People + Technology + Culture
In my role as an independent research advisor to a team including Virtue/VICE Nordic, Copenhagen Pride, EqualAI, and the University of Copenhagen, we developed Project Q, the world’s first gender-ambiguous voice for use with technology.
Q began as a proof of concept project whose goals were, in part, to: 1) contribute positively to the ongoing global discussion about gender, identity, and technology, 2) show that developing a human-based voice as a gender-neutral voice option was possible, and 3) demonstrate the significance of gender inclusivity and representation in AI research and design. Additionally, Virtue/VICE ensured that the final source information and files for Q were made open-access.
To develop Q, the audio workgroup from ThirtySoundsGood first recorded the voices of six people who identify as male, female, transgender, or nonbinary to authentically blend a voice that did not typically fit within the male-female binary. To find this voice, engineers worked on the pitch, tone, and the format filter to blend them to a gender ambiguous-sounding single voice. Via Copenhagen Pride, the team surveyed more than 4,600 people between the ages of 25-40 across Denmark, the UK, and Venezuela who defined themselves as nonbinary. These people were asked to rate versions of the human voices that had been woven into a single voice. However, at the end of several sound-engineered iterations and accompanying user feedback, survey respondents reported preferring a modulated single human voice that fit within a frequency range that was perceived as most gender-neutral (145 Hz). From this experiment, team audio engineers were able to technically define and achieve Q.
Global media outlets covering the research include The New York Times, Wired, and NPR.
There is no "normal", or standardized default type of voice. Although societies and cultures may have expectations of what a normal voice sounds like, those interpretations are built on societal power structures where normal is often cultural code for "mainstream acceptance ".
– J. Carpenter
"Q, the Genderless Voice, is the official narrator of the new Designs for Different Futures exhibit. The exhibit explores the challenges and opportunities that humans may face in the years and centuries ahead, while raising many questions about what technologies may hold for intimacy, identity, and citizenship."
(October 22–March 8, 2019).
Carpenter, J. (November, 2019). Flipping the script: Q and nonbinary voice. "Why is AI a woman?": Design for Different Futures. [Panel]. Philadelphia Museum of Art. Philadelphia, PA.
Introducing Q. (VIRTUE).
The World's First Genderless Voice Assistant. (VICE TV).