Background

VAs are perceived as unmistakably female. Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant, and Cortana were all initially released with default female voices. Apple recently made the switch to a gender-neutral default voice, but it’s hard to argue that “Siri” is genderless when the name itself is Norse for “beautiful woman who leads you to victory.” If you think that’s bad, “Cortana” is a reference to a highly sexualized female character in the video game Halo.

This pattern is not exclusive to AI assistants — we also hear female voices in everything from GPS navigation to voicemail systems to public transport announcements. There are several reasons behind the feminization of computerized systems. Check out these slides to learn more.

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