EDITOR’S LEAD IN
A
ccordingtoTheGuardiannewspaper,withintwoyears
therewillbemorevoiceassistantsontheInternetthan
therearepeopleontheplanet.
Thisis particularlyrelevanttotheworldofaudio
nowthatmorehi-ficomponentsareintegratingvoice
assistants,butyoudon’thavetolookveryfartofindhi-fiamplifiers,
receivers,soundbars,andstreamersthathavevoicetechnologyon
board(mostrecentlyandmostfamously,Sonos).Buthi-fiis a niche
market,withmostlysmallerplayersinvolvedindesign,manufacture
anddistribution,andI amnotsurethatthey’renecessarilyuptospeed
onthepsychologyofvoiceassistance.
Incorporatingvoiceassistanceonhi-fiequipmentseemslikea good
idea,butcouldit backfire?It certainlybackfiredoncarmanufacturer
BMW,whichfoundthatsalesofoneofitsformerlybest-sellingmodels
hadslumped.Whathadgonewrong?It turnedoutthatit hadadded
sat-nav,whichineveryone’sopinionatBMWhadtobea plus:except
thatit wasn’t...becausethesat-navvoicewasfemale,andit turned
outthatthe(mainly)Germanmenwhohadbeenbuyingthispartic-
ular(andexpensive,evenforBMW)modeldidnotwanttotakeroute
directionsfroma woman...evena disembodiedone.
Apparently,‘male’voiceassistantsarealsoderigueurinArab
nations,soif anyhi-fimanufacturerwantstosellinSaudiArabia,or
Iran,they’dbettermakedamn’suretheirproductshavemalevoices.
Butif a companygoesdownthisroute,is it notactuallypromoting
genderinequality?I’dsayso.Myopinionis thatattheveryleast,buy-
ersshouldbegiventheoptionofselectingeithera maleora female
voice,andmaybe,forthosepeoplewhoprefernotidentifyaseither,a
computer-generatedvoiceshouldbea thirdoption.
Butnomatterwhatflavouryourpreferredassistant’svoicemight
take,there’stheproblemofprivacy.Whenyouactivatea voiceassis-
tant,you’reessentiallyputtinga livemicrophoneinyourhomethat
hasthepotentialtorecordeverysoundmadeinyourhome24/7.So
if you’reberatingyourchildren—oryourpartner—oryou’reputting
ona croakyvoicetotelltheofficeyou’retakinga ‘sicky’,yourfaithful
digitalassistantcouldverywellberecordingeverything,andit could
potentiallybeplayedbackina futurecourtcase.Personally,I’mnot
convincedthatthisis happening,thoughI amperfectlysurethattech-
nically,it’stotallypossible.
If youthinkit’snotpossible,I havetwowordsforyou:Google
Earth.Yep,it’snowpossibletobesittinginyourownhomeandbring
upa photographnotonlyofa person’shomeasa bird’seyeview,but
a viewofthefrontoftheirhouse,showingtheirgarden,thetypesof
carsparkedinthedrivewayor,if youliveinAthens,thatthere’san
illegalpoolintheirbackyard.Andthat’sforalmostanyhomeonthe
entireplanet.
Sois it sofar-fetchedtoimaginehatsomewhereoutthere,a giant
serveris recordingeveryconversationineveryhouseholdontheplan-
et?I knowofsomehouseholdsthatthinkso,andhavebannedthe
useofvoiceassistantproductsintheirhomesentirely,irrespectiveof
whetherthevoicesaremale,femaleorother.
Oneproblemis thatplayingpoliticswiththegenderofvoiceassis-
tantsis thatit’sgoingtowreakhavocwithmarketingstrategies,not
leastbecausemanyserious,peer-reviewedpsychologicalstudieshave
provedbeyondanyshadowofa doubtthatlow-pitchedvoicesare
perceivedasbeingmoreauthoritativethanhigher-pitchedones...and
thisis trueforbothmenandwomen.Me,I don’tcarewhotellsme
wheretogo,solongasI getthere!^ greg borrowmanWHO’S TALKING...
AND WHO’S LISTENING?
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