Gender bias is even evident in virtual AI avatars. Researchers from the University of Limerick (Ireland) found that AI agents with female appearances receive 10% less compensation for their work than their male "colleagues."
Gender bias is even evident in virtual AI avatars. Researchers from the University of Limerick (Ireland) found that AI agents with female appearances receive 10% less compensation for their work than their male "colleagues."
To study people's behavior towards digital assistants, researchers placed 189 participants in a virtual office simulation. The subjects worked with AI assistants who had different humanoid avatars — male and female. At the same time, the technological basis and task performance algorithms for all avatars were exactly the same, reports Cybernews.
The aim of the experiment was to replicate a real-world monetary transaction and determine how much people would be willing to pay AI for the work it did. After completing the tasks, participants were given real money to split between themselves and the digital assistants.
The results were impressive: the AI assistant with a male avatar named Johan earned 10.25% more than the female assistant Johanna for performing exactly the same work. In addition, the participants perceived Johan as more “human.”
According to Dr. Mary Hausfeld from the University of Limerick, most users believe AI is gender neutral. However, the experiment proved the opposite: the mere presence of a gender avatar on a digital assistant triggers real-world stereotypes in people, influencing how they evaluate, pay and perceive its work.
Hausfeld warns against seeing the appearance and “personality” of avatars as mere decoration: “As AI agents become more commonplace in the workplace, we need to think carefully about the characteristics we give them and the behaviors they might provoke. We must not inadvertently reproduce existing inequalities in the new technological environment.”
The study highlights that while the algorithms and technological essence of AI models remain the same regardless of the avatar's gender, people's perceptions of them mirror ingrained societal and professional stereotypes.
