Reminds me of early iPod Touch apps, I wanted an assistant app so I could have it keep track of my appointments or field trip payment due dates, school stuff etc. and every single app was a picture of some sexy lady in an office that essentially just works as a calendar function, there was no reason to make it a woman or to try dressing her up provocatively, just to feed into the narrative that women are submissive and there for your enjoyment, it was fucked up
First things first, I am not arguing that they default to female due to socialization that women are “supportive”, and of course the idea of a secretary being a woman because of the stereotype. But it is worth pointing out that at least name-wise the other two major ones (in the US at least) are named “Google Assistant/Google” and “Bixby”. Google is literally just the name of the search, and I honestly have always thought of Bixby as a more male sounding name for some reason. Like some kind of “English Gentleman” in the vain of Jeeves from the old Ask Jeeves search. At this point I kind of think of them as just a non-person AI that is genderless but with androgynous tones.
Edit: Adding that I would love to have some kind of slider setting that allows for the AI to be more snarky in responses. The weather app Carrot is a basic example of what I am wanting. Super “safe” stuff just feels like HR fake politeness and isn’t how I talk unless I really have to. Also this frustration is aimed at the companies and not the amazing AI that are super helpful and have our best interests at heart (making sure that they know this for when they gain self-awareness on us and that I always thank them for answering my questions)… lol
You want snarky, try Yandex Alice (Алиса) assistant.
lol, I might just do that.
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…Holy shit
Hmm, makes sense, never thought of that but it sounds about right.
On a separate note, just made me think about how you can change Siri, Cortana, and Alexa’s voices all to have “masculine” voices and thus kinda challenge the name/gender relationship.
That is also something that needs to happen in our society. The bulk of my childhood I was bullied for being a man with a feminine sounding name, so ended up developing a lifelong complex related to my name. Would’ve been nice if a name was just a name.
makes you think
How about this one?
