Who’s got the better Siri voice? Here’s the man behind ‘Daniel’, British Siri

Recently, Georgia woman Susan Bennett revealed herself as the voice of Siri, the iPhone’s sassy personal assistant that was launched in 2011.

 Siri technology released in October 2011 on the iPhone 4S.

However, if you travel to Europe and purchase an iPhone there, you’ll find that Siri actually goes by the name “Daniel,” and it’s a man. If you are from Europe, you may not even know much about a female Siri since Daniel is the default voice used in the tool (unlike in the United States).

So why do Americans get defaulted to a woman’s voice, while Europeans are automatically set up with a man’s voice?

“I always say that in the soft and cuddly world of U.S. business, you need a comforting, warm female voice, but in the no-nonsense cut and thrust of European business, you need an assistant who gets on with it. A sort of James Bond,” said Jon Briggs, the voice behind Daniel.

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You can always adjust your iPhone settings to make Siri suit you.

So, who is the man behind Daniel, really?

The voice of Daniel belongs to Jon Briggs, a broadcast journalist from the U.K.  Briggs actually had no idea he was set to become the voice of Siri when he did some recording with Nuance (formerly Scansoft), a speech-software company, about seven years ago. Apple licensed his voice from the company and started using it. Since they already paid a licensing fee, there was no need to tell Briggs.

“So the first I knew of it was when I saw it being demonstrated on TV,” said Briggs. He was watching a BBC reporter test the technology and recognized the voice.

Jon Briggs. (Image via JonBriggs.com)
 
Even though he had no prior knowledge that his voice would be used as the personal assistant of the future, Briggs doesn’t hold a grudge and is rather optimistic about the future of the Siri technology.

“Don’t dismiss Siri as a gimmick- it’s the start of something huge in the relationship between mankind and technology. It barely scratches the surface of what this technology will eventually be used for,” he said.

What does it take to be the voice of Siri?

The requirement for his initial recording session was consistency of recording and voice to ensure he would sound the same on any given day of recording.

Don't have an iPhone?

If you don’t own an iPhone and won’t be able to hear Briggs’ voice, don’t fret. You can still hear him in the Jaguar Land Rover’s navigation system or other navigation equipment such as TomTom and Garmin. And if you’ve ever been to King’s Cross Railway Station in London and heard a voice from beyond warning you not to leave your bags unattended — that was Jon Briggs, too.

“But you never know where I will crop up next,” said Briggs.

Advancements in technology

Before Briggs became the voices behind many technologies, he was actually a technology reporter. One of his favorite stories he ever covered is one that may seem like nothing to us now in terms of technological advancements, but when the IRA tried to kill Margaret Thatcher, the local police were one of the first groups to use computers to look for possible suspects.

“A practice that would be second nature now, but was highly innovative then,” said Briggs.

It’s safe to say technology has come a long way since then, and now Briggs has a “voice” in the advancement of tech, rather than just writing about it.

Learn more about the man on your iPhone @Jon_briggs on Twitter.