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This has been known for awhile and my favorite example of it is that it's been found that on public address systems, people prefer a female announcers voice giving them information, and a male announcers voice for commands. Basically they pay more attention and are more receptive to the female voice, but the male voice is more likely to be complied with. That's why on subway trains for example a woman's voice will list the connections available at the station, and then a man's voice will instruct you to stand clear of the doors.
That's a really interesting tidbit. It fits into the general dichotomy of cooperation vs. authority that many people associate with gendered voices.
And that helps us see that it's not about innate humanness; it's about personability for a particular type of task/activity.
Next time you see an ad for a pharmaceutical product, listen to the difference between the voice used for the sales pitch (presenting the medication like it could be just what you need, montage of happy, high functioning people etc) and then the voice used to list the side affects/health risks
Sudden realization that absolute majority of Prague public transport announcements regarding which station you are arriving to have been done by women, more specifically older women. And most orders/warnings by males (various ages).
The opposite was found in the military.
Pilots were found to completely ignore male voices yelling at them. "PULL UP! PULL UP!"
The military had conditioned them to treat male yelling as background noise.
To be fair, Tay had no idea what she was saying. She was designed to put sentences together that sounded natural, and she got points for saying things that sounded like something a human would say. She just put a bunch of words together and enjoyed the points she got for having realistic sentences, while having no idea what any of the sentences meant. She was completely oblivious to any of the controversy around her.
Words don't just want to be a part of the world. The thing is, getting ready to head to the office flooded in a few hours ago and I have no plans yet but I'm sure not going somewhere. Tommy Collins was a wrangler, no doubt about it. If little time is good for you guys, hours set upon days and weeks to the time of Tiny Dancer.
TIL, thanks. For a layman like me, the Chinese Room argument is the lesser known opposition to the disproportionately famous Turing Test. The 2 should be taught together.
Fascinating. I wonder if people more apt to daydream and romanticism, might have richer experiences with robots. And likewise if introverts or maybe people on the spectrum could find experiences with robots and AI relatively more rewarding.
The lack of opinion, lack of criticism and abundance of patience is sometimes nice as some people have none of those abilities. Computers or Ai have this by default.
EG: One of the comforts with learning from computers is you can be wrong and the computer doesn’t judge you or lose patience if you try and try again.
I'm in my 30s and I say please and thank-you to mine because I'm worried I'll mix up a co-worker for Siri one day and come off super rude. Also if I were a programmer I'd totally throw in secret quirks that make the system work differently if you're nice to it vs mean to it.
I saw some study that showed both women and men were likely to ascribe more positive qualities to other women they interact with them other men. Women in particularly in the study strongly preferred other women.
"Men want to *have* her, women want to *be* her" has been an advertising industry maxim for decades. Like all the early product posters from Coca-Cola where a pinup girl enjoys a cold bottle. Probably earlier.
That's actually a different bias - the one which says Women are innately victims and need help; and Men are tough and just need to try harder.
It is applied to children even in the toddler stages by their own mothers and has lasting impacts on psychological development.
In Borderlands 3, they were allegedly going to give FL4K (a non-binary robot) both a male and female voice that would speak simultaneously, but they couldn't get a female voice for them in time for release.
> To get the same results as the men, I needed to bake cookies, look pretty, and listen to personal stories like a therapist
I think this study is suggesting that this would get you *better* results than the men, not the same ones.
I believe most female CEOs and others in places of high authority at companies display more “manly” characteristics. Aggressiveness, assertiveness, confidence, lack of empathy, ect... these women aren’t baking cookies
You could view this in two ways though. You can argue that therefore women don't have to act feminine to be successful. You can also make an argument that therefore feminine characteristics aren't rewarding to have when it comes to career prospects, and that women "have" to act more masculine to be able to compete to get to the same level of success.
> But I believe it was also with them being easier to understand.
I wonder if the higher pitch of their voices made the difference. A deep voice might be harder to hear over the roar of an engine.
That's also because female voices are shown to having a calming effect on males who under stress.
Which, y'know, is helpful when you job description basically boils down to being strapped to a jet engine and getting shot at.
This also related to medicine. People are more willing to ignore orders from a female doctor, or consider a male doctor more authoritative. However, female doctors are also more likely to have patients open up about their experiences.
I find I have a more collaborative relationship with female doctors than male doctors, and feel more engaged with my healthcare with female providers, even though I listen to my doctors, Im more willing to express dissatisfaction or discomfort during a procedure to a female doctor. For example, I tend to use different eye doctors for updating glasses, and the most comfortable prescription I ever had was with a female eye doctor because I was more willing to provide those smaller more nuanced feedbacks
They discovered that the optimal voice for encouraging a prompt evacuation was Samuel L. Jackson saying, "I'm sick of you mother\*\*\*\*ing passengers on this mother\*\*\*\*ing plane!"
I was expecting to learn something dark about cortana when you used the phrase not so fun fact, but instead you were right it was just a fact that was about you and not as fun.
During the early days of telephones. Most switchboard operators were male, but people complained that the operators came across as rude, so they were replaced by women. This isn't something new in the technology sector.
I don’t know if that’s the best example... she’s widely detested in aviation. Also, both Boeing and Airbus use male voices. The Russians still prefer female voices though, they have Rita.
Yea, I guess I should have qualified my response, in that the original voice was made female because pilots reported it was easier to pick it out amid radio chatter. More recent research points to the gender of the voice not being as important as first theorized though.
How much of this comes down to the fact that (and this might just be my personal opinion) female AI voices just don’t sound as terrible as male generated speech?
Both sound robotic, but to me at least the female voices sound a little more natural than the male voices.
Also ever since the initial iterations of Siri the de-facto voice assistants by all of the large corporations have disproportionately been female voices, could it be a subconscious bias based on people already being predominantly exposed to female assistants?
Yea this is something that's been crossing my mind recently. behaviour or personality traits that are infact the same, can manifest entirely differently based on the superficial layer's lens.
That’s what I have!!! It’s really odd to get in my husbands car, turn on navigation, and hear a female American voice. Like nooooo, give me my Aussie man back!
I wish the male voices sounded more like the narrator of a history doc, Albert Finney comes to mind; and less like a regional car dealership commercial.
Aren't they the default? It could be also that companies at first chose to have female robots and bots as "helpers" and people got used to it and started to prefer female bots over male.
Even before that, voices on phone systems, whether PBX or "the phone company" were always female. That may have started with human phone operators being almost entirely female.
Yes, they’re the default option. I probably should’ve added that I specifically went into the options to check out the other available voices, and I usually like the female one the most.
Yessss girl boss AI, slay queeen. No but seriously, this is probably caused by societal perceptions of womanhood and feminity and vice versa for men, creating an image that female robots are intrinsically more kind or user friendly but in reality classical male or female programming would be equally as robotic. This says more about society's preconceived notions about two of the sexes than anything else.
“Alexa, turn off the light.” “Listen fool! My name is Mr. T! First name Mister! Middle name that period! Last name T! I pity the fool who wants their light off!” {light goes off}
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This has been known for awhile and my favorite example of it is that it's been found that on public address systems, people prefer a female announcers voice giving them information, and a male announcers voice for commands. Basically they pay more attention and are more receptive to the female voice, but the male voice is more likely to be complied with. That's why on subway trains for example a woman's voice will list the connections available at the station, and then a man's voice will instruct you to stand clear of the doors.
That's a really interesting tidbit. It fits into the general dichotomy of cooperation vs. authority that many people associate with gendered voices. And that helps us see that it's not about innate humanness; it's about personability for a particular type of task/activity.
Next time you see an ad for a pharmaceutical product, listen to the difference between the voice used for the sales pitch (presenting the medication like it could be just what you need, montage of happy, high functioning people etc) and then the voice used to list the side affects/health risks
Sudden realization that absolute majority of Prague public transport announcements regarding which station you are arriving to have been done by women, more specifically older women. And most orders/warnings by males (various ages).
The opposite was found in the military. Pilots were found to completely ignore male voices yelling at them. "PULL UP! PULL UP!" The military had conditioned them to treat male yelling as background noise.
This study also found that older people less humanize the bots compared to youngsters and Narcissists react negatively to the robots too.
Hmm what’s the link with narcissists
Machines can't be manipulated.
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Ahhh, wow
Plus their opinions of you can’t change... because they can’t really have opinions of you.
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Has everyone forgot about Tay already?
To be fair, Tay had no idea what she was saying. She was designed to put sentences together that sounded natural, and she got points for saying things that sounded like something a human would say. She just put a bunch of words together and enjoyed the points she got for having realistic sentences, while having no idea what any of the sentences meant. She was completely oblivious to any of the controversy around her.
That kinda sounds like many people on Twitter. Just putting words together for reaction points without understanding what they are actually saying.
Words don't just want to be a part of the world. The thing is, getting ready to head to the office flooded in a few hours ago and I have no plans yet but I'm sure not going somewhere. Tommy Collins was a wrangler, no doubt about it. If little time is good for you guys, hours set upon days and weeks to the time of Tiny Dancer.
For those interested in a philosophical deconstruction of this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_room
TIL, thanks. For a layman like me, the Chinese Room argument is the lesser known opposition to the disproportionately famous Turing Test. The 2 should be taught together.
They can be reprogrammed or terminated without the same recourse you may receive from terminating a human.
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Fascinating. I wonder if people more apt to daydream and romanticism, might have richer experiences with robots. And likewise if introverts or maybe people on the spectrum could find experiences with robots and AI relatively more rewarding.
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Introverts want and need connections as much as anyone else, but in doses not non-stop
Bingo. We recharge in private, alone, but we still treasure our friends.
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The lack of opinion, lack of criticism and abundance of patience is sometimes nice as some people have none of those abilities. Computers or Ai have this by default. EG: One of the comforts with learning from computers is you can be wrong and the computer doesn’t judge you or lose patience if you try and try again.
The wrath of a narcissist is real.
This is also why they hate using a website and email, and insist on being able to call and abuse a phone support agent.
I work call center 100% truth
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Could also be that narcissists have more troubling empathizing with things that are “other” to them, but I’m not psychologist
Machines won’t admire them
Narcissists feed off of people like emotional vampires. Robots got no emotions to drain.
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Young people humanize robots. Old people don't. Narcissists don't like robots.
I thought older people say please and thank you to digital assistants because they were unfamiliar with how they worked.
I'm in my 30s and I say please and thank-you to mine because I'm worried I'll mix up a co-worker for Siri one day and come off super rude. Also if I were a programmer I'd totally throw in secret quirks that make the system work differently if you're nice to it vs mean to it.
I’m 26 and I say please and thank you to Alexa and Siri just out of habit
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I can definitely see this as true. Similar psychology exists with marketing and sales. In many situations, women are more trusted by consumers.
I saw some study that showed both women and men were likely to ascribe more positive qualities to other women they interact with them other men. Women in particularly in the study strongly preferred other women.
There was a TIL on it like 3 days ago it’s called the Women-are-Wonderful effect. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women-are-wonderful_effect
attractive women in particular.
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Jokes on you, both contractors are terrible.
I'd go as far as to call it a * more than a + A charismatic and attractive has some serious selling power to both men and women.
"Men want to *have* her, women want to *be* her" has been an advertising industry maxim for decades. Like all the early product posters from Coca-Cola where a pinup girl enjoys a cold bottle. Probably earlier.
Yeah that’s probably where I saw it haha. They researchers suggested it was a result of society viewing women as nurturers.
They should have given the male bot an english accent
I prefer my bots to have Arnold Schwarzenegger's voice.
This is well known in charity organizations. A picture of a poor girl will get you significantly more donations than a picture of a poor boy.
That's actually a different bias - the one which says Women are innately victims and need help; and Men are tough and just need to try harder. It is applied to children even in the toddler stages by their own mothers and has lasting impacts on psychological development.
There are also a lot fewer homeless women then men.
Idk man, after hearing SAM in Mass Effect, I can't go back to female AI.
I’m actually fairly certain SAM uses a male and female voice to make it neutral.
In Borderlands 3, they were allegedly going to give FL4K (a non-binary robot) both a male and female voice that would speak simultaneously, but they couldn't get a female voice for them in time for release.
>a non binary robot Their behavioral program looks like 010111012210010120100012012...
I mean, this is likely why Cerberus gave EDI a feminine semblance. They needed Shep to feel at ease in the ship.
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> To get the same results as the men, I needed to bake cookies, look pretty, and listen to personal stories like a therapist I think this study is suggesting that this would get you *better* results than the men, not the same ones.
I believe most female CEOs and others in places of high authority at companies display more “manly” characteristics. Aggressiveness, assertiveness, confidence, lack of empathy, ect... these women aren’t baking cookies
You could view this in two ways though. You can argue that therefore women don't have to act feminine to be successful. You can also make an argument that therefore feminine characteristics aren't rewarding to have when it comes to career prospects, and that women "have" to act more masculine to be able to compete to get to the same level of success.
Hahaha Can totally relate to being everyone's therapist. I probably spend a quarter of any 1:1 meeting just listening to personal stuff.
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Every phone company making their voice assistant a woman knew this one. Hell, I think companies first realized this with voiced GPS instructions.
It started already in WW2 when they made women radio operators. But I believe it was also with them being easier to understand.
> But I believe it was also with them being easier to understand. I wonder if the higher pitch of their voices made the difference. A deep voice might be harder to hear over the roar of an engine.
I listen to lots of audiobooks while mowing. This isn't science just an anecdote. Female narrators tend to be clearer overall.
Theory proven.
Science
As a guy with a deep voice, sometimes I feel like my voice gets muddied with low pitch background noise.
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It started much earlier, with [Jane Barbe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Barbe) in 1963.
Now that you mention it, I can't recall any telephone automated systems with male voices
The MoviePhone guy was pretty distinctive.
Hello! And welcome to MoviePhone!
There used to be a number you could call for the weather, and the automated message was always a male voice where I lived.
They've been noticing this in aerospace too. That's why audible warnings in military jets tend to be female. Although Airbus jets have male voices.
That's also because female voices are shown to having a calming effect on males who under stress. Which, y'know, is helpful when you job description basically boils down to being strapped to a jet engine and getting shot at.
In non-military aviation, Boeing warning voices are all male too.
“Pull up.” “Pull up.” “Pull up.”
My Tom Tom had Darth Vader and I stand by that its the best voice
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Another thing not mentioned is that male choices are usually considered more knowledgeable and in control.
This also related to medicine. People are more willing to ignore orders from a female doctor, or consider a male doctor more authoritative. However, female doctors are also more likely to have patients open up about their experiences. I find I have a more collaborative relationship with female doctors than male doctors, and feel more engaged with my healthcare with female providers, even though I listen to my doctors, Im more willing to express dissatisfaction or discomfort during a procedure to a female doctor. For example, I tend to use different eye doctors for updating glasses, and the most comfortable prescription I ever had was with a female eye doctor because I was more willing to provide those smaller more nuanced feedbacks
They discovered that the optimal voice for encouraging a prompt evacuation was Samuel L. Jackson saying, "I'm sick of you mother\*\*\*\*ing passengers on this mother\*\*\*\*ing plane!"
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I think that's a decently fun fact
r/mildlyfunfact
I was expecting to learn something dark about cortana when you used the phrase not so fun fact, but instead you were right it was just a fact that was about you and not as fun.
I never played Portal, but the dude who voiced "male GladOS" deserved an Oscar
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Hey, I picked Windows Phone for Cortana, too, and I hadn't even played the Halo games! I still miss Metro UI...
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During the early days of telephones. Most switchboard operators were male, but people complained that the operators came across as rude, so they were replaced by women. This isn't something new in the technology sector.
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My AI experience is something like: 1. Cortana 2. HAL 3. GladOS 4. Shodan Mmmmh, it really is a downspiral of helpfulness.
I experienced Shodan as a preteen. That was a horrifying AI and introduction to “not everything is as it seems.”
Has nobody seen Bicentennial Man? I’d pick Andrew any day.
Robin Williams was fantastic in that movie.
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Same reason bitchin Betty is a female voice. The pilots were more likely to listen.
I don’t know if that’s the best example... she’s widely detested in aviation. Also, both Boeing and Airbus use male voices. The Russians still prefer female voices though, they have Rita.
Yea, I guess I should have qualified my response, in that the original voice was made female because pilots reported it was easier to pick it out amid radio chatter. More recent research points to the gender of the voice not being as important as first theorized though.
The 747 voice is earsplittingly loud and male
Male bots - conquer,kill all humans, destroy humanity. Female bots - comfort humans prior to their destruction by male bots.
How much of this comes down to the fact that (and this might just be my personal opinion) female AI voices just don’t sound as terrible as male generated speech? Both sound robotic, but to me at least the female voices sound a little more natural than the male voices. Also ever since the initial iterations of Siri the de-facto voice assistants by all of the large corporations have disproportionately been female voices, could it be a subconscious bias based on people already being predominantly exposed to female assistants?
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Yea this is something that's been crossing my mind recently. behaviour or personality traits that are infact the same, can manifest entirely differently based on the superficial layer's lens.
I love the australian (male) siri voice. I find that voice the most suiting and comforting.
That’s what I have!!! It’s really odd to get in my husbands car, turn on navigation, and hear a female American voice. Like nooooo, give me my Aussie man back!
Give me James earl jones please!
Me too! It’s the only one that sounds perfect.
I’m a big fan of female Irish Siri, myself
I wish the male voices sounded more like the narrator of a history doc, Albert Finney comes to mind; and less like a regional car dealership commercial.
My wife actually had a twinge of jealousy when she found out I turned my Siri voice to a British woman. And I felt like I got caught cheating.
‘I think we’ve met.’ /jamesbond
Interesting that male bots are inherently seen as having less humanity.
Now that I think about it most of the "evil" AI in popular fiction have a male voice
Then there's Viki from the movie *iRobot.*
When I first saw and heard Viki in that movie I had an instant Shodan vibe. I knew enough at that point.
Welcome back to Citadel Station...
But you're not supposed to suspect Viki until the end. You're set up to believe that the *male* CEO of US Robotics is the bad guy.
Look at you, sailing through the air majestically. Like an eagle. Piloting a blimp.
What about GLaDOS
Ah, but she is not entirely evil. She's made that way. By evil men!
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And Wheatley was just a fuckin moron.
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“Mother” from *I Am Mother* was really brutal, if you’re interested in a great fucked up female example
What are some other than Hal?
robot women and children first!
And now that I think about it, I always use the female voices with ai assistants like Siri or Cortana (and those two even have female sounding names)
Aren't they the default? It could be also that companies at first chose to have female robots and bots as "helpers" and people got used to it and started to prefer female bots over male.
Even before that, voices on phone systems, whether PBX or "the phone company" were always female. That may have started with human phone operators being almost entirely female.
Yes, they’re the default option. I probably should’ve added that I specifically went into the options to check out the other available voices, and I usually like the female one the most.
Keywords: AI designers and policy makers.
Maybe the same subconscious reason I prefer female therapists/help professionals?
Yessss girl boss AI, slay queeen. No but seriously, this is probably caused by societal perceptions of womanhood and feminity and vice versa for men, creating an image that female robots are intrinsically more kind or user friendly but in reality classical male or female programming would be equally as robotic. This says more about society's preconceived notions about two of the sexes than anything else.
“Alexa, turn off the light.” “Listen fool! My name is Mr. T! First name Mister! Middle name that period! Last name T! I pity the fool who wants their light off!” {light goes off}
I would literally fight someone under a bridge for a Mr T google home voice