Alexa, bias, and the trouble with how we think about voices

A study by Unesco has, somewhat unsurprisingly, found that having female voices on digital assistants like Alexa and Siri reinforces gender stereotypes. The effort to make the relationship with these devices more human has, naturally, led to influencing how we think about other humans.

It’s a flaw, one that was blatantly obvious a mile off, but wholly missed due to the efforts of the creators to make users feel more comfortable talking to ...