Apple’s Siri software has put automatic speech recognition back in the news.
We finish our two-part discussion with stupid Siri tricks, and some ways that Siri has become embroiled in controversy. And why is Siri female?
Linguist Daniel Midgley will try to assist on this episode of Talk the Talk.
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Siri remembers relationships
http://www.ipad-transfer.com/articles/siri-tips.html
and is good for answering silly questions.
http://strangetalk.net/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=111175
Siri has balked at giving good information about abortion providers
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nancy-keenan/siri-abortion_b_1125546.html
but Apple says it’s just a software glitch.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/12/02/143067993/siris-anti-abortion-tendencies-a-result-of-technology-not-apple-conspiracy
Clifford Nass talks about computer voices and gender.
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/21/tech/innovation/female-computer-voices/index.html
He points out that people treat computers like they’re people (paywall)
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1559-1816.1997.tb00275.x/abstract
There’s been an experiment with trivia questions that shows that people are more likely to be swayed by a male voice (but men are slightly less susceptible). (paywall)
http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=633461
But if you want Siri to be a guy, here’s how to do it:
http://osxdaily.com/2011/11/10/change-siris-voice-from-female-to-male-and-vice-versa/
Google probably wasn’t censoring “Islam is…” suggestions.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/technology/shanerichmond/100004517/islam-is-not-being-censored-by-google/
