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posted by martyb on Sunday May 26 2019, @05:25PM   Printer-friendly
from the voices-carry dept.

United Nations: Siri and Alexa Are Encouraging Misogyny

We already knew humans could make biased AIs — but the United Nations says the reverse is true as well.

Millions of people talk to AI voice assistants, such as Apple's Siri and Amazon's Alexa. When those assistants talk back, they do so in female-sounding voices, and a new UN report argues that those voices and the words they're programmed to say amplify gender biases and encourage users to be sexist — but it's not too late to change course.

The report is the work of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and its title — "I'd blush if I could" — is the response Siri was programmed in 2011 to give if a user called her a "bitch."

[...] "It is a 'Me Too' moment," Saniye Gülser Corat, Director of UNESCO's Division for Gender Equality, told CBS News. "We have to make sure that the AI we produce and that we use does pay attention to gender equality."

Also at CNET.

[Back in 2013 in Germany, Siri's voice could be selected as either male or female.

Possibly one of the earliest and best-known "computer voices" was that of Majel Barrett from ST:TOS, although a case could be made for HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey. --Ed.]


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  • (Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 26 2019, @11:25PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 26 2019, @11:25PM (#848032)

    In noisy environments it is easier to distinguish mid-to-high frequencies.

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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by AthanasiusKircher on Monday May 27 2019, @03:51AM

    by AthanasiusKircher (5291) on Monday May 27 2019, @03:51AM (#848089) Journal

    Not for older people, which was GP's point. Hearing loss associated with age begins with high frequencies, which first leads to decreased ability to differentiate certain consonants (which often rely on high frequencies in their production). As the loss increases, sensitivity in the upper range of vocal formants makes it increasingly difficult to understand high voices, particularly women and children.

    This is all well known. Look up presbycusis (the term age-related hearing loss).