# Is Alexa a "she" or an "it"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 10, 2022, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alexa-a-she-or-an-it/959253 "2022-02-10T23:02:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2022, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alexa-a-she-or-an-it/959253/21 "2022-02-11T13:44:43Z")
My wife and I have one. The only thing we do with it is play music. I do have the app on my phone for a grocery list though I enter that stuff manually on my phone. Anyway, when talking about the Alexa my Wife and I refer to it as Henry so it does not accidentally activate. - “Shall we listen to Henry, or go through the Chromecast?” ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2022, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alexa-a-she-or-an-it/959253/22 "2022-02-11T14:18:51Z")
my wake word is computer. i believe that was a “star trek geek/nerd” nod. of course when watching a star trek episode or movie will have the devise going off quite a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2022, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alexa-a-she-or-an-it/959253/23 "2022-02-11T15:16:02Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Aren’t there plenty of examples of AIs in SF that are referred to as “she” or “he”? I would imagine so, but I guess that’s another way of examining my OP: Is it an innate thing to choose pronouns based on how an AI presents itself? One thing I’ve noticed about sci-fi over the decades is that whereas the technology itself is totally fictional and often impossible, they to aa great job of imagining how we would use those things, if they would exist. Often enough, this ends up being an accurate prediction of how future tech would end up looking. Commonly cited examples are the similarities between the original Star Trek’s communicators and a 1990’s flip phone - or even better, the iPads with which the astronauts in _2001: A Space Odyssey_ watched the tv news during dinner. I can’t help but wonder if the real-world designers of these inventions were inspired by the usefulness of the sci-fi devices. Getting back to your actual comment, you’ve given me an excellent excuse to rewatch _2001_, and see if Bowman and Poole ever used pronouns when referring to HAL. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2022, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alexa-a-she-or-an-it/959253/24 "2022-02-11T16:07:20Z")
I sometimes refer to Alexa as a “she” and then correct myself…for some reason I want to resist that anthropomorphizing of the robot device. We also have a Ziggy in another room, which bends my mind a little when that voice comes out. I mean, it’s still clear it’s just a device, but my brain definitely wants to gender it based on its voice. ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2022, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alexa-a-she-or-an-it/959253/25 "2022-02-11T22:05:29Z")
Alexa is a male voice in our household. I was bothered by the whole concept of bossing a woman around (even if it’s just an AI with a woman’s voice), so I changed it to male last summer and have kept it that way. But even with the male voice, I think of Alexa as female, since the name is still female. I wish they had given Alexa a gender-neutral name, like how the Google voice app just has you say “Hey Google.” ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2022, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alexa-a-she-or-an-it/959253/26 "2022-02-11T22:19:52Z")
> [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](#): > > But even with the male voice, I think of Alexa as female, since the name is still female. I wish they had given Alexa a gender-neutral name, like how the Google voice app just has you say “Hey Google.” As noted above, you can, if you so desire, change your Echo’s “wake word” (name) to Computer, Amazon, Echo, or Ziggy. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2022, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alexa-a-she-or-an-it/959253/27 "2022-02-11T22:53:57Z")
You can also change it to Samuel L. Jackson. Ya don’t boss him around. But it might be kinda fun. Don’t ever ask ‘What?’ ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2022, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alexa-a-she-or-an-it/959253/28 "2022-02-12T04:48:11Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > but clearly identifies and presents as being female in gender. Ah, but how do you _know?_ ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2022, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alexa-a-she-or-an-it/959253/29 "2022-02-12T05:06:28Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > how do you _know?_ She doesn’t identify as as female, @Chronos slightly misspoke there. She identifies as an AI - you can discover that by asking her. She does present as female. Presentation is an objective observed phenomenon, not something you discover by asking. She presents with a voice that has a typically female pitch. And the entirety of her presentation _is_ her voice. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2022, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alexa-a-she-or-an-it/959253/30 "2022-02-12T16:01:56Z")
It’s an Og-blasted _program_. But it is illustrative about how we react to presentation. Makes me recall the early Star Trek:TNG episode about Data’s legal standing, when one of the characters asks, if Data were just a box on wheels, would there even be an argument? I avoid this question by not owning an Echo, not activating Siri, or any of the other “helpful assistants” offered to me ever since the time of Clippy. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2022, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alexa-a-she-or-an-it/959253/31 "2022-02-12T16:33:06Z")
Alexa is a “she”, in the same sense that the U.S.S. _Theodore Roosevelt_ (CVN-71) is a “she”. ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2022, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alexa-a-she-or-an-it/959253/32 "2022-02-12T19:22:49Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > As noted above, you can, if you so desire, change your Echo’s “wake word” (name) to Computer, Amazon, Echo, or Ziggy. Thanks! Just changed her/his/its name to Ziggy! ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2022, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alexa-a-she-or-an-it/959253/33 "2022-02-14T12:40:19Z")
Having suffered through a foreign language requirement in high school, I’m in favor of any language that minimizes trying to remember whether a noun is masculine, feminine, or neuter. (And don’t get me started on irregular verbs.) So my vote is “it” for anything that doesn’t have chromosomes made up of X and Y pairs. Postscript: Interesting question: Can you think of a nonliving item that is regularly referred to as “he”? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alexa-a-she-or-an-it/959253.md?page=1)