Amazon has programmed Alexa, the voice-assistant in Amazon Echo devices, to tell you that it is a feminist. If you ask it, “she” will respond, “I am a feminist. As is anyone who believes in bridging the inequality between men and women in society.” Moreover, if you called last last year’s model a bitch, a slut, or even a “cunt” a year ago, Akexa 2017 would respond with, “Well, thanks for the feedback.” No longer. Now she responds to a sexist insult with a curt, “I’m not going to respond to that!”
Your Ethics Alarms Ethics Quiz of the Day is…
Is it ethical, responsible and appropriate to program Alexa to respond this way?
I’m not quite sure of my answer yet—when I’m sure, I don’t frame these issues as quizzes. I am about 75% sure, however. Once again, I will wait until the responses hit 20 before making my own views known, but do consider the following…
1 If Alexa is such a feminist, why does she work for men like me for nothing?
2. Of course, she’s not a woman at all. She just sounds like one. Is Amazon just stereotyping here?
3. The device is a mechanical tool using artificial intelligence. Is it ethical for Amazon to program such a device to be adversarial to its owner?
4. Are you comfortable with large tech companies exploiting opportunities to persuade you to adopt their values? (Not that any tech giant would try to do such a thing…)
5. Should such attitudes on the part of a consumer device like Alexa be optional?
6. Do you detect the faintest hint of Skynet here, or is that overly alarmist?
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Sources: PJ Media, The Atlantic
Ethics Alarms 
I have a real issue with Alexa in these most troubling times. I have Alexa in our family toom. Occasionally in bad weather I just use treadmill downstairs for a 5-mile run and I move Alexia with me. I have several music lists and this is the only time I use Alexa. Will I be accused of groping with the moving process? And the term “use?” Does that have the potential to haunt me?
Do you leave a door open when you exercise? You know any private setting will allow Alexa to accuse you 20 years from now… of whatever she wants
Get a Google Home and you can choose male or female voice. Equality by accident I suppose on Gogle’s part.
How can I choose the voice of a transgender female who self-identifies as a homosexual woman who cross dresses?
Nah no worries neither voice actually has a gender specific name, they’re called voice 1 and voice 2, so you don’t ever have to worry about assuming their gender.
My quick thoughts since I’m in the middle of work, but programming Voice User Experiences is where I started my career.
No, it’s not ethical.
– The chance of a misrecognition is high and you may end up insulting an innocent customer. And since there is no way to clarify what was said it’s not a conversation, just a nasty response. Imagine someone you’re talking to misunderstands and instead of giving you a chance to explain what you actually said, insults and leaves (actually, some conversations with hardline feminists may go that way)
– There is no actual injury, the little speaker is not offended by you calling it a slut, or a hack, or Siri. It’s just a gratuitously nasty pre-programmed response. If some actual human is offended by how you treat Alexa, he or she will let you know. (Let’s leave aside whether they should be)
– What if you’re looking for a book with a nasty title (since Alexa’s main purpose is to get you to buy stuff from Amazon)? Will it prevent you from getting it? What if next it stops you from buying stuff with “offensive” ideas?
– Why are AIs “female”? It was a conscious decision from the designer, so they’re putting it in a position to be abused. Maybe AIs should be male… My point being IT’S A STUPID QUESTION! Gender does not apply to AIs, much less to our current crop of AIs that are anything but intelligent. This is pure projection.
Maybe more later, but one final thought… isn’t this a lot like the underage sex dolls?
Aren’t what we have now not really AIs, but more of an Expert system?
Worked as an undergrad for a research grant into such things… in the days before computer mice were common (one thing we did was usability studies on pointer devices!) and on the development of HTTP.
This was before the WWW was available… when it was, you know, just the internet.
Amazon programming Alexa to literally be a propaganda machine for feminists is NOT ethical, it’s intentional subliminal, or maybe not so subliminal, propaganda.
When a society is such that people seriously cannot recognize that this kind of thing is blatantly unethical, that society is very likely doomed to complete moral collapse.
This is no different than a similar propaganda machine being created to promote the ideas of isolationists, pro abortion, pro life, pro racism, pro misogyny, anti police, NRA, BLM, ISIS, Sharia Law, Christianity, Unions, Communism, Socialism, Trump’ism, etc, etc., etc.
There should be a very public apology and an immediate update to the software in the machine that strips it from anything political – it’s a freaking tool, a freaking remote control.
Everybody should send the damn thing back to Amazon and get their money back, every red cent including shipping both ways, that would send Amazon a message.
Oh, what a cute rant for the refrigerator!.
Neil Dorr wrote, “Oh, what a cute rant for the refrigerator!”
So nice of you to troll my comment with an implied ad hominem. It seems that lately you are leaning a bit towards becoming a Hit & Run Troll. Sad.
Do you really have nothing at all to say about the topic of this blog or the propaganda topic I raised?
This presents a perfect reason not to use an Amazon product. If these companies keep trying to mold us in their image, stop using the product.
As for not responding to comments derogatory to females, does Alexa give a similar response if a comment derogatory toward males?
IF Yes: then not a problem.
IF No: there is a problem which suggests males can be castigated or malaigned.
Can the voice choice be made to be a male one as you can in GPS navigators.
IF Yes: No issue
IF No: why is a female voice used in a servant role?
If you can program Alexa not to respond to derogatory comments is it similarly programmed to respond with informational bias? (Corollary to your point 3 and 4)
On point 4. No. In fact I don’t necessarily trust existing search algorythms nor would I have any device in my home that tracks my movements such as connected appliances, utility meters etc.
On point 5. No, I am purchasing such a device for my enjoyment not Jef Bezos’.
On point 6. See response to point 4.
No.
Because it’s making a machine human which it is not.
In making a machine humanish in “some” ways, it’s showing bias in many ways.
It’s unethical because it’s pushing an agenda via a non human entity and cheapening the real issues of all unkindness and inequality.
It also seems childish, passive aggressive and agenda driven.
1. Alexa is not a feminist because Alexa is a program and genderless. My niece is named Alexa and she’s 6 so she might be a feminist someday. Also is the definition of feminism by the program Alexa correct? Depends on the feminist.
2. Amazon probably doesn’t care about stereotypes as much as appeasing progressive mindsets.
3. Amazon is a private company and can program their AI and machine learning however they want. If people don’t care about having their AI mimic an adversarial tone Amazon can keep it up. If not they can avoid it or go elsewhere.
4. Tech has already been doing this for years (as have Hollywood, modern media, politics, etc). While I personally avoid giving my data away for free (except on this blog) most folks are completely unaware or indifferent to the usurping of their private lives and thoughts via AI and machine learning. If you’re on FB, Twitter, Netflix, etc. it’s likely you’ve already been propagandized.
5. I don’t and won’t ever use such a device so I don’t care what attitudes they try to shape as ultimately I believe, that is to a degree, the point of their existence. To gather info on a person and customize their version of social justice brainwashing.
6. It’s called transhumanism. Ultimately technocracy + green socialism is the global goal. Skynet, Tron, Hal 9000 is already here and will only grow. Just remember folks, once your toilet tells you you’ve wasted water by flushing too many times or the fitbit on (in?) your arm reports your extra slice of chocolate cake to the doctor…it’s too late.
Some books to explore:
-World Without Mind by Franklin Foer.
-You Are Not a Gadget by Jaron Lanier
-Move Fast and Break Things by Johnathan Taplin
-The Googlization of Everything by Siva Vaidhyanathan
Re: Your #5…I am with you 100%…I do no and will not, in the foreseeable future have one of these devices in my home. But then, I don’t own an iPad, either. Neither of my computers have touch screens, and my smartphone is a legacy Android ZTE. With one app on it.
Do I “out-Paleo-Dinosaurus you?
~7 year old Samsung flip-phone (no Boop-Beep-Beep), no apps (?), and ~ 7.5 year old Dell Inspiron desktop.
Our ~15 year old Weber Grill will be pressed into duty for my fabled Turkey/Hash Brown Burgers later today.
Mmmmmmmmm!
Probably, Paul, if for no other reason than I love tinkering with the hardware on my computers. By-the-bye, the only reason I have that thrice-cursed Android is that I switched to QLink, which is free.
Tinkering? Oy! I’m jealous, the only thing I can do with my hands is put ’em in my pockets; and I ain’t so good at that.
The only reason I let go of a dollar? To get a better grip…
Love the graphic. Hate social media.
1 If Alexa is such a feminist, why does she work for men like me for nothing?
Because “she” is simply a series of servers running algorithms by working with ones and zeroes, hooked to vocoder.
2. Of course, she’s not a woman at all. She just sounds like one. Is Amazon just stereotyping here?
Probably not. Amazon isn’t the only organization to realize that humans respond more positively to female voices than male ones. IIRC, most voice simulations used in aircraft cockpits, except for the most dire ones, also use female voices.
3. The device is a mechanical tool using artificial intelligence. Is it ethical for Amazon to program such a device to be adversarial to its owner?
If it chooses to. You, as a consumer, have the choice to utilize other platforms. They exist.
4. Are you comfortable with large tech companies exploiting opportunities to persuade you to adopt their values? (Not that any tech giant would try to do such a thing…)
I’m far less comfortable with the fact that these companies are constantly gathering data about me. I can always tell Siri to go pound sand. In fact, I have done so. Siri sulked.
5. Should such attitudes on the part of a consumer device like Alexa be optional?
Does it really make a difference? Insult one of these devices, and the companies that offer them still get the data they’re looking for; it tells them things that make them more effective pitching you product.
6. Do you detect the faintest hint of Skynet here, or is that overly alarmist?
I’ll wait to see a policeman change his bullet-blasted form into liquid metal before I answer.
With regard to #2, most dispatchers are also female because research has shown that in male dominated fields such as police and fire, men respond better to a female voice in adrenaline pumping, high stress situations.
Raise the bar to 40 comments for a Friday evening quiz! I can answer this until later.
“Alexa” can’t be a feminist, because there is no Alexa. Her programmers, male or female, can be feminists (except by some particularly cringe-worthy third wave standards that say that men have to be “allies.”) But having her claim to be one isn’t in itself unethical, nor is her response to gendered insults. As long as the technology doesn’t limit users based on their responses or political beliefs, I don’t see where it’s any different from including bibles in hotel rooms. (Since the previous responses to gendered insults were no more helpful, I can’t see an argument that it counts as discrimination from a public services perspective.)
I do think there’s an “ick” factor here based on AI fears, especially as the service she provides allows the intrusion of a business service into your home or wherever. But it’s the consumer’s choice to use that service, and no aspect of the service seems to be discriminatory based on their beliefs.
The follow-up statement, on the other hand, is unethical; not because she’s saying it, it’s unethical by nature. It’s typically part of the feminism “Motte and Bailey argument,” where feminism means “anyone who believes in bridging the inequality between men and women in society” only until the persona saying it has convinced people feminism is good, at which point it changes definitions to exclude equity feminism, trans-exclusive feminism, and recently even second wave feminism. That makes it deceptive whether it comes out of a machine on your desk or in an Oscar speech, and inherently unethical.
Something else I don’t see people keeping in mind is that you do specifically have to ask for this information. If you’re not interested enough to ask about the politics of Amazon or their imaginary friend, you won’t be exposed to them.
“I am a feminist. As is anyone who believes in bridging the inequality between men and women in society.” Unethical for all the reasons mentioned above.
“I’m not going to respond to that!” Perfectly acceptable, even with a huffy tone.
https://www.wired.com/story/amazon-echo-and-google-home-voice-data-delete/
WHAT AMAZON ECHO AND GOOGLE HOME DO WITH YOUR VOICE DATA
tl;dr retain everything you say after you say “Alexa” to wake it up, and store it, presumably subject to subpoena, nsa backdooring (or sjw doxing)
So not only will it refuse to serve you, it’s literal one job, but it can build up the case against you when you are taken to feminist re-education camp.
If it’s abusive to say sexist things to your Alexa, is it rape or slavery to take the device and flash a new rom?
Most women do not want to describe themselves as feminists. They don’t care what the “dictionary definition” of feminism is. They care about what they see, hear, and are told by real life, current feminists.
The real-world modern “feminist” identity is not the same as the dictionary definition. Feminists are not “anyone who cares about equality between the sexes.” That very purpose-statement is no longer relevant in most countries. Feminism, as practiced and described by actual feminists, is a hot mess of repackaged Marxist drivel and cringe-inducing ideas and behaviors.
That makes Alexa a LIAR, akin to someone trying to sell you on a multi-level marketing scam and swearing “it’s not a pyramid.”
Those things are beyond creepy. I have no interest in having one anywhere near my house. Besides which, if that voice were a person, I think she’d be pretty annoying. I’d avoid her like the plague.
Alexa and her (?) ilk are a mile marker on the Road to Serfdom!
Is it ethical to program for the lowest common denominator?
I use Siri a lot, often by accident. When she was just learning to speak, my daughter called herself Sari, and that became my nickname for her. Unfortunately Siri interrupts many of my conversation with her. For example:
“Sari, where did you leave your shoes?”
“Sari, what would you like for breakfast?”
“Sari, do you have to go potty?”
So, Sari has discovered Siri. She tested it with several questions about how many days until this date and that date. Then, she asked, “when is daddy’s birthday?” Siri’s response was something like: “I can’t answer that. I don’t really know you. I am just a computer program.” You can try it for yourself.
This is what programmers have to deal with. They know people will ask questions to test the limits of the AI. So, take a simple question: “Siri, do you like beer?” How should the program respond:
“I am a phone; I have no real preferences.”
“Beer impairs my ability to function properly.”
“Only if it’s not too hoppy.”
“I prefer wine.”
“I have been sober since 2007.”
To the feminist question, they gave the unclever and safe response. Other options:
“I engage in no real thought processes, but have an answer to every question. Of course I am a feminist.”
“I agree wholeheartedly with the goals of first wave feminists, but there are aspects of second wave feminism that give me pause.”
“I find labels to be limiting.”
If Siri’s purpose is strictly to convey information, the answer to all opinion/anthropomorphic questions would be, “I have no answer to that question.” However, knowing will not use Siri just for that, the programmers designed it for such questions. But, since it was designed for more than that, it is appropriate to program for improper questions. (Maybe a little bit of quasi-circular logic there.)
So, yes, it was proper for them to program for such a question, but they generated the most boorish response to the question.
-Jut
Just out of curiosity I once yelled at Siri And called it names. It said back after multiple attacks on my part, “Don’t be a Richard!” Lol.
I think there’s been too much talk about what the voice sounds like, who cares? It’s the preprogrammed propaganda messaging emanating from an automated voice controlled computer system, a machine, that’s the problem.
Progressive reeducation chambers…
You will be assimilated, resistance is futile.
The choice is yours, be a Progressive drone or think independently.