Extraordinary Stories

AI, Gender and Companionship

女性化的虚拟助手也被设计为用作个人伴侣。这对人际关系的意义是什么？

By Courtney Suciu

你使用数字个人助理吗？

您是否经常向Siri，Alexa，Google或Cortana提供方向，播放歌曲或订购家用供应，如洗衣洗涤剂和卫生纸？

如果您对这些问题中的任何一个回答“是”，您是否考虑过关于您的要求的语音的“性别”？

It turns out, the forms of artificial intelligence we rely on most in our day-to-day lives – digital personal assistants, or, in many cases, customer service chatbots – have qualities we traditionally identify as female. And, according to researchers, the implications of gendered AI have consequences when it comes to human interactions.

Why are so many bots and digital assistants female?

在2018年访谈中经济时报¹, American lawyer Reshma Suajani expressed concern about the ubiquity of female AI in our lives:

我真的认为我们必须问自己为什么每一个major digital assistant to hit the market has been a woman. Why is a woman's name (and voice) the default for an assistant? We're putting these chatbots in homes all over the world. Our children are learning that when they have a question or need help, it's going to be a faceless female voice that will do the work for them.

Suajani也是女童的创始人，致编码，致力于鼓励妇女在技术中努力工作的非营利性，为自己的问题提供了潜在的答案：“我认为我们看到我们的数字助理正在接受我们的重要原因女性角色是因为妇女不在房间里发生了大想法和设计。“

因此，苏坎尼补充道，“我们所得到的只是在房间里的人民的偏见。”

但是技术人员的主导地位不是唯一的原因，这是一个女性。这也是因为我们想要女性AI - 至少根据最近的一份报告道琼斯机构新闻²。

Citing a study of over 7000 consumers in the Americas, Asia and Europe, the report revealed we like our bots to be as human-like as possible. Consumers “have strong views on how they want bots to look and behave,” the article noted, as half of those surveyed indicated they preferred a bot to look human rather than have it represented by an avatar.

And, among those who indicated a preference, nearly three times as many said they preferred a female bot over a male. In addition, the “bot personality traits” respondents ranked highest were “sounding polite,” “caring” and “intelligent.” The qualities that tied for the lowest ranking were “sounding posh” and “sounding authoritative.”

So, we like our female bots to be kind and smart, but not to come across as anyway superior to us.

What, if anything, does this reflect about gender roles and stereotypes?

AI和性别陈规定型观念

For researchers like Allison Piper, there is concern that feminization of digital personal assistants and chatbots perpetuates the historically subservient role of women in Western cultures.

In her thesis “Stereotyping Femininity in Disembodied Virtual Assistants,”^3.Piper argued “The purpose of the AI virtual assistant technology seems to be an outdated signification of femininity, one that presupposes that women exist in a supportive manner rather than directive.”

她比较“原始虚拟助理的Clippy,’ the Microsoft paper clip,” which “did not resemble humans at all, save for its blinking eyes” – and was hugely unpopular – with “newer virtual assistants like Siri, Cortana, and Alexa” which “are given feminine personas, able to speak audibly with users, and interact beyond simply answering questions.”

According to Piper, today’s digital personal assistants function much like women of previous generations were expected to, making life easier for typically male executives, bread-winners and important decision-makers.

同样，Piper指出，我们使用Siri，Cortana和Alexa来“跟踪我们的日历中的重要日期进行生日[S]或约会;归档系统中也有相似之处，因为虚拟助手可以找到特定文件;一些简单的口头命令后，有些人甚至可以从亚马逊订购美国物品。“

“Virtual assistants on phones and other devices are essentially secretaries for everyday people,” she observed, which could be a great thing. “They seem to make our lives easier, cutting out time to look up something ourselves on the Internet, for example.”

然而，在这样做时，Piper警告说，这些数字助理也“满足西方，下属女性纹理。”

Of course, notions around gender in general are complex, and Piper was careful in her argument to note that it is “not a restrictive binary.”

“Masculinity does not necessarily correspond with ‘man,’ and femininity does not necessarily correspond with ‘woman,’” she pointed out.

相反，在Piper的研究中，“性别”提到了“阳性气质和女性气质的谱”象征性的文化象征“。她在西方文化中写道，“性别是人们可以拥有权力或被贩卖的方式，而且阳刚地性比女性气质更有利地观看” - 这是一个由AI的女性键入强调的公约。

我们的关系如何受到影响？

在他的文章中作者：王莹，艺术科学与技术CHINESE^4., Pedro Costa made a similar observation and suggested there is a risk in how our interactions with feminized virtual assistants “might affect the way we feel, perceive, interpret and even describe reality, gender and women.”

Such concerns are particularly pertinent in the context of Costa’s analysis of how digital assistants also perform as personal companions.

“The AIs frequently display caregiving attitudes, namely in interactions that don’t relate directly with providing help or assistance,” he wrote. For example, he noted how “Alexa resembles a hybrid between a housewife and an assistant…even saying ‘Well, hello! I’m very glad you’re here,’ when the user arrives home.”

Meanwhile, “Cortana poses as a maternal and somewhat intimate assistant who seeks a friendly relationship with the user, calling the user ‘friend’ and frequently using humor or asking about the user’s day or dinner plans, as well as offering to sing lullabies.”

As feminized digital personal assistants increasingly fulfill an emotional role in our lives, how might human relationships be affected? Might the companionship and intimacy with AI be preferable for some people?

在CNN系列中Mostly Human^5.，主持人Laurie Segall采访了Regoll的创始人和首席执行官Matt McCullen。当SEGALL将他的实验室描述为“性娃娃工厂”时，McCullen迅速纠正了她，并解释了许多客户“有超越性欲的感情。他们实际上依恋他们的娃娃......所以我认为爱情更加符合这一点。“

McCullen’s company creates life-size, bespoke “dolls” that allow clients to “customize everything that you want on your girl and just order it. You’re gonna receive the body with all the things that you chose,” he explained.

In addition to a body, RealDolls are equipped with a highly responsive artificial intelligence. “The more you interact with it, the better your doll gets to know you,” McCullen said, and compared the experience to interacting with a digital personal assistant.

“When you [talk about] AI in your phone, you think Siri or something like that. But Siri doesn't care when your birthday is or what your favorite food is, so on and so on. Our AI is very interested to know who you are,” he told Segall.

当SEGALL问他，如果他认为这一切都很伤心，他的客户可能更换与与玩娃娃的关系的人的爱和亲密关系，McCullen表示，他很荣幸“成为那个方程的一部分”。

“All I'm trying to do is make that person happy, make them feel complete and like they have that missing piece that they didn't have before,” he told her. “People are not as loyal as they used to be to each other. And people deceive each other, and that breaks their heart. And they find themselves in a place where like, ‘I don't wanna do that again?’”

McCullen’s perspective provides a unique opportunity for us to think about what we expect and desire from our relationships, whether with those who assist us in varying capacities, or those with whom we relate in various emotional capacities.

Beyond the implications of feminized artificial intelligence perpetuating gender stereotypes, how do we, as humans, benefit from interacting with forms of intelligence that exist only to serve and respond to our needs?

Can these exchanges be considered “relationships” if the “relating” is one-sided rather than give-and-take?

如果我们可以避免脆弱的话，这是什么意思是，如果我们从不让我们的心碎或让人疯狂或让我们的要求否认？

也许我们可以询问Siri她的想法。

Notes:

1. Arora，P。（2018年，9月15日）。作为女人聊天：工业年龄偏见是否蔓延到新的技术？经济时报。可用proquest一个学术。
2. 新闻稿：消费者想要女性和有趣 - 但不是年轻 - 聊天。(2017, Sep 12).道琼斯机构新闻。可用proquest一个学术。
3. Piper, A. (2016).Stereotyping Femininity in Disembodied Virtual Assistants（订单号10167825）。可用proquest一个学术。
4. Pedro Carvalho Ferreira, d. C. (2018).与个人数字助理交谈：关于性别和人工智能。作者：王莹，艺术科学与技术CHINESE, 10(3), 59-72. Available fromproquest一个学术。
5. I Love You, Bot, in Mostly Human with Laurie Segall, season 1, episode 3。亨特，r。（导演）。（2017年1月01日）。[视频/ DVD] CNN Newsource销售。可用proquest一个学术。

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Courtney Suciu是Proquest领导博客作家。她的爱包括图书馆，识字和研究与艺术和人文相关的非凡故事。她在英语文学硕士学位和教学中的背景，新闻和营销。跟随她的@quirkysuciu.

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