Gendered Machines: Voice

2020·8.6 MB·English

by  Whitney Humphreys

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Die ae ety
iaa
g:.
mypical Science Fiction figurations
of hyper-powerful robotic units
have inspired a fear
about machines’ potential for super-intelligence.
Yet the danger of
Pealtouartificially intelligent figures
lies in their fundamental lack of complexity,
and in the power that they are already granted.
The Voice with a Smile
When directly asked,
each of the most popular A.I. voice assistants
claims, in their own programmed words,
to be genderless.
However, they do not deny
that the entire expression of their being
evokes femaleness by default.
Encoded as trustworthy and non-threatening,
they are feminized as passive, built
to reinforce gendered expectations
Itispicing fear for their ominous omnipresence,
figurations, Of powerful A... beings
expressed by Reena oe and voice emission,
granted dominance, authority, and aggression,
are nearly always gendered male,
while fem-bots are deemed suitable
- for service and pleasure.
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A codifying system of gendered roles is imposed
service Vs. dominance
ere imitation. to uncontrollable potential.
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