The same male voice (same voice actor) who did the summary of contestant performances between rounds of The Weakest Link.
Does it? I've had it set to a female voice since, uhm, forever...?
I am absolutely guilty of sexism towards my AI assistants, but it's in a congratulatory way. On Google Home, I have an issue whereby it often thinks I'm speaking Italian when I'm not, hence doing the wrong thing. I set the Italian responder to be male (like I am), and the English one to female; so when I hear a male response I think "stupid man is stupid", repeat the command more clearly, and get a "competent female" voice who will do the right thing.
Siri does not have this sort of granularity, you have to switch languages manually - which makes it less flexible but, I guess, slightly more precise (although it's still just Bad pretty often).
I hate war, but I can't help but love the pragmatism and rationality.
This 10 year old CNN article is way more informing:
https://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/21/tech/innovation/female-co...
For example female voices for early radar systems were chosen, because their voices stand out from the male fighter pilots. Sexist? Maybe, but also a smart and pragmatic decision. San Francisco apparently uses high-pitched voices as they are easier to hear over clattering train cars.
> "It's much easier to find a female voice that everyone likes than a male voice that everyone likes," said Stanford University Professor Clifford Nass,
> When it comes to consumer applications of computerized voices, the sex of the voice is usually determined by what service or product is employing it. For example, transit systems such as the San Francisco Area's BART often use higher-pitched voices because they are easier to hear over the clatter of the train cars.
> Bajarin, the Silicon Valley analyst, believes that more computerized voices would be masculine if not for the associations with HAL, whose malicious intent in the 1968 Stanley Kubrick film was made even creepier by his soothing tone. "A lot of tech companies stayed away from the male voice because of HAL," he said. "I've heard that theory tossed around multiple times." (One prominent exception: The chipper "You've got mail!" voice from AOL's dial-up days.)
> Siri speaks like a man in the UK, where iPhone 4S owners have swarmed online forums to request a female voice instead. "Eww!! Hope UK gets female voice soon," wrote one commenter.