Siri and Alexa fuel sexism, U.N. finds

Why do most virtual assistants that are powered by artificial intelligence — like Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa system — by default have female names, female voices and often a submissive or even flirtatious style?

The problem, according to a new report released this week by UNESCO, stems from a lack of diversity within the industry that is reinforcing problematic gender stereotypes.

“Obedient and obliging machines that pretend to be women are entering our homes, cars and offices,” Saniye Gulser Corat, UNESCO’s director for gender equality, said in statement. “The world needs to pay much closer attention to how, when and whether AI technologies are gendered and, crucially, who is gendering them.”