Siri first appeared on Apple’s iPhone 4S in 2011. Apple introduced it as a voice-controlled personal assistant that could interpret spoken requests and respond conversationally.
Siri originated from an artificial-intelligence research project at SRI International. The project received support from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and later became a commercial startup. Apple acquired Siri in 2010, before integrating it into the iPhone 4S.
Siri is often confused with the iPhone’s earlier Voice Control feature, which mainly handled commands such as dialing contacts or controlling music. Siri expanded the idea by answering questions, creating reminders, checking weather, and performing web searches. Apple’s launch made a conversational voice assistant a mainstream smartphone feature.