri change over the years?

Revolution rather than evolution has been the main focus of Siri since the beginning. However, the foundations for Siri were in place from the iPhone 4S onwards, and regular iOS updates have been working towards making Siri more effective.

Importantly, Siri is now far more adept at interpreting the words spoken by users. It takes some time to understand a simple "Hey Siri", but it's now able to perform a lot better.

It includes splitting a bill and calculating the tip, managing HomeKit products such as identifying songs, solving problems, assisting with Apple Maps navigation and directions, and even paying money using Apple Pay. Of course, the majority of the new Apple features are compatible with Siri too.

Since iOS 11, Siri has been able to respond to follow-up queries as well as provide a translation of languages and other third-party actions as well.

Siri now also acts as a personal assistant on macOS and watchOS, aside from its original place of residence on iPhones and iPads. Siri can make suggestions on the fly, for instance, when you're late for an appointment. If Siri detects your tardiness, it may suggest making contact with the person to inform them. Siri is also able to suggest HomeKit scenes to be activated during certain hours of the day and provide suggestions for searches.

Since iOS 15, personalization and speech processing are currently done by the device itself, which makes it much faster at processing commands than it was when it was handled via the cloud. This makes it more secure, with the vast majority of audio messages being stored on the device that's in question. The ability to recognize contacts who are most frequently used as well as the new words entered, it's being smarter with each update.

Compatible devices with Siri

Since Siri was introduced on the iPhone 4S, it's been accessible on nearly all Apple devices you can imagine.

This includes all iPhones before the iPhone 4S and all iPads that have been in use since June 2012, the iPod Touch, Apple TV, and the stand-alone Siri Remote, as well as Macs and AirPods from September 2016. Also, there's been Siri support in HomePods from February 2018 onwards, and CarPlay users can talk to their car to complete a range of tasks.

Winding-up

Siri has been exceptional, and it's been 10 years since its launch. Just like iPhones, Siri has come a long way. We have discussed the history of Siri and posted the list of its compatible devices.

Hope you all liked this article. If you find this article useful, don't forget to like and share the article. This is all for now. Stay tuned for new updates and news.