In science fiction, humans have always spoken to robots and computers.
As voice assistants get more competent, its easy to believe that the future of computing is all voice.
But is that possible?
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And is it even desirable?
“However, all commands that go to the assistant are fairly simple and straightforward.”
Too Human
In the movies, computers are as smart as people.
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C3PO is as intelligentand as neuroticas any human.
Compare that to Siri, which has trouble with even the most basic tasks.
Its easy to blame the assistant itself, but one of the biggest problems is our expectations.
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If a computer sounds like a human, we expect it to behave like one.
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This is where our gender biases come in.
In the US, Siri defaults to a female-typical voice, although thats not the case everywhere.
Q is agenderless computer voicedesigned to be used in virtual assistants.
In iOS 14.5, new users will have to pick a voice for Siri.
In the current beta, those voices are labeled with numbers instead of being identified as male or female.
This is commendable in a way, but also annoying.
Its like forcing people to choose a search engine.
Most of us will just go with the most familiarGoogle.
Still, for anything more complex, you might want to switch to another input method.
When driving, washing dishes, or working in the shop, voice control is convenient.
But our relationships with these devices need to change, too.
