INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Cortana, or Siri, depending on which brand you bought your smart speaker from
Sure, some of these voice assistants can be configured to have a male-sounding speaking voice, including Google Assistant and Siri, but most
Alexa on the Amazon Echo(Image credit: Juan Ci / Shutterstock.com)In May 2019, a groundbreaking report by UNESCO suggested that the default
use of female-sounding voice assistants in our smart home gadgets and smartphones perpetuates sexist attitudes towards women.The report,
fact that Apple's Siri, Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Microsoft's Cortana, are "exclusively female or female by default, both in
name and in sound of voice".Sympathetic and agreeableSo, why do voice assistants sound like women? Julia Kanouse, CEO of the Illinois
sympathetic than male ones(Image credit: Amazon)However, the choices made by voice assistant creators could have far-reaching consequences
and, conversely, see women fight to ensure these roles (such as flight attendants, nurses, paralegals, executive administrators) are seen as
Its report claims that the default use of female-sounding voice assistants sends a signal to users that women are "obliging, docile and
voice assistants have "no power of agency beyond what the commander asks of it" and respond to queries "regardless of [the user's ] tone or
These may be desirable traits in an AI voice assistant, but what if the way we talk to Alexa and Siri ends up influencing the way we talk to
women in our everyday lives?Researchers say the use of predominantly female voices in smart speakers can feed into subconscious biases(Image
assistants has the unintended effect of reinforcing "commonly held gender biases that women are subservient and tolerant of poor
conversation about gender, and about gender, technology, and ethics, and how to be inclusive for people that identify in all sorts of
and nonbinary, although in the end they chose just one voice, and pitch-altered it until it sounded neither male nor female.You can hear
what Q sounds like in the video below.The result, while perhaps a little more synthetic-sounding than Alexa or Siri, is a truly inclusive
see them agreeing to use the same voice as their rivals.Diversity is keySo, instead of making voice assistants sound homogenous, could the
called Beeb, which will understand all the diverse regional accents of the UK, has stoked hopes that it will also speak with some of these
tech fields means they have less input into the design of voice assistants(Image credit: Shutterstock.com)Discussing brands like Apple,
be.However, Aylett doesn't think that global voice assistant developers will support third-party diversity from the likes of the BBC, or be
powerful illustration of gender biases coded into technology products, pervasive in the technology sector and apparent in digital skills
more choice when it comes to the voices in our smart speakers
