In 2024, artificial intelligence (AI) voice assistants worldwide surpassed 8 billion, more than one per person on the planet. These assistants are helpful, polite – and almost always default to female.
Their names also carry gendered connotations. For example, Apple’s Siri – a Scandinavian feminine name – means “beautiful woman who leads you to victory”.
Meanwhile, when IBM’s Watson for Oncology launched in 2015 to help doctors process medical data, it was given a male voice. The message is clear: women serve and men instruct.
