Samsung recently faced criticism for their descriptions of male and female voices for Bixby, its new mobile phone assistant. The female voice was described as “chipper and cheerful,” while the male as “assertive and confident.”
Many took to Twitter to air their concerns over the sexist hashtags. On Wednesday, the company heeded the customer feedback and swiftly removed the descriptors.
Samsung told Gizmodo it was “working diligently to remove the hashtag descriptions from the Bixby service,” and it is “constantly learning from customer feedback.”
Humanizing mobile assistants has shown to help consumers become more comfortable with the robots. Unfortunately, this is not the first time assistants have been associated with female voices. Siri, and Alexa, for example, are both AI robots that utilize a female voice, placing women in a subservient role. At least Bixby is a gender-neutral name, which is a significant step forward (though not an excuse to add such gender-biased descriptors).
Though some may think that a few words may not be harmful, the diminutive language towards females that perpetuates society has an impact on day-to-day behavior. Studies have shown that gendered associations such as these have harmful effects on women in the workplace, resulting in a decrease in confidence.
Though it is comforting to see Samsung being both receptive and action-oriented, it is clear that tech companies have work to do with regards to their gender stereotypes.
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I think that the female Bixby voice sounds great on my S8+. Sounds like more politically correct pansies still whining over nothing. Grow up, you know?
This is all nonsense. It’s the new liberal norm where everybody is expected to be “offended” at every little thing they don’t like in life and then expect mountains to be moved to rectify the situation.
What a bunch of spineless, whimpering pansies the younger generations have become at the hands of the liberal establishment, the liberal Academia and the liberal entertainment industry.
You don’t like the “chipper” voice of the female on your phone? Too friggin’ bad! Get over it! Grow up!
Shame on Samsung for caving in to these whining malcontents.
Wow this article is ridiculous. Siri has had male options for years. Where do you guys come up with this stuff like “subservient” from a few harmless descriptors? I’m a guy and I’m not stupid enough to think companies are purposely being sexist just because they use a female voice for their voice assistant software.
What voice do women use for their voice assistants?
Misogynists all … disgusting.