According to Siri, 'How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?'

Can Computer Voices Be Sincere?

Posted by Ross Pomeroy at Tue, 04 Jun 2013 01:38:58, RealClearScience

Space-themed television shows, movies, and video games are set in varying corners of the galaxy and depict wildly dissimilar aliens, but one consistent hallmark through almost all of them is a charismatic, or not so charismatic, computer. Hal9000, GLaDOS, and Eddie are but a few of the more memorable artificial intelligences (AIs).

Here on Earth in the present day, we have computers, too. And like the AIs of sci-fi, they have their own virtual, disembodied voices.

"Siri, how much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?" you might ask your iPhone.

"42 cords of wood, to be exact. Everyone knows that," Siri will respond in her monotone, feminine voice.

Voices like Siri's have actually been around since the 1980s, and most listeners still find them inherently irksome. They're robotic and ambiguous, essentially devoid of emotion. Companies like NeoSpeech are trying to make them more human-like, but, according to the University of Hull's Dr. Christopher Newell, such efforts may backfire.

(Continued here.)