Cyberfeminism: Artificial Intelligence and the Unconscious Biases

Hello! This blog is written in response to a blog task by Dr. Dilip Barad Sir. This blog deals with the concept of cyber feminism. I have written a blog on Feminism also, CLICK HERE to read it. While reading about feminist theory we came across a new concept of Cyber- feminism and here I am reflecting my understanding on cyber feminism.

CYBER-FEMINISM

What is cyber- feminism?

Cyber- feminism is a feminist approach which foregrounds the relationship between cyberspace, the Internet, and technology.

Feminism is the advocacy of women's rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes. Feminists are trying and fighting for women equality in the society and culture. And in this we get a new concept of cyber feminism. The world is turning digital, technology is growing. We also see that today artificial intelligence (AI) is taking over human employment, their work and perhaps will be also considered as citizens soon.

But in this increased use of AI and technology we see a hope of an impartial world. Technology has no biases; it will work equally for everyone.AI is hoped and is thought to be bias free. But is it actually happening?

Is technology bias free? Is it racism and gender bias free?

What do cyber- feminists do?

The work of feminists interested in theorizing, critiquing, exploring and re-making the Internet, cyberspace and new-media technologies in general. We are in a world where people are judged, selected and selected based on their skin color, gender, background, past, body etc. so there is a hope that if AI will increase this bias will be strike out. But yet we find that AI is resulting or working differently based on gender, skin color etc. But if critics have to work on remaking technology then definitely there is some problem.

The term cyberfeminism was coined by VNS Matrix (read Venus Matrix), in 1980s by an Australian artist collective active between 1991 and 1997, who, inspired by Donna Haraway's A Cyborg Manifesto. This manifesto gave a concept that the internet is a revolutionary tool to overthrow patriarchy, destroy the existing gender binary and said internet to be a neutral place women need and needs to be shaped by women in a way that will allow them to overthrow the existing social order.

Bruce Grenville in The Uncanny: Experiments in Cyborg Culture mentions: "The dominant cyber- feminist perspective takes a utopia view of cyberspace and the Internet as a means of freedom from social constructs such as gender, sex difference and race. For instance, a description of the concept described it as a struggle to be aware of the impact of new technologies on the lives of women as well as the so-called insidious gendering of techno culture in everyday life."

But, the virtual world is nothing but a mirror of the real world. We somehow and somewhere experience AI is not a fresh start for this world or society. However it is designed by humans not intentionally but the unconscious human biases are also transferred to AI, technology. How do AI learn? Technology or AI works based on a dataset and this dataset is prepared by humans. Probably it is not intentional but transferring our biases to AI is like creating or designing or transferring same discriminate future world. We know that majorly algorithms and dataset for AI are prepared by ‘white men’. White thinking of them as superior has always been a top of the talk. While setting a dataset AI comes across more number of white and men. The Mindset of white men itself is transferred to AI.

Algorithms play an important role in making decisions. The Social Dilemma is a 2020 documentary which describes how algorithms work and the same happens in this case too. AI works on algorithms. The Internet through our surfing gives us more and more similar data. Alongside, they ask for our gender while making our account on any platform. This selection of gender itself is questionable. What is the need of knowing gender? Then later girls and boys are catered differently. If you are a woman you must be definitely getting fertility clinic ads, how to be a mother, IVF clinic etc.

I referred to a TED TALK by Kriti Sharma. CLICK HERE to watch it.

She has explained about biases in AI and also her personal experiences with AI. she aptly said what about the children who are growing in this world? If we see the robots like Alexa, Siri have female voices and what they have to do is be a obedient servant where we keep of ordering to order food, turns of lights, fans, sing a talk, talk to be being lonely etc. and when a child is working on the project the answers are mostly male. We also have male voice robots but they help in making decisions, handling business, salesforce like ROSS. The child's mind gets a framework of female voice working household work, being obedient and male voice taking decisions.

What happens when white designs technology and their racism is passed to AI.

Article on black people identifies as gorillas.

She pointing towards the solutions for this major issues gives three points-

1. Be aware of our own biases

2. Make sure that diverse team is making technology

3. Give AI diverse experience and atmosphere to learn from.

TED TALK by Robin Hauser

Robin Hauser focuses on ‘Can we protect AI from our Biased?’

We find biases in technology because humans are consciously and unconsciously biased and humans programme all shades of biases in technology. The reason is lack of foresight, malicious intent, using screwed data and loving their own biases.

Here she discussed ‘Tay’ and Tay tweets. Microsoft sent its artificial intelligence (AI) bot Tay out into the wild to see how it interacted with humans. Seeing how Tay had the “repeat after me” attitude, people started messing around and taught her inappropriate things such as “cuckservatism”, racism, sexually-charged messages, politically incorrect phrases, and even talked about the Gamergate controversy.

Today, we have to take serious steps against these biases happening in AI if we don't want today’s society to be captured by technology and the same issues to be forwarded to future society.

Today we are fighting against the patriarchal language which is completely internalized in human beings. E.g: chairman this word forces that man can only be a chairperson which is now changed into chair person.

Since childhood girls and boys are forced to have specific kinds of works which are also reflected in nursery rhymes.

Today we are fighting against all this language imbalance in the physical world. If technology is also conducted to be biased it will take decades again to change the virtual world.

Gender Shades by Timnit Gebru and Joy Buolamwini.

Here is a video Jay Buolamwini

I hope this blog helped you to get the concept of Cyberfeminism. Thanks for visiting.