What does Siri look like? Meet the Aussie woman behind the voice of virtual assistant

Ever wondered who the real Siri is? Turns out she’s an Aussie mum – and she reckons being the virtual assistant’s voice is “the gift that keeps on giving”.

If you don’t recognise Karen Jacobsen by face, you would most definitely have heard her voice.

The Aussie mum is the woman behind the voice of Apple virtual assistant, Siri.

“People treat me like they really know me, they are very familiar with me,” Jacobsen told The Daily Telegraph.

“They know my voice, it is very unusual. The thing that is fun about it is how much joy it brings other people. It is a gift that keeps on giving … people are really uplifted and entertained by it.”

Ironically, Jacobsen has a love/hate relationship with Siri herself. While her husband and teenage son have no problem using the virtual aide, she struggles.

Meet the Australian voice of Siri – Karen Jacobson. Picture: Richard Dobson

“We don’t know why but she doesn’t ever really understand me,” Jacobsen said. “My husband can ask her a question; my son can ask her a question; they get answers but when I ask a question, she doesn’t understand me. We’ve experimented over and over but it is just the weirdest thing.”

Laughing, she added: “I don’t think it is because I don’t speak clearly, I have very good enunciation. I just find it absolutely perplexing.”

Ms Jacobsen lends her voice to Australian Apple products as a voice assistant. Picture: Paul Braven

Jacobsen was based in the US for two decades up until 2020, when the pandemic brought her and her family home to Queensland, where they are now based at Airlie Beach.

The singer songwriter, who has a new album out titled The Slipstream, landed the voiceover gig several years back and obviously had no idea of the enormity of what she was tackling.

“I had done a lot of voiceover work and jingle work in Sydney before,” she said. “The client was looking for a female voiceover artist working in the north east of the United States and so I went to the audition and got the job.”

What followed was many hours of recording to create the world of ‘Siri’.

Apple HomePod Mini smart speaker.

“I recorded 50 hours of script to create a voice system that was based on my speaking voice,” she said.

“They didn’t really know how it was going to be used and neither did I so it is just an unexpected development in my singing career for it to be in GPS devices, phones and elevators telling people where to go and what to do around the world.”

Similarly, voice artists have recorded Siri in different languages all around the world. They also have English and American accented Siri characters.

“The Australian one that I did was one of the first that they did because they had research that showed that the Australian accent was considered the most pleasant English speaking accent. Who would have thought?”