Software in smartphones, smart watches, computers, tablets, smart speakers and even toys can be activated by means of a voice command. Because of the combination of artificial intelligence, machine learning, natural language processing, and big data, voice assistants can recognize the user’s voice, interpret a command or question, and execute what has been requested. Depending on the device it is integrated with, voice assistants are able to play music, present news and recipes, move curtains, turn on lights, issue reports on the user’s health status and many other functionalities that are extended frequently. Voice assistants can be useful for the inclusion of illiterate and visually impaired people in the world of the Internet.
In the 1950s, Bell Laboratories introduced the first known voice-activated assistant, but the road was long until the creation of Apple’s Siri, launched in 2011, that brought this technology to the mainstream. Google launched Google Now in 2012, which was replaced by Google Assistant in 2016. Microsoft launched Cortana in 2014, the same year as the launch of Amazon’s Alexa.
Most assistants use a female voice as a default, and this has generated a big debate about reinforcing women’s image of submission and subservience provoking the normalization of sexist harassment. It is a service that is available in only a few languages. Services in English, which was the first language and is considered the language of the Internet, have a higher success rate in understanding voice commands than other languages.
