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Why do AI voice assistants default to female voices?

Paper art depicting a laptop computer with a robot on the screen with a chat bubble next to its head.
Carol Yepes
/
Getty

Have you noticed that voice assistants, like Alexa and Siri, default to having female voices? This hour we talk about how artificial intelligence is reinforcing gender biases. Plus, we’ll look at how representations of artificial intelligence in pop culture have contributed to this model.

GUESTS: 

  • Kerry McInerney: Research Fellow at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence and co-host of The Good Robot Podcast
  • Lisa Yaszek: Regents Professor of Science Fiction Studies in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication at Georgia Tech
  • Deborah Tannen: Distinguished University Professor of Linguistics at Georgetown University and author of You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation, among other books

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Colin McEnroe, Lizzie Van Arnam, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Lily is the senior producer for 'The Colin McEnroe Show'. She first worked at Connecticut Public as an intern, in 2014. She has previously worked for WBUR, KUNC, and as a producer for the New England News Collaborative's weekly show 'Next.'
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