Apple says it is introducing two new Siri voices for English speakers and eliminating the default selection of a female voice, as part of iOS 14.5 beta 6
Apple is adding two new voices to Siri's English offerings, and eliminating the default ‘female voice’ selection in the latest beta version of iOS.
TechCrunchMatthew Panzarino
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple had already expanded Siri’s voice catalog with male and female Indian English options in iOS 13, making voice variation a recurring part of the assistant’s localization work. The iOS 14.5 beta changes the English experience from a gendered preset toward an explicit user choice.
First-order effects
English-speaking Siri users in the iOS 14.5 beta gain two additional voice options and no longer encounter a female voice as the default selection.
Apple changes Siri’s initial setup so that voice choice is presented without assigning one gender as the standard.
Second-order effects
Apple’s voice-design and onboarding teams must treat voice selection as a neutral preference layer, extending the catalog approach used in earlier regional Siri updates.
The change raises the baseline for competing voice assistants: expanding voice variety alone is less differentiated when the default itself is being reconsidered.
Third-order effects
If Apple carries this approach across Siri’s language variants, voice assistants will increasingly be organized around user-selected identities and locales rather than a single canonical assistant voice.
The trend: Voice assistants are moving from one-size-fits-all, gender-coded personas toward localized catalogs and user-directed voice selection.
Here's a recording of Siri's new lineup of American voices in iOS 14.5. Voices 1 and 4 are the existing ones, voices 2 and 3 are the new ones. https://twitter.com/...
I'm so excited about these changes! - Siri no longer has a default female voice—users must pick a voice when they set up Siri - Voices are no longer identified by gender at all - The new voices sound awesome and represent people that aren't represented by Siri's existing voices h…
The new ‘Voice 2’ for Siri in iOS 14.5 beta 6 sounds really good. Definitely a step up in terms of intonation and flow from the older Siri. https://twitter.com/...
iOS 14.5 has been in beta testing for so long and has so many new features that I'm beginning to wonder if Apple is just going to keep beta testing until June and then announce that it's actually iOS 15. (No, I'm not serious.)
Siri defaulted to female in some countries, male in others. Now everyone gets to choose Jarvis or Friday! “Apple is adding two new voices to Siri's English offerings, and eliminating the default ‘female voice’ selection in the latest beta version of iOS” https://techcrunch.com/..…
“This means that every person setting up Siri will choose a voice for themselves and it will no longer default to the voice assistant being female, a topic that has come up quite a bit with regards to bias in voice interfaces over the past few years.” https://techcrunch.com/...
Apple adds two brand new Siri voices and will no longer default to a female voice in the latest version of iOS, now in beta. This is huge and overdue for voice assistants. The new voices sound great too. https://techcrunch.com/...