Welcome Adam Cheyer
Siri Co-Founder Adam Cheyer Shares How the “Siri” Technology Concept Originated (Episode 153)
In this episode, Teri interviews Adam Cheyer. Adam is an outstanding leader and visionary in the voice technology industry. Adam is the co-founder of Siri (which Apple acquired). He is the co-founder of Viv Labs (Viv Labs was sold to Samsung to create Bixby).
How Did Adam Come Up with the Concept of “Siri”?
The vision for “Siri” came about in 1993 when Adam was at SRI International. Adam said, “Someday there are going to be computers all over the world full of content and services that everyone will want access to.” In Adam’s mind, he never envisioned that would be done via webpages, hyperlinks, and documents, but rather; that everyone would have an assistant.
The way Adam envisioned it is that everyone would have an assistant and the job of the assistant would be to take a request and break it down into sub-requests.
Adam stated that “Siri has always been an interface to what he imagined on the web.” He envisioned 10-15 different services that did not know each other would now be invoked to perform the request that you asked. Adam had around 50 iterations of voice assistance and had been attempting to get these to the masses for more than 27 years.
Adam’s Upbringing
Adam has a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science from Brandeis University and a Master’s in artificial intelligence from UCLA.
Adam always had a curiosity for how people think and how people do what they do.
Adam had a mentor named Doug Engelbart who inspired him and as a result of that; he too was able to inspire others along the way.
Let’s Talk About Passion
Adam is a huge advocate of becoming passionate about something! Adam disclosed how he was passionate about Siri decades before anyone else was; because for him, it was fun.
Let’s Talk Hobbies
One of Adam’s hobbies growing up was magic. Why is magic more than just fun? For Adam, it was about the learning experience and drawing parallels between entrepreneurs and magicians.
Adam describes the concept of pulling out a device and being able to use your voice to task 1,000’s of services; that would have seemed like magic 20 or 30 years ago.
Will Voice Stay a Utility?
The next few years will decide if voice stays a utility or does it become as important as the web. Everything that Adam did that he was proud of, initially started off as a side project or passion. Even if there was no commercial purpose, Adam knew that something good would come out of it and kept going.
Do We Fragment Voice or Consolidate It?
Adam is noticing a trend towards fragmentation and embedding voice and apps. Adam mentioned that the job of the assistant is to know him and to assist with which brands he likes in particular situations.
The Role of Existing
When voice is a paradigm and becomes as important as the web, it will impact every connected user and every connected industry. The key is to obtain the right set of platforms and tools.
Bixby Marketplace
Adam stated that Bixby has an open marketplace and has the most sophisticated platforms and tools compared to any of the big players. The Bixby technology is on millions of devices today.
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