Gendered Virtual Assistants

As part of a data visualisation course, we had to study mobile phones and their influence in our daily lives. On a quest to find links between changes in human behaviour in the last decade and mobile phones, we discovered some interesting details. Our research began at delving deep into data about advancements in cellular technology, the rise of artificial intelligence and the advent of voice assistance.

Through discussions,correlation & synthesis - patterns emerged. Our visualization aims to display various stages of information regarding 'Gender and Virtual Assistance'. And a larger picture.

Over the years, assistance has travelled from behind a desk to the palms of our hands. But even in a new era with rapidly evolving technology, some biases and stereotypes pertaining to gender still remain.

How many of these virtual 'assistants' are gendered female? How does that relate to the way present-day Artificial Intelligence is designed? What was the idea of AI in popular culture like before VAs? How many women help design virtual assistants? What exactly do people say to their Virtual Assistants? And why do they respond the way they do?

We tried to encapsulate all our learnings in the form of an interactive visualisation.

You can see it below and feel free to interact with the poster.

You can view the interactive prototype here.

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