I can see some parallels between that question and print vs hand writing[0]. Print is genderless, but not by design. A computer can produce more sounds more precisely than a human, could we invent a way of converting text to sound that could take advantage of that in some way?
[0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8961315 https://dabamirror.sci-hub.cc/ba3402de799822a492cbb9f42a2fe3... 78% accuracy in sexing hand writing from a single word.
Rather than "Why are assistants conflated with women?" a more interesting question is "Why do assistants tend to be women?" (If my experience is average.)
I don't really know the answer, but I hope it's not a controversial question, since I'm genuinely curious about the forces involved.
Lots of reasons, but a major one is that until relatively recently that's one of the jobs they were permitted to have: http://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?artic.... In the legal world, for example, law firms openly rejected top applicants solely because they were women well into the 1970s.
People tend to think of that time as ancient history, but it's not. C and UNIX were developed in the late 1960s and are still the bedrock of the Internet. Why should we expect social phenomena would move faster than computing technologies?
That is, he's progressive enough to hire non-whites, but still doesn't think men can be secretaries. (In fairness, they probably wouldn't have wanted the role anyway.)
I don't think any of those observations are very controversial.
The continuing problem is this hasn't changed much at all in the last half century. For example, you will not find one unattractive receptionist at any VC office on Sand Hill Rd.
It's not, really: displays of health, wealth, leisure are pretty much common. Youth and fertility for women. Status and wealth for men. Body symmetry.
My layperson's understanding is that some of the specifics can be contextual to a particular time and culture, but the principles are universal, and so are a good number of the specifics.
Oh god those men terrify me. Often the same men who joke about doing unpaid overtime and not getting any raises. It's a constant reminder that you have to stand up for yourself in life, or no one will respect you.
Btw male here, but seriously, it's 2017, can we get a little customisability in this area?
Whats the answer?
The creators prefer a woman's voice? Sexism? Variance?
Wired:why are voice interfaces female
https://www.wired.com/2015/10/why-siri-cortana-voice-interfa...
The first is Does social desirability bias favor humans? Explicit–implicit evaluations of synthesized speech support a new HCI model of impression management[0]. This study found that both men and women interpret female voices as warmer.
The second is Are Computers Gender-Neutral? Gender Stereotypic Responses to Computers[1]. This study found that male voices are preferred when discussing computers and female voices are preferred when discussing relationships.
[0] http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.669...
[1] http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.536...
While P.A.s are stereotypically female in culture (e.g. Most often in films, novels, TV shows). 'High-value' assistants in several cultural contexts are usually portrayed as male: maitre d's, butlers, concierges.
I can't speak for non-heterosexual men or for women on this question though.
Speaking for myself, while I would prefer a high-pitched voice for a digital assistant (male or female - Data sounds friendlier than HAL, for instance), I would prefer it not to be sexualised. Can't say for sure until I've tried it, but I think it would be disturbing if a computer attempted to flirt with me.
Because men and women both respond better to women. This is true of interactions with people, it's true of disembodied voices that they know are backed by computer programs, it's true of images on magazine covers, it's true, well, basically everywhere.
Apologies for the ignorance, but what was he in the comics?
On a serious note - a female voice is extremely pleasing. Male voice puts you instantly into play social status games mode.
> Male voice puts you instantly into
> play social status games mode
The perfect qualities for an assistant role.
Unless you somehow think that's sexist, that's your real answer.
- Cortana
- Alexa
- Siri
- Google Assistant
With the majority of the major players giving their intelligent assistants names that are most likely going to be associated with a woman, is it any surprise?
The real question is -- why are A.I. assistants conflated with women? I think you know the answer. In any case, this trend in "digital assistants" being named after women is no surprise, but disturbing nonetheless.