Class Year
2020
Document Type
Student Research Paper
Date of Creation
Fall 2019
Department 1
Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Abstract
Since the eighties, feminists have considered technology a force capable of subverting sexism because of technology’s ability to produce unbiased logic. Most famously, Donna Haraway’s “A Cyborg Manifesto” posits that the cyborg has the inherent capability to transcend gender because of its removal from social construct and lack of loyalty to the natural world. But while humanoids and artificial intelligence have been imagined as inherently subversive to gender, current artificial intelligence perpetuates gender divides in labor and language as their programmers imbue them with traits considered “feminine.” A majority of 21st century AI and humanoids are programmed to fit female stereotypes as they fulfill emotional labor and perform pink-collar tasks, whether through roles as therapists, query-fillers, or companions. This paper examines four specific chat-based AI --ELIZA, XiaoIce, Sophia, and Erica-- and examines how their feminine linguistic patterns are used to maintain the illusion of emotional understanding in regards to the tasks that they perform. Overall, chat-based AI fails to subvert gender roles, as feminine AI are relegated to the realm of emotional intelligence and labor.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Vega, Ellianie S., "Designing Women: Essentializing Femininity in AI Linguistics" (2019). Student Publications. 797.
https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/student_scholarship/797
Included in
Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Commons, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Linguistics Commons
Comments
Written as a Senior Capstone for Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies.