After keeping us waiting for months, Samsung finally released Bixby for the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8+ in the United States. It was previously reported that Samsung had to delay Bixby's release because it was facing troubles getting it working properly with the English language. It appears that the issues have now been resolved and Samsung is confident that Bixby is ready for the public.
That's well and good, but while many were happy yesterday that Samsung has finally released Bixby, some weren't too thrilled about the descriptor tags that the company used to differentiate the male and female versions of Bixby.
Samsung described the female voice in Bixby's “language and speaking style” menu as “#chipper, #clear, #cheerful” while the male voice was described as “#assertive, #confident, #clear.”
Users were asked to pick a gender for Bixby which would then serve as the default voice for the assistant. Many were quick to point out that the descriptor tags that Samsung was using were borderline sexist.
Samsung is taking care of the situation, though. In a statement, the company has said that it's “working diligently to remove the hashtag descriptions from the Bixby service.” It also adds that it's “constantly learning from customer feedback.”
@SamsungMobileUS #bixby Um… Those are hashtags in the actual Bixby menu. Maybe #Samsung should rethink them. #confident #assertive #clear pic.twitter.com/BVMwRl4J5D
— Scooba (@ScoobaRubio) July 19, 2017
