“I’m a virtual assistant so I don’t have pronouns the way people do, thanks for asking”: gender neutrality, diversification and fluidity in AI

This paper questions how current digital assistants tend to be feminized through their anthropomorphization and humanization, discussing possibilities for countering this phenomenon. It draws on a previous study on the relationship between gender and AI, complemented by an analysis of Alexa, Cortana, Google Assistant and Siri. Furthering this discussion, we address the main questions, justifications and suggestions raised by researchers and academics as well as online media coverage when examining the phenomenon. One of the main questions relates to how these assistants evade this topic by claiming to have no gender or to be gender-neutral. Thus, this paper discusses possible approaches to deal with gender attribution in AI, by looking into recent trends that range from gender neutrality and diversification to queering these entities. On the one hand, digital assistants could be more diversified and include male counterparts or alternatives, on the other, we discuss how our understandings of gender are expanding beyond binary conceptions and how digital assistants can accompany more fluid conceptions of gender. Particularly, this paper debates how the development of this technology could be informed by current discussions in queer theory and new media studies, inciting reflection on how digital assistants reflect our social and cultural views back to us.