We can replace human workers with AI agents, but we cannot eliminate sexism from the workplace. A recently published study by researchers at Ireland’s University of Limerick found that conscious and unconscious gender bias extends to AI agents, resulting in robots presented by women being paid less than their male counterparts.
The study looked at 189 knowledge workers and placed them in a virtual reality office where they had to work alongside three different AI agents to complete tasks. These agents worked identically, but they had different presentations. One was a text-based chatbot, one was an office assistant with a robotic presentation, and the other had human qualities, including male or female presentation characteristics.
These workers were asked to evaluate the work of each assistant and award them compensation based on their performance. The researchers found that the human-like presentation resonated more with workers, who rewarded the fake people with more than their more robotic counterparts.
However, there was a disparity in which human presentation was paid more. The male assistant “Johan” was paid about 10% more on average than the female “Johanna” despite performing exactly the same, which is not far from the actual gender pay gap. The human gap is even more troubling than the pay disparity, as researchers found that “Johan” was perceived as more human than “Johanna.”
The researchers also interviewed a number of study participants, which revealed how underlying unconscious biases play a significant role in the results. Thirty of the 34 respondents insisted they would trust and reward an AI assistant equally regardless of gender, while only three participants acknowledged that their behaviors could reflect gender bias. Only one participant frankly acknowledged their gender bias, telling researchers they trusted women less.
The interview portion of the research also found that, when asked whether they would prefer a robot presented by a woman, a man, or gender neutral, a plurality of people expressed more comfort with AI channeling women. There is likely some conditioning at play, as most virtual assistants (Siri, Alexa, etc.) are presented as female characters. This is a choice made by tech companies because female voices are seen as less threatening and more approachable, but it also reinforces the idea that women should be more submissive.
Interestingly, though, while people expressed a preference for working with a female presentation assistant, they also viewed this as less humane and less worthy of being paid than their male counterpart. It’s not really a great reflection on where we are as a society.
Gn tech
