Cyberfeminism : Artificial Intelligence and the unconscious Biases

 Welcome readers! This blog is written in response to the task assigned by Dr.Dilip Barad sir from Department of English, MKBU. This blog deals with the Concept of  Cyberfeminism. Click here to read  more about this task. So, In this blog I am reflecting my understanding about the topic Cyberfeminism. Before discussing more about it First,  Let us have a look at the meaning of Cyberfeminism. 

 Cyber - Feminism 

    ◇ What  is  Cyber - feminism :- 

   Cyberfeminism is a Feminist approach which foregrounds the relationship between cyberspace, the Internet and technology. It can be used to refer a Philosophy, methodology or Commumity. The term was coined in the early 1990s to describe the work of feminists interested in theorizing, critiquing, exploring and re - making the Internet , Cyberspace and new media technologies in general. Prior to the advent of Cyberfeminism, Feminst study of technology tended to examine technological developments as Socially and culturally constructed.  The ranks of Cyberfeminists are growing, however and along with this increase is a growing divergence of ideas about what constitutes Cyberfeminists thought and action. 

 Technology equally work for everyone. Even though women throughout history have been active in developing new technologies, cyberfeminists have argued that technology has still been looked upon as a masculine creation. So, here the question arises is that ;

" Is technology Bias free ? "

 Cyberfeminism is a woman - Centered Perspective that advocates women's use of new information and Communications technologies for empowerment. Some see these technologies as inherently liberatory and argue that their development will lead to an end to male superiority, because women are uniquely suited to life in the digital age.  The term Cyberfeminism explicitly fuses gender and information technology, arose in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Cyberfeminism views technology as a tool for the deconstruction of gender stereotypes. 

 This approach takes advantage of the new era of online media that offers a new space and targets for the movement. Cyberspace and the internet is a virtual world that allows for an immense numbers of opportunities to be created , and visions to be shared globally. Cyberfeminism is not against ideologies, but rather against the structure that creates them. The internet allows for grounds to find a new alternative way to escape these Power Structures that can be limiting to Identity. 

   " Cyberfeminism is a different way to rebel against Patriarchy. "

 ◇ What does Cyberfeminists do? 

 Cyberfeminists were interested in theorizing and critiquing the internet and new media technologies through a Feminist lens. 

   The history of Cyberfeminism can be linked back to the work of Donna Haraway, a professor in the History of Consciousness program at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Her essay, “A Manifesto for Cyborgs " was groundbreaking for feminists.  She argued in her work that women needed to become technologically proficient to challenge systems that didn’t represent equality.  Other feminists who are active on the internet believe that it can be a vital space for women to use technology to gain a better position within society.  To advance these ideas, individuals who associate with this branch of feminism created websites, discussion groups, and other online resources for women to learn more about technology. These individuals and groups believe that women’s knowledge of new media can create more opportunities for them in technological lines of work.

 Bruce Grenville in the Uncanny  : Experiments in cyborg culture mentions :  " The dominant Cyberfeminists Perspective takes a utopian 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 technoculture in everyday life." 

 We all have to see that Virtual world is nothing but mirror image of real World. The AI Coders are also human beings. If these Coders are unconsciously biased or are not made about their unconscious gender biases, the artifical intelligence/ machines / robots / algorithms made by them is bound to have similar biases. 

 Artificial intelligence ( AI)  inherits biases from the data it's trained on. When it comes to Cyberfeminism, which focuses on the intersection of gender and technology , this issue is Particularly important. AI systems can Perpetuate unconscious biases against women and gender minorities. For example, if AI Algorithms are trained on historical data that reflects gender inequalities, they might make biased decisions in different areas. So, In that way Algorithms Played an important role in making decisions.  

◇ Ted Talks  :- 

  Here are two talks available on Ted Platform. One is of Kirti Sharma about How to keep human bias out of AI? And another is of Robin Hauser about Can we Protect AI from our biases? They both made some of the interesting Observations during their talk. 

 Talk 1 :- Kirti Sharma: How to keep human bias out of AI? 

  In these Ted talk by Kirti Sharma she explained that we are told that the biggest worry around the future of AI is not that it will take our jobs but that it will reinforce human biases already present in the sector. She has explained about biases in AI and also her Personal experiences with AI.  Further In her talk she said that she has several degrees in computer science and has been building robots from the age of 15, says that based on her apperance and gender it is regularly assumed by everyone that she does not know much about Artificial intelligence.  Algorithms are being used all the time to make decisions about who we are and what we want. 

 She says that these biases are reinforced by the genders we assign to AI -  Powered devies. She gives the examples  of siri and  Alexa , AI technologies with female voices which we are used to giving orders to. While on the other hand , more Powerful Programms such as whatson designated " male." 

  Future she talked about how all these affect a kid growing up in today's world around AI. She stated that the good news about AI is that it is  entirely within our control.  We get to teach the right values, and right ethics to AI. For that she suggested 3 things that we all can do. 

 1. We can be aware of our own biases and the bias in machine around us. 

2. We can make sure that diverse teams are building this technology.  

3. We have to give it diverse experiences to learn from. 

 In her talk she gives examples of when AI takes these biases and reinforces them : men are more likely to be Programmers and historically outnumber women in this field ; based on this data , an algorithm designed for recruitment purposes can assume that male applicants are preferable and filter out female candidates, she explains. 

    " This is not about the talent ; this is about an elitism in AI that a Programmer needs to look like a Certain Person." 

   To conclude, in her talk, Kirti Sharma highlighted how Artificial Intelligence is infused with gender biases. Both technology and AI are human creations, and unconsciously, they have inherited gender biases and stereotypes.

Talk 2 :- Robin Hauser : Can we Protect AI from our biases? 

 As humans we are inherently biased.  Sometimes it is explicit and other times it is unconscious, but as we move forward with technology how do we keep our biases out of the Algorithms we create? Documentary  filmmaker Robin Hauser argues that we need to have a conversation about how AI should be governed and ask who is responsible for overseeing the ethical standards of these supercomputers. She explains in her talk that how the foundations of Artificial intelligence is biased by giving real life examples. 

 Artificial intelligence technologies are designed by People. That means the foundation on which they Operate is defined by the goals, ambitions and indeed both conscious and unconscious biases of their developers. Understanding and developing  ways to tackle these biases is essential in order to provide fair and effective Solutions.  She discusses the importance of recognizing and tackling biases and avoiding skewed data that could Prejudice automated decisions and undermine deep learning networks. 

 In this talk, Robin Hauser tells about her experience working with AI and the biases that can develop by humans teaching the machines and how to avoid these biases when creating algorithms.  

◇ Key Insights from these talk :- 

 - Unconscious bias is a fascinating and disturbing aspect of the human condition that can interfere with our interactions and lead to snap judgments or assumptions.

 

 - Humans are programming bias into artificial intelligence through lack of foresight, malicious intent, skewed data, and letting their own bias seep into the data sets and algorithms they write.

- AI systems rely on data fed to them to train algorithms, highlighting the importance of ensuring diverse and unbiased datasets to avoid perpetuating biases in AI.

- The use of word embedding in machines can lead to the perpetuation of stereotypical biases, highlighting the need to address and mitigate these biases in AI systems.

- Do we want artificial intelligence to reflect the biases of society today or strive for an ideal and equitable society of tomorrow?

□ Conclusion  :-   To Conclude,  safeguarding AI from human biases requires a multi - faceted approach.  It involves many techniques. Perhaps, By doing that we all can work towards AI systems that are fair, equitable and less to Perpetuating harmful biases. 

I hope that this blog will be helpful to you in understanding the Concept of Cyberfeminism.

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