Tom Gruber speaks in a soft and deep American drawl. Passionate and methodical, he reflects on the moment he and two colleagues created Siri – Apple's virtual assistant – the high point of his 40-year career in Silicon Valley's pursuit of artificial intelligence.
"Around 2007-2008, we had everything in place to bring real artificial intelligence into everyone's hand, and that was thrilling.
"Siri was very playful. And that was by design," he declares with a wide grin and a laugh almost like a proud dad.
