Siri storm caused by economist's comments

A leading economist has inadvertently caused a storm by saying he preferred the voice on the iPhone Siri virtual assistant to be male because he felt that made it more trustworthy. Nobel prize laureate Sir Christopher Pissarides's comments at a conference in Norway attracted fierce criticism. He told the BBC he apologised for upsetting people and his comment was meant to be "light-hearted". "It's a mistake and I'm sorry, but the audience was laughing." Sir Christopher was part of an all-male panel taking part in a Q&A audience discussion at the Starmus Festival in Trondheim about the future of humanity.