Most digital assistants are voiced by females. According to a study from Rice University, users found systems with the voice of men easier to use. But found women voice to be more trustworthy.
According to Clifford Nass, a professor in Stanford University, "Its much easier to find a female voice that everyone likes than a male voice that everyone likes. Its a well established phenomenon that the human brain is developed to like female voice".
Woman makes up approximately 11% of executive roles in sillicon valley, meaning these systems are mostly approved my men.
Some says these assistants are developed with Implicit Gender Bias, " I think that probably reflects what some men think about women, that they are not fully human beings" Kathleen Richardson author, An anthropology of Robots and AI.
Since Interactive Voice Response Systems (IVR) were first released more diverse gender options have been added. But women sounds are still the main ones sounding off.
Thanks for sharing this - I think another reason we might use female voices is that we would like to make our new technologies non-threatening to us. Throughout history, men have often named their large ships and even weapons after women as a means of attachment. I'm not exactly sure it was a matter of seeing women as less, but simply, as seeing women as gentler (still sexist in its own right). What do you think?
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit