iOS 17 Beta Adds Two New Siri Voices for British Users

[FaustsHausUK]

That voice 4 has one of those horrible grating London accents. Half expect to hear “innit” punctuating sentences.

"Hey Siri, turn on the lights in my office."
"Listen mate, you're 'avin' a fackin' larf if you fink I'm gonna do dat..."

 

[Stevp1]

one posh, one chav. Diversity

 

[TurboDrooler]

Still holding out for a Brummie accent.

 

[Jumpinbeans]

I want
male voice - Mr Bean and a Boris J voice
female - Catherine Tate and Nigella

 

[Fraserpatty]

I’ve been using the equivalent of American voice 4 for years. But if a Stephen Fry voice became available, I would change in a heartbeat.

 

[matt_and_187_like_this]

Better voices are overdue. The current ones are so far behind the new AI voices you can find elsewhere.

 

[HandsomeDanNZ]

There needs to be more variety - Brummie, Geordie, Glaswegian, Manchester and West Country accents would be great - of course they'd also need to add Welsh dialects and Scouse to the mix, if they go that far.

 

[HandsomeDanNZ]

Why is "British" put in inverted commas every time it appears in this story?

"no idea".

 

[bigchrisfgb]

Voice 4 sounds like london slang not a fan

Nah, it’s London, but it’s like ‘I’m from a working class area, but I have a middle class career, and shop at Waitrose, but still like to keep in touch with my roots’ voice.

 

[bigchrisfgb]

There needs to be more variety - Brummie, Geordie, Glaswegian, Manchester and West Country accents would be great - of course they'd also need to add Welsh dialects and Scouse to the mix, if they go that far.

Could you imagine Gabby Agbonlahor, Sting, Billy Connolly all on Siri?

 

[jonnyb]

I’m from London originally but I live in Scotland. It’s pretty remarkable how Apple has managed to recreate an MLE accent so convincingly. I think it’s good that people have a choice of RP and regional accents.

However, Apple really needs to understand that ‘British’ is not just ‘English’. Let’s say, I dunno, 4 or 5 million London people speak with an MLE accent. Scotland’s population, which is greater, still does not have a Siri accent. I’d really like to hear accents from other UK countries.