Study on Gender Pay Gap in Artificial Intelligence Assistants
A new scientific study conducted in a virtual reality environment has revealed that human-like artificial intelligence assistants receive different financial rewards based on their gender appearance.
A virtual reality workspace study conducted by researchers at the University of Limerick revealed that female-appearing artificial intelligence agents received 10.25% less financial reward compared to their male-appearing counterparts.
Artificial Intelligence Research in a Virtual Reality Environment
Researchers from the University of Limerick conducted a comprehensive study examining whether gender biases in the workplace are repeated in interactions with artificial intelligence.
Co-authored by Dr. Mary Hausfeld from the Kemmy Business School, the research addressed how the presentation formats of artificial intelligence assistants affect human behavior.
Pay Gap in the Case of Johan and Johanna
Within the scope of the research, 189 workers were placed in a virtual reality office and asked to complete work tasks alongside different artificial intelligence assistants.
Despite using the same underlying technology, the male-appearing artificial intelligence assistant named 'Johan' received a higher financial reward, while the female-appearing 'Johanna' received 10.25% less reward for the same work.
Forward-Looking Bias and Design Questions
The findings clearly demonstrated that traditional gender biases in human workplaces can also emerge in artificial intelligence interactions.
Researchers drew attention to the fact that the ways in which artificial intelligence systems are designed and presented can trigger existing assumptions and biases.