Writers On Writing

Meet the woman who lives inside your iPhone. Writer and poet Mariana Lin was recruited by Apple to write the personality for Siri, and went on to write for other artificially intelligent personalities, like Sophia. This week's show explores the thinking behind creating a personality and "voice" for machines—from their humor to their backstories. Mariana was tasked with considering machines living in other cultures, and how they should respond to racist, sexually charged, or other offensive speech. And she was challenged to imbue them with whimsy, nuance, and complexity. Hear about how Mariana’s love of language, fiction, and poetry is influencing a new cast of characters living in our world. Download audio. (Broadcast date: September 18, 2019)