What’s Behind Technology’s Disembodied Female Voices?

And yet, perhaps after simply being confronted with the possibility of Jessie’s demise, I’ve developed a new fondness for her. Jessie doesn’t pretend to be the ideal woman; she has less in common with the imperfectly perfect Alexa than she does the deep, resonant and pompously put-on voice of authority that Laurie Anderson cultivated in…

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OpenAI Backtracks on Plans to Drop Nonprofit Control

OpenAI said on Monday that it was restructuring as a public benefit corporation, allowing the nonprofit that controls OpenAI to retain its grip on the company. The decision is a victory for OpenAI’s critics, including one of its founders, Elon Musk, who complained that the company was too focused on profits and had abandoned its…

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