Apple has introduced a new voice for the Siri assistant, less gendered than the previous ones. Apple announces that a member of the LGBTQ+ community registered it. One more step towards the inclusion of all audiences.
A male or female voice? Difficult to answer the question with the latest voice produced by Apple for its virtual assistant Siri. Its name, “Voice 5”, could refer to “Quinn”, according to Steve Moser, an iOS developer.
This new voice was added in the version of iOS 15.4 unveiled to the public this Thursday, February 24, 2022. For a year now, Apple has no longer used a default female voice as an assistant on its devices. Users must select their preferred voice during initial hardware setup.
An LGBTQ+ voice
As our American colleagues from Axios report, Apple has confirmed that this new voice was recorded by a member of the LGBTQ+ community. On the other hand, the Cupertino company does not clearly say that the latter is gender-neutral.
“We’re excited to introduce a new Siri voice for English speakers, giving users more options to choose a voice that speaks to them. […] Millions of people around the world rely on Siri every day to help them get things done, which is why we work to make the experience as personalized as possible.”, welcomed Apple in a press release to Axios.
“Hey Siri”: users who ask Siri, the assistant on iPhones, iPads and all Apple devices, will now have the choice between five different English voices, according to their convenience.
“Gender neutral voice” pentru Siri în ultimul beta of iOS. Vocea 5, may exact. Foarte enervant mi se pare că sună dar poate fiindcă nu e pentru mine 🙂 pic.twitter.com/AbxoXWepiT
—Radu (@Sawrad) February 23, 2022