What happened to female Siri?
Apple is adding two new voices for Siri, and it will no longer make the default voice female. These changes have been added in the latest beta version of iOS 14.5. Apple will now ask users to choose which voice they want for Siri instead of keeping the female voice as the default one.
Siri actually has no gender (if you don't believe us, just ask it). Siri had a default female voice for many years, but you had the option to change it to a male voice instead. You can even give Siri six different accents: American, Australian, British, Indian, Irish, or South American.
Susan Bennett is the voice actor behind Apple's first iteration of Siri, released in 2011. She made recordings for ScanSoft in 2005, unaware that Apple would use them for Siri years later. Although Apple has never compensated Bennett for her work, she said she's enjoyed "being" Siri.
Initially limited to female voices, Apple announced in June 2013 that Siri would feature a gender option, adding a male voice counterpart. In September 2014, Apple added the ability for users to speak "Hey Siri" to enable the assistant without the requirement of physically handling the device.
Go to Settings > Siri & Search. Tap Siri Voice, then choose a different variety or voice.
Check that your iPhone's microphone is clean and functional. Check that any mic-equipped Bluetooth headphones or speakers are disconnected if you're not using them for input. Double-check that Siri is enabled in Settings. Restart your iPhone if the problem persists.
On Thursday, a judge ruled that Apple will have to continue fighting a lawsuit brought by users in federal court in California, alleging that the company's voice assistant Siri has improperly recorded private conversations.
However, another intriguing feature is the new voices assigned to Siri–Apple's virtual assistant. Though Apple has not explicitly said what culture or identity the voices are meant to represent, two of them, one male and one female, are described by listeners and media outlets as African American voices in English.
Apple periodically updates the Siri voice options to improve the quality and naturalness of the voice. To address this issue and restore a more natural voice for Siri, you can follow these steps: Open the Settings app on your iPhone. Scroll down and tap on "Siri & Search" or "Siri & Privacy."
Susan Alice Bennett (née Cameron, born July 31, 1949) is an American voice actress and a former backup singer for Roy Orbison and Burt Bacharach.
What does Siri stand for?
Siri stands for Speech Interpretation and Recognition Interface, but it also has some extra meaning. The name Siri in Norse means "beautiful woman who leads you to victory," while in Swahili, it means "secret."
Siri made its debut on October 4, 2011, when Apple introduced the iPhone 4S to the world.
Most (80%) identified Alexa as “female.” However, there was a lack of concordance between the gender respondents ascribed to Alexa and their spontaneous use of pronouns in writing.
Siri Price, 26, was annoyed enough when Apple released their voice activated digital assistant named Siri in 2011. She loved her given name, which reportedly means “beautiful woman who leads you to victory” in Old Norse.
Societal Perceptions: Societal norms have traditionally associated nurturing and helpful qualities with a feminine voice. This perception is deeply ingrained and has led to the use of female voices for virtual assistants, as they are intended to be helpful and provide information.
When you set up voice recognition, Siri can recognize multiple voices, so that everyone in your home can enjoy personalized music and media, and start an AirPlay session from personal devices on HomePod.
Tap on Listen for and select Siri. This will allow you to activate Siri by just saying her name, without the "Hey" prefix.
- Go to your iPhone's Settings. You can find Siri's settings and customization options within your iPhone's Settings application. ...
- Tap on Siri & Search. ...
- Select Siri Voice. ...
- Choose Siri's new voice.
The rigidity of Siri, its need for human-predefined answers (didn't we all try questions like “What is the meaning of life?” to get a funny but obviously human-made answer that was put there just because they knew somebody was going to ask), its inability to follow up a conversation, stick all for the following years.
Go to Settings. Tap Siri & Search. From here, make sure the following settings are turned on: Listen for "Siri" or "Hey Siri"
Why does Siri only say uh huh?
Starting in iOS 13 set to American English, if a user says, "Hey Siri" without following up with a question, Siri can respond with "Huh?", "Uh-huh", or "Mm-hmm?" instead of "Yes?". WikiMac itself was attempting to revitalise the usage of "Huh?" by applying it to pages where the user may desire more related assistance.
Constant interactions with the programmed, mechanized voices can adversely impact children's social and cognitive development — specifically interfering with their ability to empathize and show compassion, besides inhibiting their critical thinking skills.
- Mysterious Cortana. Don't ask Siri: "Who is Cortana?". ...
- Questions about crimes. Don't make Siri an accomplice to a crime. ...
- You can't divide by zero. ...
- Personal life. ...
- One hundred and eight.
The two new voices also bring some much needed variety to the voices of Siri, offering more diversity in speech sound and pattern to a user picking a voice that speaks to them. In some countries and languages Siri already defaults to a male voice. But this change makes the choice the users' for the first time.
Why it matters: It's part of an effort by Apple to offer a more diverse array of options for its virtual assistant. Last year it added two Siri options recorded by Black voice actors.
