Artificial intelligences like Apple’s Siri have become so ubiquitous in the lives of many people that it’s no wonder the history of Person 5 Strikers (will be released today on Playstation 4, Switch and PC) has its own AI assistant in the form of EMMA. But what you may not immediately notice is that EMMA is played by the woman who gave voice to the original Siri.
Susan Bennett is a professional voice actor best known for lending her talents to Apple’s Siri assistant from its inception in 2011 until the iOS 7 update in 2013. Bennett’s voice was recorded in 2005 by a company called ScanSoft, a secret project he didn’t do. realize it was for Apple until Siri was released years later. Apple has yet to officially confirm that Bennett is Siri, however a CNN investigation in 2013 she concluded, with 100% certainty from forensic experts in audio, that she was the voice of the personal assistant.
Fast forward to today and the release of Person 5 Strikers outside of Japan. In the game, EMMA performs many of the same functions as Siri in the real world. Find nearby tents, plot travel routes, set schedules and can even suggest things like taking a camping trip. The teenage main characters quickly realize their usefulness and download it to all their phones. Below is a sample of EMMA’s voice (skip to 9:44 if the timestamp doesn’t work).
In the spirit of avoiding spoilers for a game that has been released today, I’ll just say that EMMA remains an integral part of the story ever since, but Bennett’s work is easy to lose if, as me, play with Japanese voices. This connection was first called for by Twitter user resolution, which described Bennett’s hiring by the location team as “the biggest flex” of it. original tweet, i Kotaku Since then confirmed this is the case.
Since recording for Siri at the helm, Bennett has continued to offer his voice to various projects, with clients ranging from Coca Cola and McDonald’s to Ford and Goodyear. Person 5 Strikers it might be his first major show in the video game industry, but it totally nails everything I think the game is working with EMMA. I suppose his time as a Siri he prepared her for it.