The Genderless Voice Assistant 'Q' Needs Your Help This message is for all the tech companies including Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Google
By Komal Nathani •
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When Siri or Alexa talks to you, what do you imagine it as? A virtual girl talking to you, isn't it? A group of researchers asks why it has to be either male or female. Why can't it recognize us all?
Here enters Q, the world's first gender-neutral voice assistant designed with a voice frequency of 145HZ - considered to be a gender-neutral pitch, i.e. neither male nor female.
Debuted at technology and culture conference SXSW in Austin, Texas, this March, Q has been pitched for the biggest creators of voice assistants – Google, Apple, Microsoft and Amazon, to add a gender-neutral option to their platforms.
Q, is a collaboration between five international organisations, advocacy groups Equal AI and Copenhagen Pride, creative agencies Virtue and Koalition and sound studio Thirty Sounds Good.
Why did they make Q?
The website says technology companies often choose to gender technology believing it will make people more comfortable adopting it. But this reinforces a binary perception of gender, and perpetuates stereotypes that many have fought hard to progress.
As society continues to break down the gender binary, recognising those who neither identify as male nor female, the technology we create should follow.
Q is an example of what we hope the future holds; a future of ideas, inclusion, positions and diverse representation in technology, says the website.
The creators of Q are urging to make it a default voice setting in voice assistants as this shows the inclusivity. There is no price tag on Q. Tech companies can opt it any time they want to incorporate in their voice assistants.
Google, Microsoft and Amazon, are you all ears?
Watch the video to know more about it.
