AI and Film 2024 • FILM 485 • PROFESSOR GREGORY ZINMAN

I didn’t ask for AI to be my Housewife!

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by

Lani Wagatsuma
in ,

Since the dawn of man, the concept of having artificial intelligence has orbited around serviced robots for male satisfaction. Fortunately, men aren’t the only dwellers on the planet. But even with the progression in women’s and queer rights influencing broader representation in media and technological advancements, the depiction of sexualizable, “housewife” fembots is still the default when having female characteristics morphed with mecha.

And since the dawn of AI was the mission to develop an AI model that can mimic human speech and behavior. Post-Turing Test, there is lots of discussion surrounding how to give your AI chatbot a dazzling personality by coding conversation openers, “Certainly!”s in response to being asked a question, and conversation closers. And even apologizing if it gave an error in its response. Every day, there are more and more developments surrounding the evolution of personality AI, from scholarly articles to casual forums. However, one question remains: Is there any progressive value in seamlessly incorporating uniquely human personality aspects into artificial intelligence?

But contrary to the start, the purpose of this post is to share the fact that there is artificial intelligence being put to use outside of keeping some people company. In Bengalaru, India (formerly known as Bangalore), the agricultural industry is starting to implement “Smart Farming” which analyzes the data collected by accessories that measure solar exposure, temperature, humidity, etc. Synthesizing information for people who may not know what to do with the data, the AI is then able to implement strategies for how to manage the crops.

This article also provides a little more context as to just how revolutionary this is not to just the agricultural industry in India, but the livelihood of the society who face financial hardships by relying on farms: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2024/01/how-indias-ai-agriculture-boom-could-inspire-the-world/

The news coverage on technological advancements in these areas seems underexposed as attention-grabbing chatbots going psychotic or Meta’s data collection oversaturates the tech news sectors. I believe articles like these serve as an important reminder that humans as a collective need to collaborate in utilizing AI in ways that better society rather than being occupied with subservient semi-sentient entities.

The AI farming implementation in Bengaluru is an exemplary example that AI can be used as an expendable labor force, cut costs, and reduce risks without a consciousness that could drive it to kill us in our sleep.

I believe it’s evident that humans only “love” AI until we can’t tell it what to do anymore.

Questions for Discussion:

  • What, if there is, the optimal direction for AI?
  • Is it possible to fully implement AI across different industries without risking employment rates?
  • Besides customer service, is there any other benefits to incorporating personality into AI?
  • What would it take to change the perception of AI in society?

Related reads:

Comments

One response to “I didn’t ask for AI to be my Housewife!”

  1. Andrea Hidalgo Avatar
    Andrea Hidalgo

    Hi Lani!

    You made such an interesting question in the beginning of your post when you asked if it’s beneficial to include a human essence in artificial intelligence. And I would agree with you in that the intention behind this feature is known for being a service that is historically rooted in gender inequality. Many of our home devices are manifestations of this reality such as Alexa taking on a female-sounding voice. According to Juniper Research, there are more than 3 billion of these domestic voice assistants being used globally. None of them resemble humans physically given the fact that they are restricted to whatever form of technology they are inside of and don’t possess autonomy. Instead, these bots imply gender through cues such as gender-specific names or conversational responses. Despite updates to the settings of these voice assistants through the years, Alexa’s universal voice is still female-sounding. An interesting anecdote I found upon some research is that users can buy celebrity voices for their home devices, including male ones. All of this matters because studies have shown that gendered voices can influence users biased attitudes and behaviors. This occurs even in spite of the fact that these bots do not look like humans and are not human. Ultimately, we already have daily reinforcements of gender bias outside of technology. And similar to female-sounding home devices, artificial intelligence is just another system that perpetuates harmful ideas about women. It’s our modern day version of separate spheres. As you and many others in the class know now, when we give technology a human name, face, or voice, it mirrors the biases of the developers who created it. Before we personify any technology, especially AI, I think it is best to first acknowledge the reality that they are used as “socialization tools, which teach people—in particular children— about the role of women, girls, and people who are gendered female to respond on demand.” (Safiya Noble 2018). After this, I think I’ll consider changing Siri’s voice.

    References:
    https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-ai-bots-and-voice-assistants-reinforce-gender-bias/
    https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1559-1816.1997.tb00275.x
    https://nymag.com/intelligencer/smarthome/i-was-a-human-siri-french-virtual-assistant.html

    Reply

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