4 ms·

This one is at least an interesting idea: https://genderlessvoice.com/ https://genderlessvoice.com/

by roywiggins 1y ago

cosmojg 1y ago
The voice sounds great! I find it quite aesthetically pleasing, but it's far from genderless.
- a96 1y ago
  So, what's the gender?
degamad 1y ago
Interesting concept, but why is that site filled with Top X blogspam?
- pbronez 1y ago
  The YouTube video [1] was published in 2019. The Blog spam posts range from Nov 2022 to July 2023. Other than the video, the only relevant content is on the about page [2]. It says the voice is a collaboration between 5 different entities, including advocacy groups, marketing firms and a music producer. The video is the only example of the voice in use. There is no API, weights, SDK, etc. I suspect this was a one-off marketing stunt sponsored by Copenhagen pride before the pandemic. The initial reaction was strong enough that a couple years they were still getting a small but steady flow of traffic. One of the involved marketing firms decided to monetize the asset and defaced it with blog spam. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvv6zYOQqm0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvv6zYOQqm0 [2] https://genderlessvoice.com/about/ https://genderlessvoice.com/about/
dang 1y ago
Meet Q, a Genderless Voice - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19505835 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19505835 - March 2019 (235 comments)
cyberax 1y ago
It doesn't sound genderless.
pbronez 1y ago
Huh. Sounds perfectly intelligible and definitively artificial. Feels weakly feminine to me, but only because I was primed to think about gender from the branding. It’s a good choice for a robot voice. It’s easier to understand than the formant synths or deliberately distorted human voices. The genderless aspect is alien enough to avoid the uncanny valley. You intuitively know you’re dealing with something a little different.
qmr 1y ago
Thanks, I hate it.

This one is at least an interesting idea: https://genderlessvoice.com/ https://genderlessvoice.com/

cosmojg 1y ago

The voice sounds great! I find it quite aesthetically pleasing, but it's far from genderless.

a96 1y ago
So, what's the gender?

degamad 1y ago

Interesting concept, but why is that site filled with Top X blogspam?

pbronez 1y ago
The YouTube video [1] was published in 2019. The Blog spam posts range from Nov 2022 to July 2023. Other than the video, the only relevant content is on the about page [2]. It says the voice is a collaboration between 5 different entities, including advocacy groups, marketing firms and a music producer. The video is the only example of the voice in use. There is no API, weights, SDK, etc. I suspect this was a one-off marketing stunt sponsored by Copenhagen pride before the pandemic. The initial reaction was strong enough that a couple years they were still getting a small but steady flow of traffic. One of the involved marketing firms decided to monetize the asset and defaced it with blog spam. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvv6zYOQqm0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvv6zYOQqm0 [2] https://genderlessvoice.com/about/ https://genderlessvoice.com/about/

dang 1y ago

Meet Q, a Genderless Voice - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19505835 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19505835 - March 2019 (235 comments)

cyberax 1y ago

It doesn't sound genderless.

pbronez 1y ago

Huh. Sounds perfectly intelligible and definitively artificial. Feels weakly feminine to me, but only because I was primed to think about gender from the branding. It’s a good choice for a robot voice. It’s easier to understand than the formant synths or deliberately distorted human voices. The genderless aspect is alien enough to avoid the uncanny valley. You intuitively know you’re dealing with something a little different.

qmr 1y ago

Thanks, I hate it.