Gender issue: Biased over bots

Giving him the boot: Amazon says it tested both male and female voices for its personal assistant but users preferred the female option. — TNS

Picture a virtual assistant that helps find directions, schedules appointments or plays music, and the soothing yet robotic sound of a female voice likely comes to mind.

From Apple’s Siri to Amazon’s Alexa, a majority of the world’s most popular virtual assistants have female personas.