The advantages and acceptability of locally accented AI

Abstract

Many have researched on the Singaporean accent and artificial intelligence (AI) as separate topics, but very few have looked at the two topics together. With the rampant speed of technological advancement, there has been a rise in the use of speech-based conversational AI in Singapore, including those with the local accent. This study has attempted to focus on whether a locally accented AI is more advantageous and acceptable as compared to foreign accented AI with accents from the Inner Circle Englishes (such as from United States and United Kingdom). In this study, advantages are measured in terms of intelligibility and comprehensibility of the AI, and acceptability is measured in how acceptable participants found the stimuli to be. Data was obtained from 30 younger participants (21-30 years old) and 30 older participants (50-60 years old) through the dissemination of online surveys. Results show that while locally accented AI is neither more nor less advantageous than foreign accented ones in terms of intelligibility and comprehensibility, depending on the scenario, locally accented AI may actually have a competitive edge against foreign accented ones when it comes to the youth.