iPhone users will soon have the option to make their AI assistant Siri gender-neutral, thanks to the addition of a fifth voice in the latest iOS update.
iOS 15.4 will add an extra US voice that is neither male nor female sounding. Called 'Quinn' internally, Apple said that the voice was recorded by a "member of the LGBTQ+ community."
The addition follows a change to the iPhone which forced users to select the gender of their Siri voice assistant. Before that, Siri defaulted to female automatically in the US.
The new voice, 'number 5', sits alongside the four male and female Siri voice options.
iPhone users took to Twitter to share their excitement at the change. One user said: "THERES A GENDER NEUTRAL VOICE FOR SIRI?! IM SO HAPPY?!"
Someone else pointed out that, as a robot, Siri is already gender neutral.
Twitter user AngryExile said: "Maybe I'm missing something or maybe you need to be non-binary to get this, but Siri *is* gender neutral. It's software, electronics and a speaker. Even if you refer to Siri as 'she' you never forget that 'she' is as gender neutral as any other machinery, right?"
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In a statement, Apple said: “We’re excited to introduce a new Siri voice for English speakers, giving users more options to choose a voice that speaks to them,” Apple said in a statement to Axios.
“Millions of people around the world rely on Siri every day to help get things done, so we work to make the experience feel as personalized as possible.”
The new voice is available in the iOS 15.4 update, and can be selected by going to the 'Siri & Search' option in the Settings app and selecting Siri Voice.
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