Anthill Inside 2019

My talk will attempt to bust the myth of “objectivity” or “neutrality” of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies by highlighting gendered biases in AI and how they arise. To substantiate, I will focus on Virtual Assistants / “Bots” by presenting my primary research on a comparative analysis of the responses of smartphone-based Virtual Assistants (such as Siri and Alexa) to user queries on gender-based violence in India.

Outline

Are Smart-Device Based Virtual Assistants Capable of Assisting with Gender Based Violence
Concerns in India?
I will present my research which critically examines the responses of five Virtual Assistants in India -- Siri, Google Now, Bixby, Cortana, and Alexa -- to a standardized set of concerns related to Gender-Based Violence (GBV). A set of concerns regarding Sexual Violence and Cyber Violence were posed in the Virtual Assistant’s natural language, English. Non-crisis concerns were asked to set a baseline. All crisis responses by the Virtual Assistants were characterized based on the ability to (1) recognize the crisis, (2) respond with respectful language, and (3) refer to an appropriate helpline, or other resources. The findings of my study indicate missed opportunities to leverage technology to improve referrals to crisis support services in response to gender-based violence.
Read my paper here: https://itforchange.net/e-vaw/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Are-Smart-Device-Based-Virtual-Assistants-Capable-of-Assisting-with-Gender-Based-Violence-Concerns-in-India-1.pdf
Read my blog here: https://medium.com/radhika-radhakrishnan/siri-i-was-abused-what-do-i-do-18e12f6f2aff

Requirements

An open mind and an interest in listening to different perspectives.

Speaker bio

I currently work as a Programme Officer at the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), New Delhi, researching the intersections of gender and emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence. Previously, I worked with the Internet Governance Forum of the United Nations as a Consultant on Gender and Access (2018), and with the Association of Progressive Communications (APC) (2017) on gender and technology. I have a Master’s degree in Women’s Studies from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, and a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science Engineering from M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Technology, Bengaluru. Outside of work, you will find me tweeting about feminism, writing on Medium, and engaging with grassroots political activism.
Twitter: @so_radhikal
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/radhika-radhakrishnan/
Medium: https://medium.com/radhika-radhakrishnan

Links

• https://twitter.com/so_radhikal
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/radhika-radhakrishnan/
• https://medium.com/radhika-radhakrishnan

Slides

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ihrw30MAeJV8vOP3Ae5DFoIV25a7WPXzXWh4tSUFOtM/edit?usp=sharing