CNN had quite the scoop today on “New Day”… the woman who voices Siri, Apple iOS personal assistant.
Apple has not commented on the matter, but the woman–Susan Bennett–is a well-known voiceover actor, and the channel hired a forensic audio specialist, who confirmed that it is her voice.
Bennett explained how her voice became that of Siri on “New Day”:
Just as interesting as the story itself is how CNN discovered that she was the voice of Siri. Jessica Ravitz explains what happened on CNN.com:
Bennett was a voiceover artist I was interviewing for a CNN special project on the world’s busiest airport — Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International — scheduled to come out next month. I was tracking down the airport’s voices, and she, a voice of Delta terminals, was one of them.
In the course of our phone conversation, I asked her to rattle off some jobs she’s had over the years. She gave me a quick and general rundown and then added that she’s done a lot of IVR work.
“IVR?” I asked.
“Interactive voice response,” she answered. “The sort of thing you hear on a company’s phone system.”
For reasons I can’t explain — I was still struggling to understand my first iPhone — I blurted out, “Hey, are you Siri?”
She gasped. And then I gasped.
“Oh my God,” I said. “You’re totally Siri, aren’t you?”
What followed was a short, panicked flurry of non-denials and non-confirmations, and a promise from me that I wouldn’t do or say a thing.
That was months ago. About two weeks ago, after the confusion over the Verge video, Bennett reached out to me. She was ready to speak as herself and set the record straight.