We’re used to having virtual assistants like Cortana diss Siri, but it’s not every day you hear one Siri voice insult another.
Now Siri’s original U.K. male voice — actor Jon Briggs, who also performed on the U.K. version of the Weakest Link — is hitting out at his replacement, calling the new British male Siri “a little insipid if I’m honest.”
Briggs, one of three former Siri voice actors who talk about their experiences in a new interview, also says he reached out to Apple about doing some promotion work for the company, only to be politely rebuffed:
“I contacted them to see if there was anything that I could do to help promote Siri. I never went public about being the voice of Siri myself, but having been the voice of BBC Radio 2 for 13 years and the voice of the Weakest Link, I am a fairly well known voice over artist. I was already being recognised.
They were rather dismissive and said that Apple wasn’t all about one person, you know. Given that this was about three months after the very sad death of Steve Jobs, who was definitely the one person that Apple was all about, it was all a little strange.
Apple are a simply brilliant technology company – but they’re not so brilliant with people.”
Speaking about his replacement, Briggs says, “Of course it’s disappointing, but technology constantly moves on. There have been several James Bonds — but there’s only ever one original and there can only ever be one original English voice of Siri.”
There is a positive though: “I’ve met lots of people who have told me that they’ve asked me to marry them via Siri, so I’ve probably received more marriage proposals than any other Englishman,” he claims — before noting, “I’m still single incidentally!”
Maybe Cortana’s looking?
For a trip down memory lane, here’s Briggs in the original U.K. Siri ad:
Source: The Guardian
