Why does tech make women pliant serfs?

Stephen Hawking had made dire predictions about artificial intelligence replacing humankind, and the late theoretical physicist may be proved at least partially right already as there are rising apprehensions that female-voiced AI assistants are already being perceived as ideal companions by many men.

It may indeed be dangerous to ignore increasing evidence that men now appear to prefer these biddable and perennially helpful robotic domestic goddesses — despite recent instances of weird unprovoked laughter — to unpredictable and less compliant female human companions.

It is not certain that there was a deliberate sexist plan to make genderless machines sound feminine to appeal to some subliminal bias, but it cannot be denied that over 90% of secretarial and assistant jobs in the US are still done by women while the technological space is dominated by men.


It may be recalled that the cartoon world has always had female robotic home assistants, from Irona the transformer type maid of Richie Rich to robotic Rosie in the space-age series The Jetsons. The real world should be less fanciful. To start with, to correct stereotyping — and wishful thinking — only gender-neutral names (already a trend in politically correct circles for their human progeny) should be considered for AI assistants, with voices to match, of course.