Whether your digital personal assistant of choice is Alexa, Siri or Google, they all have one thing in common–they only have male and female voice options. Sure, you can change accents and languages to customize the experience, but that doesn’t change the fact that these personal assistants are enforcing a gender binary that’s absolutely outdated. Say hello to Q, the world’s first genderless AI. The project is a close collaboration between Virtue Nordic, Copenhagen Pride, Equal AI, Koalition Interactive, thirtysoundsgood and social scientist Julie Carpenter that was born out of a design exploration at Virtue Nordic without a price tag, particular client or deadline. In other words, and this is the important part, it’s a passion project focused on inclusion. In order to make Q genderless, they recorded the real voices of non-binary people, combined them digitally and then normalized the range for a master voice that speaks at between 145 Hz and 175 Hz (the middle of the male to female voice spectrum). Before Q was released, it was tested on almost 5,000 non-binary people from all over the world to make sure it was accurately genderless. Outside of the social impact, Q also sounds really good.
PARTNER
Huckberry’s Essential Holiday Gift Guide
Unzip your coat and have some mulled wine on the house—you’ve arrived at your final gifting destination: The Holiday Gift Guide. It’s like your friendly neighborhood one-stop holiday shop, except instead of balsa wood ornaments, ours is packed with thoughtful gifts for everyone on your list. Future heirlooms, small-but-significant stocking stuffers, and gear for getting out there (or staying in)—are all right here. There’s no music playing in the background though, so you’ll just have to hum Bing Crosby while you click around instead.
