Apple Siri: Creator of Voice Recognition Software Leaves Company

By Daniel Distant, Christian Post Reporter Monday, October 24, 2011

Dag Kittlaus, the creator of the popular Siri voice recognition software, no longer works for Apple, according to AllThingsD.com.

In spite of the major success of the business, Kittlaus, the CEO and co-founder of Siri, had apparently planned to leave the company for some time.

Sources said that several factors contributed to the innovator leaving the tech giant. The first of these was Kittlaus’s family being in Chicago (Apple is headquartered in Silicon Valley, in Cupertino, California).

Other major influences on Kittlaus’ surprising departure were his need for a vacation and to explore other areas of free enterprise.

The Norwegian trendsetter’s course of action has so far not affected Apple’s stock prices, and sentiments surrounding the company are generally positive.

The aura of stability the public feels for Siri and Apple could be because other Siri executives are still firmly with the company.

Kittlaus, along with Adam Cheyer, Tom Gruber, and Norman Winarsky, founded Siri in 2007, and spearheaded the efforts for speech recognition software since Apple bought the company in 2010.

Siri, the critically acclaimed voice-recognition software, is arguably the most significant update for the brand-new iPhone 4S.

According to AllThingsD.com, the iPhone, “answers questions and provides information using natural language and an intelligent understanding, not just of words, but of context and colloquial phrasing.”

That means that when you ask your iPhone 4S for a burger joint, it knows that you mean a restaurant.

Siri uses original voice identification software to call contacts, set reminders, write a text or email, take notes, or search for stuff on the internet. Siri has much more capability than traditional voice command software.

Siri can’t, however, do tasks like searching movie times or looking up flights – or at least not yet. Apple said it would connect the beta speech-recognition software to more databases as time goes on, according to AllThingsD.com.