Apple tests gender-neutral Siri option voiced by LGBTQ+ person
Apple is currently testing a new Siri that would be less gendered and voiced by a member of the LGBTQ+ community. The tech giant is reportedly trialling the new aspect of the virtual assistant as part of the beta version of iOS 15.4, which was released on 22 February.
Although details remain scarce, Axios reported that Apple confirmed that the the new Siri is voiced by a queer person. Its voice is set to be less stereotypically male or female sounding in a bid to remove the gendered aspect of Siri, should this be an option users select on their products.
According to Steve Moser, a contributing writer at Mac Rumours and iOS developer, the new option is currently logged under the filename of ‘Quinn’ – meaning this could be the name users interact with if the option is launched.
It comes amid efforts from Apple to add more diversity to its software, which has recently seen a wider array of emojis released and last year stopped making Siri a female voice by default.
