Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Media, Law & Policy
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Media, Law & Policy

Unless Designers and Users Intervene, Expect More Missteps in an AI World

Tuesday, May 28, 2019, By Keith Kobland
Share
facultyMaxwell School of Citizenship and Public AffairsResearch and Creative

Jamie WindersA recent report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) paints a troubling future for artificial intelligence in terms of promoting dominant gender norms. UNESCO’s report maintains digital assistants like Alexa and Siri create a model of “docile and eager-to-please helpers” that reinforce “commonly held gender biases that women are subservient and tolerant of poor treatment.” Maxwell School Professor Jamie Winders, director of the Autonomous Systems Policy Institute (ASPI), says despite the report, we can expect more of the same unless the public demands changes.

“One of the things that decades of research in the social sciences and humanities has shown us is that there is a two-way street between identity categories like gender and race and the material things that fill our daily lives,” says Winders. “Everything from the furniture in our homes and paint color on our walls to the kinds of wallets and shoes we wear is gendered. In the 21st century, those things that fill our daily lives now include virtual assistants like Alexa or Siri. These assistants are meant to behave like human assistants, so it’s not surprising that they mimic dominant gender norms. By definition, these assistants are meant to be helpful, and around the world, ‘helpful,’ assisting roles are strongly associated with women.”

Winders says in the case of these virtual assistants that gendered assumption is built into their design. “Although you can opt for a ‘male’ voice for most virtual assistants, the default remains a female voice–in the same way that the ‘default’ assumptions about who makes the best personal assistant point to women,” says Winders.

Syracuse University’s ASPI was created in part to research this very issue. “As we see more and more AI-driven products attempting to mimic human behavior, those products will continue to reflect and reinforce dominant gender norms, unless we, as designers and users, intentionally intervene,” according to Winders. “Without a strong focus on representation (whose voices, images, accents, etc. are being used and not used) at ‘every’ step from design to regulation to daily use in the life cycle of these ‘smart’ technologies, we will continue to see these missteps.”

  • Author
  • Faculty Experts

Keith Kobland

  • Jamie Winders

  • Recent
  • University Musicians, West Point Band to Perform Together This Weekend As Part of Events Around Military Appreciation Day
    Friday, September 22, 2023, By Christine Weber
  • Turning Young Enthusiasts Into Scientific Researchers
    Friday, September 22, 2023, By Wendy S. Loughlin
  • Languages Unlock Opportunities for English for Lawyers Alumna
    Thursday, September 21, 2023, By Hope Alvarez
  • Fall 2023 Career Week: Helping Students Achieve Professional Goals
    Thursday, September 21, 2023, By Gabrielle Lake
  • A Commitment to Arts and Sciences Excellence
    Thursday, September 21, 2023, By Dan Bernardi

More In Media, Law & Policy

Languages Unlock Opportunities for English for Lawyers Alumna

Languages act as a guide for communicating our goals and dreams. It’s how we make sense of the world and connect with the communities around us. Become fluent in a variety of languages, and it’s like collecting keys that unlock…

Law Student Tyriese Robinson Named Inaugural Recipient of the NDNY FCBA Hon. Norman A. Mordue ’66, L’71 Law Scholarship

The first recipient of a scholarship established in honor of the Hon. Norman A. Mordue ’66, L’71 is second-year law student Tyriese Robinson. The Northern District of New York (NDNY) Federal Court Bar Association (FCBA) Hon. Norman A. Mordue ’66,…

Robertson Fellows Aspire to Serve as Foreign Service Officers

Interested in careers in the foreign service, Zoe Prin and Forrest Gatrell took advantage of internships and other opportunities as undergraduates that exposed them to the inner workings of government, policymaking and service from differing vantage points. While Gatrell obtained…

Craig M. Boise to Conclude Tenure as College of Law Dean at End of Academic Year

When Craig M. Boise stepped into his role as dean of the College of Law in the spring of 2016, he described his vision to create “a sustainable law school that leverages the knowledge, skill and imagination of its faculty…

Meet Biko Skalla ’18, Voice of the World-Famous Savannah Bananas

Baseball is America’s pastime, a game rich in history and time-honored traditions, where change is slow to be embraced and slower still to be adopted. Then, there are the Savannah Bananas, a minor league baseball team that has changed the…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2023 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.