Does Your AI Have a Pronoun?

If you ask an artificial assistant such as Siri or Alexa for their gender, they are likely to tell you they have no gender. Ask their human user the same question though, and they are more likely to identify their handy AI-powered companion as a female.From Robert Heinlein’s sentient computer Minerva in “Time Enough for Love” and other sci-fi novels to the ubiquitous “Computer” in Star Trek, fictional AI personas have often been presented as women, and now life imitates art.

In fact, the default settings for AI assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Cortana all use feminine voices. Siri was even featured as a character on “The Big Bang Theory” as a sexy woman in Raj’s fantasies. (The character of Raj had trouble talking to real women.) 

The Gender Dilemma of AI Assistants

While it’s fun to put a face — and a personality — to your AI assistant’s voice, experts have found this type of personification could reinforce negative and harmful gender stereotypes. 

“You can’t stop the personification process when you give something a voice,” Matthew Aylett, the chief science officer at speech synthesis company CereProc, told Built In. “That’s where the gender thing starts to become important.”

If you can’t change human nature, what can be done? 

For starters, developers could release AI assistants using a male voice as the factory, or default, setting. It’s virtually inevitable that people will attribute some sort of personality and characteristics to their AI. By imbuing the AI VA with a masculine voice, you’re tipping the scales to start changing people’s perceptions. 

The Impact of Feminine Voices in AI

However, some experts believe the issue is systemic. 

“There’s all kinds of underlying ideas about what women are that underpin and shape how women are represented in objects,” Kathleen Richardson, a researcher and professor of ethics and culture of robots and AI at De Montfort University, told Built In. “It’s a big issue that’s not going to be addressed — if ever at all — unless there is a radical transformation in society.”

Plus, as long as these AI assistants deliver the experience people want, it’s not likely to change. “The technology companies who produce [AI voice assistants] do market research, and that market research often says consumers prefer women’s voices,” said Charlotte Webb, the co-founder of non-profit collective Feminist Internet, in the same article. 

You might just consider other options for your AI assistant. Believe it or not, “Sexy Cowboy” reads Apple Maps just as well as Siri, after all.