Dag Kittlaus
Co-founder and CEO of both Siri and Viv Labs
Speaking Topics
Kittlaus has shipped a voice assistant twice, to two of the largest platforms on earth, a decade apart. This talk traces what changed between them and what did not — why the hard problems in 2010 were not the ones everyone expected, why they are still hard, and where the current wave of AI assistants is about to hit the same walls. Audiences leave with a working model of the difference between a demo and a product.
Selling Siri meant convincing investors, then Steve Jobs, then hundreds of millions of people that a category nobody had asked for was worth having. This talk is about how that case gets made inside an organisation: what earns belief, what kills it, and how to talk about a technology whose first version will disappoint the people you are pitching.
His current company uses a phone's sensors to manage hypertension, a condition that kills more people than anything else and is largely invisible between appointments. This talk covers what changes when an AI product carries clinical consequence — the evidence a regulator expects, and why a model that performs well is still a long way from a product a physician will stand behind.
Most founders do not get to run the experiment twice. Kittlaus took an assistant out of a research lab and sold it to Apple, then built a second one designed around everything the first could not do and sold that to Samsung. This talk is about what carried over and what he had to unlearn: how to time an exit, what an acquirer is really buying, and why the second company was harder to start than the first.
About Dag
Dag Kittlaus co-founded Siri in 2007 with Adam Cheyer and Tom Gruber, and ran it as CEO. He came to it as an entrepreneur-in-residence at SRI International, the research institute where the CALO project had spent years building the technology that became the assistant. The name was his: he has Norwegian roots through his mother, and "Siri" is a short form of an Old Norse name he had long intended to use.
He had already shipped a mobile product at scale. At Motorola he founded and ran the Interactive Media Group, where he created SCREEN3 — a zero-click system that pushed news and content to idle phone screens. It shipped on Motorola handsets from 2005 and was picked up by Cingular, China Mobile and Telefónica. Before that he was VP of Consumer Internet Services at Telenor Mobile in Norway, where he spent seven years after finishing an MBA at BI Norwegian Business School.
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Session Formats
Delivery
Achievements
- Co-founded Siri and ran it as CEO through Apple's acquisition in 2010
- Named Siri — a short form of the Old Norse name, after his Norwegian mother
- Director of iPhone Apps at Apple, running the Siri and speech recognition teams
- Co-founded Viv Labs and served as CEO — acquired by Samsung in 2016, now the basis of Bixby
- Co-founder and CEO of Riva Health, applying AI to hypertension management
- Sold two AI companies — Siri to Apple in 2010, Viv Labs to Samsung in 2016 for a reported $215M
- Raised roughly $30M for Viv Labs, backed by Iconiq Capital and Horizons Ventures
- Gave Viv's first public demo at TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2016, against 50+ live partner integrations
- Entrepreneur-in-residence at SRI International, where Siri was spun out of the CALO project
- Created SCREEN3 at Motorola — zero-click mobile content adopted by Cingular, China Mobile and Telefónica
Roles
- VP of Consumer Internet Services, Telenor Mobile
- Founder and GM, Interactive Media Group at Motorola
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Dag Kittlaus?
Dag Kittlaus co-founded Siri in 2007 with Adam Cheyer and Tom Gruber and served as its CEO. Apple acquired the company in April 2010 for a reported $200 million, and he stayed on as Director of iPhone Apps, running the Siri and speech recognition teams through the iPhone 4S launch. He went on to co-found Viv Labs with Cheyer and led it as CEO until Samsung acquired it in 2016, and is now co-founder and CEO of Riva Health.
Did Dag Kittlaus name Siri?
Yes. The name is his. He has Norwegian roots through his mother, and Siri is a short form of an Old Norse name he had intended to use long before the company existed.
What is Viv Labs?
Viv Labs was the AI assistant company Kittlaus co-founded with Adam Cheyer in 2012 and ran as CEO, built to reach the ambition the original Siri had not been allowed to pursue inside Apple. Samsung acquired Viv in 2016, and its technology became the foundation of Bixby.
What does Dag Kittlaus speak about?
He speaks on the past, present and future of AI, on making the internal case for an AI product before it exists, and on AI in healthcare. The through-line is what it takes to turn a research capability into something people actually use.
Is Dag Kittlaus available for virtual events?
Yes. He delivers keynotes, fireside chats and panels in person, virtually, or as part of a hybrid programme, and travels from Illinois.
How much did Apple pay for Siri?
A reported $200 million, in April 2010. Steve Jobs called Kittlaus directly the month before, and the deal closed a few weeks later. Siri shipped on the iPhone 4S in October 2011 and now runs on more than 2 billion active Apple devices.
What is Dag Kittlaus doing now?
He is co-founder and CEO of Riva Health, which he started with the scientist Tuhin Sinha. Riva uses a phone's camera to measure blood pressure, targeting hypertension management between clinical appointments. The company launched in 2021 with $15.5 million in seed funding led by Menlo Ventures.
Has Dag Kittlaus sold more than one company?
Two. Apple acquired Siri in 2010 for a reported $200 million, and Samsung acquired Viv Labs in 2016 for a reported $215 million. He was CEO of both.
What did Dag Kittlaus do before Siri?
He founded and ran Motorola's Interactive Media Group, where he created SCREEN3, a zero-click system that pushed content to idle phone screens and shipped through Cingular, China Mobile and Telefónica. Before Motorola he was VP of Consumer Internet Services at Telenor Mobile in Norway.
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