An article by BBC recently talked about the interesting connection between humans and smart speakers. It claimed how if the speaker voice was too robotic, consumers would expect less of it, but if it sounded too human, then their expectations were very high as far as capabilities go. Oftentimes more advanced smart speakers, like one Google has recently worked on, are so realistic to human conversation and in turn have very advanced things that they can do. The article also talked about the decision of picking a voice for the speakers, and how the majority of the speakers use a female voice which can create more sexist behavior among listeners, especially when the speaker does not work properly. I found it to be very interesting how much thought and attention to detail is required for something as simple as the smart speaker’s voice, as it may seem irrelevant compared to the complexity of the technology and artificial intelligence. There is so much to consider when creating a product like this, and it is very impressive how companies think and research so much into these things.
Reference:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-50561589