Siri is shedding its default female voice. With the latest iOS 14.5 beta, Apple is introducing two new English-speaking voices for Siri alongside the ability to choose which voice to use when setting up an iOS or HomePod device. The new voices should also sound more natural, with improved inflection and smoother transitions between different words. Apple's move away from female voices as default could help to address gender bias implied by most voice assistants. A 2019 UN report said that it "reflects and reinforces" the idea that assistants are female and they "not only replicate gender inequalities, but also widen them."

Apple will stop Siri defaulting to a "male" or "female" voice, and instead give users the choice of how their voice assistant sounds.Until now, iPhones and other devices with Siri have defaulted to a certain voice. That varies depending on countries – in the US it is a higher-pitched, "female" voice, while in the UK it is a lower, "male" one – and people have been given the option to change it through the settings, but the choice has always been made on behalf of users. With a new update, users will be prompted to pick between the various different pitches and accents, and the new update includes new options to choose from. Apple said the decision had been made with a view to more diversity and being more inclusive, presumably to reflect criticism that defaulting to a "female" voice carried with it problematic assumptions about gender. "We're excited to introduce two new Siri voices for English speakers and the option for Siri users to select the voice they want when they set up their device," the company said in a statement.

For as long as Apple has offered Siri, the digital assistant has defaulted to a female voice in North America. With the latest iOS 14.5 beta, TechCrunch reports Apple is introducing two English-speaking voices for Siri and making it so that you can pick the voice you like best when setting up an iOS or HomePod device. "We're excited to introduce two new Siri voices for English speakers and the option for Siri users to select the voice they want when they set up their device," Apple told the publication. "This is a continuation of Apple's long-standing commitment to diversity and inclusion, and products and services that are designed to better reflect the diversity of the world we live in." Apple recruited new talent for the two voices and then ran them through its Neural text to speech engine.

So, you recently bought or were gifted an Echo, Echo Dot, or another Echo device, and it's sitting in your kitchen, silently awaiting your next order. Before you can ask your Alexa-powered Echo to play your favorite Spotify playlist or to turn on your living room lights, you'll need to tweak a few key settings. Get the scoop on how to train Alexa to recognize your voice, keep her from letting just anyone buy stuff on Amazon, tell her where you live and work, and more. As soon as your new Echo is up and running, Alexa can start answering your questions and doing your bidding. That said, it's a good idea to help Alexa get accustomed to your voice as soon as possible.

While Apple still irons out details of its rumored branded vehicle, Google has unveiled its own through at partnership with Fiat. The team unveiled the Fiat 500 Family Hey Google that includes three models: 500 city car, 500X crossover and 500L MPV. Each vehicle sports a Google badges and is integrated with Google Assistant that provides passengers with directions, weather and other details while on the road. With access to the virtual assistant, the tech giant says it'allows customers to interact with their car even when they are away.' This is possible with the inclusion of My Fiat Action that lets users remotely check settings of the vehicle using a smartphone app or Google Nest hub just by saying, 'Hey Google, ask My Fiat…' This includes tire pressure and fuel level, along with letting owners make sure the doors are locked.

As the world of portable devices and advanced technologies gets more accessible for the final customer, we have the possibility to imagine a different type of future. If a few decades ago it would've been difficult to think about self-driving cars and smart objects, talking with each other, nowadays, it's not uncommon today to speak directly with your phone, not just as a means of communication with other people. Intelligent assistants like Siri and Alexa changed the way people use technology. And, even though we can't have Ironman's amazing assistant Jarvis, we need to pay attention to Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. According to the latest trends of AI-based solutions, there is hardly any decisive sector or industry that does not rely on smart algorithms and automation to perform highly advanced tasks that would be impossible for most humans.

Start-up Eddy Travels has launched a new artificial intelligence group planning digital assistant as part of a partnership with flight search specialist Kiwi.com. Tequila API powers the Eddy Travels AI assistant flight search which was launched in 2018 and has four million users. Eddy Travels, the co-located Lithuanian and Canadian firm, said the new group chat planning service will help families and friends planning to reconnect after months in lockdown. Edmundas Balčikonis, co-founder and chief executive of Eddy Travels, said: "The new chat app removes the burden for one person to be responsible for planning everything and makes it a fun shared activity, even if it's done remotely for now." Oliver Dlouhý, co-founder and chief executive of Kiwi.com, added: "Edmundas and his team did an amazing job building the first group travel booking app that actually works and is really fun to use. "We are proud to be providers of flight and ground transportation inventory, including Virtual Interlining.

What is Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI)? This is the most common form of AI that you'd find in the market now. These Artificial Intelligence systems are designed to solve one single problem and would be able to execute a single task really well. By definition, they have narrow capabilities, like recommending a product for an e-commerce user or predicting the weather. This is the only kind of Artificial Intelligence that exists today. They're able to come close to human functioning in very specific contexts, and even surpass them in many instances, but only excelling in very controlled environments with a limited set of parameters. What is Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)? AGI is still a theoretical concept. It's defined as AI which has a human-level of cognitive function, across a wide variety of domains such as language processing, image processing, computational functioning and reasoning and so on.

While Google's optional Sleep Sensing feature is the headline here, there's a lot to love about this display from a performance standpoint. Google Assistant is quick to respond and execute commands--this being a Google product, there's no support for Amazon Alexa or Apple's Siri--bolstered by accurate response to gesture commands. The Hub's machine learning chip (the same chip you'll find in the Nest Mini and Nest Audio), offers 1.2 TeraOPS of processing power to help Google learn your most common commands and respond to them faster than ever before. The Nest Hub (second-gen) can help track your sleep, manage your Google-enabled smart home, and more. The 7-inch touchscreen display houses three far-field microphones to process voice commands.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. That seems to be the idea behind the second-gen Google Nest Hub, which--at first glance, anyway--could easily be mistaken for the original. This new Nest Hub keeps the first's slim, fabric-covered base and "floating" seven-inch display, along with onboard Google Assistant, an attractive, easy-to-use interface, plenty of video, music, and other entertainment options, and some of the best home automation functionality you'll find in a smart display. Sounds like a yawner, right? Well, that's literally true when it comes to the Nest Hub deux's major new feature: Sleep Sensing, an opt-in feature that allows the display to monitor your sleep without the need for a wristband. Powered by a tiny, built-in radar, the Nest Hub can actually sense your breathing as you slumber, and it'll give you detailed reports about your sleep history and quality.