The truth is that using an intelligent assistant in our day to day is something that can make our tasks a little easier. From asking him about the weather, asking him to write something down on the agenda, consulting any curious information or even joking with him. These virtual entities accompany us everywhere on our phones, headphones, speakers and computers. But who are they really? Today we want to show you who speaks to smart assistants like Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant or Cortana .
Who voices Siri
Perhaps, along with Alexa, Siri is one of the voices that we would most like to meet in person. It came to us with the iPhone 4s on October 4, 2011 and, since then, little by little it has become an element that users of mobile phones on the block usually go to.
Well, the most curious thing of all is that until this year there was not much knowledge of who was the person in charge of giving voice to this assistant. Or, rather, who had been the voice of Siri.
Surely the television program “El Hormiguero” sounds familiar to you. Well, among many of its current sections there is one in which the guests must discover who the actor or dubbing actress in front of them voices.
The last time Paz Vega made an appearance in said program, Pablo Motos made him face this “game.” And, to everyone’s surprise, before them was Siri’s voice. This dubbing actress is Iratxe Gómez , a woman from the Basque Country who had played Apple‘s assistant without having any idea that it would be her.
As Iratxe herself commented on the program, an acquaintance had proposed her to do a dubbing role by being able to record phrases in English and Spanish, in addition to having a voice profile that suited her for the job. What was the surprise of this woman when, through an advertisement when she lived in China, she discovered that she had given the voice to this assistant.
The most surprising thing of all is that, unfortunately for her, she is no longer the one in charge of giving him her voice . He commented that a relative bought a new device on the block and, to his surprise, he found that the assistant’s voice was no longer his own, it had changed. As a curious fact, Iratxe has also been in charge of giving voice to most GPS systems a few years ago.
Who is currently Siri? Well, both for his voice in Spanish for the female and male gender there is no data. It is a mystery.
Who is the voice of Alexa
On the other hand we have Alexa which, as you may already know, is another of the most used assistants at the moment thanks to the incredible distribution of smart speakers that Amazon has managed to bring to homes around the world.
This intelligent assistant is somewhat younger than the previous one, since he was born in 2014. However, it was not until 2018 that he made his triumphal entry into Spanish-speaking countries such as Spain.
Now, who is hiding behind the voice of Alexa? Well, it seems to be a true state secret for Amazon. As The Verge commented in one of their articles, there is a hypothesis that they claim to be revealed in a book called Amazon Unbound , where they seem to clarify that the person in charge of giving voice to this intelligent assistant is the announcer Nina Rolle . Although Nina has made no statements about it, there is talk that a confidentiality contract does not allow her to reveal that identity.
However, many other media comment that, really, the “natural” voice of Alexa has never existed. It is said that the voice of this assistant is generated from the rules of Text to Speech or TTS (text to speech), supported by artificial intelligence . Although at the beginning of this method, Alexa’s voice sounded quite mechanical, little by little it is believed that they have been improving the process to make it more natural.
Who is the voice of Cortana
Now it is the least used assistant in this entire list, Cortana also has a niche in the market, especially focused on Windows computers.
This Microsoft-created wizard was first shown at the Microsoft Build developer conference in 2014. It was created to introduce products with Windows, Windows Mobile, Microsoft Band, the Invoke smart speaker, and Xbox One.
The most curious thing about this intelligent assistant is that it is named after a synthetic intelligence character from Halo. For this reason, since the world of video games is much more open in terms of naming its interpreters, we can know that the person in charge of giving voice (in English) to Cortana is the dubbing actress Jen Taylor . As you can imagine, both the Halo character and said assistant share a voice. In addition to Cortana, Jen has also voiced other characters such as Princess Peach, Princess Daisy, Birdo and Toadette, all characters from the Mario universe.
On the other hand, if you wonder who is the voice of this intelligent assistant in Spanish, as it happens in the rest, we do not have any information about it.
Who gives voice to Google Assistant
Last but not least, we have the well-known Google Assistant . You know, that voice that surely a voice will have jumped through your phone without prior notice or, if you usually make use of it, a very useful help that always accompanies you on your mobile phone.
It debuted in 2016 as part of the Google Allo messaging app, and it wasn’t until 2017 that it began to dominate the Android phone industry. And soon after, it was introduced in other smart home equipment as well.
As for who has been in charge of giving voice to this Google assistant, it is the one that raises the greatest mystery. There are no leaks, there is not much evidence. The only thing we have is certain rumors that, in the development process, Google had its eye on the voice of Majel Barrett for having been in charge of interpreting many computer voices in the Star Trek movies and series.
Although, the option that seems more plausible is that, as was the case with Alexa, the Text to Speech rules supported with artificial intelligence would be used for its creation.