Until recently, the standard voice for Apple’s Siri assistant was stereotypically female. However, studies have found that the fact that AI assistants do not have female sounds can reinforce harmful stereotypes, which is why Apple has tried to correct this in its upcoming iOS 14.5, which is now in beta.
When you update your phone to iOS 14.5, you will be asked to choose a default voice for Siri – and Apple includes two new voice options. However, if you have changed your mind and want to use a different voice (or use the 14.5 beta and are not prompted), this guide will show you how to change the voice to the setting.
It’s a fairly simple process. First go to the Settings app, then to Siri & Search, and tap on Siri Voice. The list of options is presented.
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At present, the American variety is the only one with four voting choices; Australian, British, Indian, Irish and South African versions have only two. The four American voting choices are:
- Voice 1, which is a soft male sound
- Voice 2, an energetic, confident female sound
- Voice 3 is similar to Voice 2 but sounds masculine
- And finally, Voice 4, which is similar to the standard Siri voice that has existed all these years
If you want to hear how the voices sound to yourself, it’s in the enclosed tweet below.
When you tap a voice, you play a snippet of it that says, ‘Hello, I’m Siri. Choose the voice you want me to use. If you select Voice 1-3, it must first be downloaded before you can use it, but you do not have to stay in the Settings app while doing so. Once downloaded, Siri will respond with your voice.
It’s unlikely that this process will change in the final version, but if it does, we’ll probably do this update.