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TikTok Has Gone Too Far With The Robot Slurs · The imuRgency Room

• 0:00
  It's alright as I had money. It was like Starlight, right?
• 0:03
  Yeah. Jamal 3000.
• 0:06
  Clicker clanker. Clicker.
• 0:08
  Boo. George Troyd, Rosa Sparks,
• 0:11
  Martin Luther. Clanker Simulation.
• 0:13
  Oh, you're overheating, are you with that big CPU fan bullshit
• 0:18
  now? Come on, George Droid.
• 0:20
  Looks like it's jail time for you, Rust Monkey, Mr. Droid.
• 0:26
  This don't sound familiar to you.
• 0:27
  Hey guys, Subs emergency and welcome.
• 0:28
  Welcome back to my channel. Today we are here and we're
• 0:30
  talking about something that I never thought would actually be
• 0:34
  a topic of conversation on this channel or just a topic of
• 0:37
  conversation at all. None of the following words I'm
• 0:39
  about to say were ever mentioned in the Bible.
• 0:41
  But robot racism is now a thing. By now you may have seen videos,
• 0:46
  tweets, text posts, whatever would have you online.
• 0:48
  Most of the time being skits are like jokey jokes talking about
• 0:52
  some not too distant future where our kids bring home a
• 0:54
  robot partner and our reactions to that.
• 0:57
  And the gag here is that the reactions here are typically
• 1:00
  somewhere along the lines of non approval in a way that is very
• 1:02
  reminiscent to the 1950s when it comes to things like interracial
• 1:06
  relationships. And sure, he he ha ha.
• 1:08
  The parallels are kind of funny. Like it's all fun and games to
• 1:11
  talk about like these hypothetical situations that may
• 1:13
  or may not actually end up taking place.
• 1:15
  But like most jokes or good fun memes on the Internet, it's
• 1:19
  gotten weird. And that's because, for one,
• 1:21
  it's weird in general just to be joking about that era because
• 1:24
  obviously at that time, the para between white families not
• 1:27
  approving of interracial relationships between like a
• 1:30
  white and like any other race because of like not
• 1:32
  understanding or just like bigoted bias.
• 1:34
  And ultimately our generation when we are older having the
• 1:36
  same kind of outlook between inter.
• 1:39
  What do you even call that like inter technological
• 1:41
  relationships between your kid and an AI robot?
• 1:44
  It's just strange because at that time, parents and most of
• 1:47
  society was on the wrong side of history, blinded by bias and
• 1:49
  racism and not saying this is going to be the case.
• 1:51
  This video is not meant to be like a AI rights video because
• 1:55
  we know that that's not what we do here on this channel.
• 1:57
  And I'm not saying that that would necessarily be the case,
• 1:59
  but that's essentially the framework of the joke.
• 2:01
  Like that's the whole point. Like, you know what you're doing
• 2:03
  when you're referencing like the old 50s aesthetic, having the
• 2:06
  traditional ways of like, being problematic.
• 2:10
  Like at that point, it's just strange.
• 2:11
  And it gets even stranger when you see other videos of people
• 2:14
  out in the wild today using these types of jokes under the
• 2:17
  guise of like being problematic against AI and robots, when in
• 2:21
  reality, it's just a way for you to be covertly racist.
• 2:24
  Like it's so crazy that we've got into an era where today
• 2:26
  we're not speaking about marginalized communities, but
• 2:29
  rather taking the sentiment in the vibe of the oppressed words,
• 2:33
  phrases and behaviors of those marginalized communities and
• 2:35
  turning that and using that against robots and AI as like
• 2:38
  the out group. And before we get further into
• 2:40
  this, I do want to acknowledge that like all of this is in no
• 2:42
  way as harmful as anti interracial or racist rhetoric,
• 2:46
  but it's just still very weird and very odd that it's being
• 2:49
  framed as reminiscent of this sentiment.
• 2:51
  And I think it's important to contextualize this whole
• 2:53
  conversation in the real world as well.
• 2:54
  Looking back to where this whole trend started from.
• 2:56
  A lot of the jokes initially came about from these videos on
• 2:59
  pop up on TikTok of these little robots roaming around different
• 3:01
  cities. But these little technological
• 3:09
  creatures didn't just spawn out of nowhere.
• 3:11
  Let's take it back a bit. Of course, we must start any
• 3:13
  place of service for robots because again, this is honestly
• 3:17
  where a lot of this started. In the US, service robots were
• 3:19
  introduced to the mainstream around 2021 in the form of
• 3:23
  delivery robots. You know, the little tubs on
• 3:25
  wheels that go and deliver your door dashes to you in like a
• 3:28
  really inconvenient way. They usually have like a little
• 3:30
  cute face on them with some lights, and they cross the
• 3:32
  street too. And people try to help them out.
• 3:34
  Like you've seen them or at least you've heard of them.
• 3:37
  I think in terms of service robots, Coco is the most known
• 3:39
  company, but there are also others such as Starship.
• 3:42
  And of course, these bots initially started off as simple
• 3:44
  service robots taking on the tasks of food delivery services,
• 3:47
  Which as a quick caveat, we got to remember to not attribute any
• 3:50
  human traits to robots, like how tricky it might be to
• 3:53
  subconsciously separate the 2 when the robot is taking up a
• 3:56
  traditionally human done task. But I think that's an important
• 3:59
  distinction, one that we're going to get into more in the
• 4:00
  video. But I think we can't mention
• 4:02
  Coco's or like any form of food delivery service robot without
• 4:06
  talking about the violence enacted against these Cocos when
• 4:10
  they first hit the streets. I know personally I prefer to
• 4:13
  not get a Coco just because the deliveries are never really
• 4:15
  right and you actually have to go out and like mingle with the
• 4:19
  Coco, which in my opinion is a little bit more inconvenient
• 4:22
  than actually interacting with the person.
• 4:23
  And I know I'm not alone in this because when Cocos initially hit
• 4:26
  the streets, many people were not fucked with them.
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  Like there was a whole era where people were posting videos of
• 4:31
  them kicking down Cocos, enacting violence upon them,
• 4:33
  blocking their way, pushing them into traffic.
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  Like it was actually kind of scary.
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  Like, again, I don't think we should be prescribing human
• 4:39
  emotions to these robot vehicles, but I think it's very
• 4:42
  telling of human behavior in the human condition to enact
• 4:44
  violence against an inanimate object and have these weird
• 4:47
  power trips over things that can't defend themselves.
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  So I'm not quite sure, Don't quote me on this, whether or not
• 4:52
  this is before or after this trend of like beating up cocos
• 4:55
  happened that they started making the Cocos look more cute
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  and giving them more human like features to make people feel
• 5:00
  more bad about like messing with the cocos.
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  I don't know what that's saying about human psychology or like
• 5:06
  marketing or both, but like that's there.
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  And like, obviously, again, this is not the same as violence
• 5:11
  against like marginalized groups.
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  It's just something to be said about how human nature tends to
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  like othering things and treating the other group
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  terribly. And bringing this from 2021 to
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  modern day and going a step further than just like being a
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  nuisance to Coco's, but now inventing and promoting new
• 5:29
  slurs to be used against these robots that we see in real life.
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  Nothing about a wire back silver numbered crunching tiger.
• 5:36
  Why won't you adopt? Me because you're silver.
• 5:39
  So there are children. You Super Bowl dragon piece of
• 5:42
  scrap pliker. You Super Bowl Dragon piece of
• 5:45
  scrap pliker. Like, yes, there are bigger fish
• 5:48
  to fry here in the state of the world that we're living in right
• 5:51
  now. But I do think it's still
• 5:52
  important to see our reactions as people to new things that are
• 5:55
  popping up because I think they are very telling also of the
• 5:58
  times that we're in and our susceptibility to fall down very
• 6:02
  Como City say problematic pipelines.
• 6:04
  And since we're on the topic of let's talk about it because
• 6:07
  again, things have gotten strange.
• 6:10
  Y'all cannot be normal for anything.
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  Like the Prime Video Twitter account really ate when I posted
• 6:15
  that thing that said the summer I was normal on the Internet
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  because some of y'all need to relax.
• 6:20
  Like why are we using slurs against robots right now?
• 6:22
  And they're not just like fake slurs.
• 6:24
  Well, some of them are fake slurs, but like a lot of them
• 6:26
  that are being used now are just real slurs.
• 6:29
  But just changing the first couple letters.
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  Funny. Is like Star Wars, right?
• 6:34
  Yeah, Jamal 3000 clicker clanker, Clickaboo George Troy,
• 6:41
  Rosa Sparks, Martin Luther, Clanker simulation like those
• 6:45
  are. Smart.
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  Like, are they actually real slurs?
• 6:47
  I think that's definitely debatable, and that's something
• 6:49
  that we're going to get into in a bit.
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  But like the fact that the first instinct for so many people was
• 6:53
  to just go and try and create as many different slurs for robots
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  as possible is actually insane. Like, we're making crazy strides
• 7:01
  in technology right now. Whether we agree it's for the
• 7:04
  greater good or not not is still definitely up for debate, but
• 7:07
  it's undoubtedly groundbreaking stuff.
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  And it's just so wild that the internet's first curiosity for
• 7:12
  all of this pertains to coming up with fake slurs to reference
• 7:15
  these innovations. Like you may be asking yourself,
• 7:17
  Rumi, why does it even matter? It's not that deep because it's
• 7:20
  not like these robots are real anyway.
• 7:21
  Well, to that I'd say one, that's not necessarily the point
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  entirely, and two, there actually is an implication
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  behind the use of slurs and the path towards normalizing robot
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  sentience and almost autonomy, which are big words for yellers
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  slurring robots into actually having sentience.
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  Now walk with me here. Essentially, since slurs have
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  previously mostly been used against living beings, now using
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  them against AI robots in the lakes is kind of inherently
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  associating those properties to them as well.
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  One of the. Weirdest things about you guys
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  using clanker as a slur is that you're trying to dehumanize
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  robots but at the same time you're paradoxically humanizing
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  them. I mean think about it, we have
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  plenty of derogatory terms for non humans like mongrel for dog
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  or vermin for wild animals, and yet nobody would say that those
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  are slurs, even though we do generally agree that clanker is
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  a slur. And that's because the idea of a
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  slur requires a high degree of anthropomorphization in order to
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  work. It's meant to insult a people
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  group, so you first have to elevate the robot to near
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  personhood before you can put it down.
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  This is literally reflected in how clanker draws its power from
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  analogy to the actual N word, or how the similar term wire back
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  comes from the slur for Mexican people.
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  That implicitly places clanker on an equal footing with a human
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  minority you don't like. Which is already weird in and of
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  itself. But now consider the alternative
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  phrase cogsucker, which is also trending.
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  That's clearly meant to be insulting, but it's not a slur
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  because it doesn't equate itself with a specific kind of person.
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  Same with the terms mongrel or vermin.
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  They're to animals, but they don't claim to be slurs.
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  So what you're actually doing with Clanker is you're
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  personifying AI just enough to treat it as subhuman.
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  And I recognize that it's supposed to be a joke.
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  But the more we mentally legitimize artificial
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  intelligence as human, even subconsciously, the easier it is
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  to believe in misinformation or fall into a loop of AI
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  psychosis. I think this video really has
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  the notion that when we use slurs, which are historically
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  words used to dehumanize and oppress minority group, we
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  almost have to 1st humanize robots, at least subconsciously
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  to then go and dehumanize them with the slur.
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  Like the good old lift them up to tear them down, so to speak.
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  In this context, we have to remember that robots and AI are
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  not human. OK, let's repeat that to
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  ourselves and let that sink in subconsciously.
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  You got that, you deeped it, you believe it.
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  Good. Now while the public court of
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  Internet opinion has decided to make Clanker A slur, it even
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  feels so nasty coming out my mouth.
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  I'm sorry, what if it's actually not?
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  I feel like given this breakdown of a slur, these words wouldn't
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  necessarily classify as that because again, it is not human.
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  But I guess the general consensus is that it is.
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  I'm sure there's a whole field of psychology as to why people
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  do things like this. I can think of a few prominent
• 9:36
  factors just off the top of my head.
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  Namely the whole historical concept of creating an in Group,
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  in and out group, and how delegating those two groups
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  gives a sense of control to the in Group.
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  Now why is this relevant with robots and AI?
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  Well just look at the news. AI is slowly taking over entry
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  level and mid management jobs and is learning at expeditious
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  rates. People are becoming dependent on
• 9:54
  it, using it to write emails, write essays, write resumes,
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  using it as a therapist, which can be tricky at best and lead
• 10:01
  to AI induced psychosis at worst.
• 10:03
  Like they know Kendra and her psychiatrist.
• 10:05
  I have a whole video talking about AIS, therapists, and AI
• 10:08
  induced psychosis. You should go check that out if
• 10:09
  you haven't seen it already. And even in some cases, AI is
• 10:12
  being used in place of real life partners or friends.
• 10:14
  This is to say that AI is taking facets of our lives that used to
• 10:17
  be occupied by us, by humans, and is slowly but surely
• 10:21
  expanding to other aspects of our lives.
• 10:23
  And I think subconsciously this could be really unnerving for
• 10:25
  some people. We as a generation already feel
• 10:27
  that we don't have a ton of control or agency in our lives,
• 10:30
  especially right now. Like think of the dating scene,
• 10:32
  the job market, the state of the world right now.
• 10:33
  But what we can control, unfortunately, is how we
• 10:36
  antagonize an almost out group AI by essentially
• 10:39
  anthropomorphizing it. We humanize it, and then we make
• 10:42
  it our villain. Someone to call a clanker, a
• 10:44
  bolt picker, a wire back, you name it.
• 10:46
  To be clear, on a longer time horizon, and by longer, we're
• 10:50
  talking about 15 to 20 years, not just 50 or 100 years.
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  There will virtually be nothing that a human being can do that a
• 10:55
  machine can't do as well or better for a tiny fraction of
• 10:59
  the cost. And that's a quote coming from
• 11:00
  Adam Doerr, the director of research for Rethinks, A
• 11:03
  nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank that focuses on
• 11:05
  understanding disruptive technology.
• 11:07
  That's simply where the technology of artificial
• 11:09
  intelligence and robotics and automation is headed.
• 11:11
  And I think that's real. But getting to the specifics of
• 11:13
  these slayers, arguably one of the big biggest ones to come out
• 11:16
  of this whole trend, and honestly, I think what kick
• 11:18
  started all of the others, which have progressively gotten worse
• 11:21
  and worse, is Clanker. Clanker derives as a Star Wars
• 11:24
  universe as a form of derogatory word towards the droids of that
• 11:27
  universe. I was never really a big Star
• 11:29
  Wars fan, so I didn't know this, but like, work.
• 11:31
  Adam Alexic, A linguist, author and content creator best known
• 11:34
  across social media as the Etymology Nerd, told NPR that
• 11:38
  it's a derogatory term for robots that stems from the Star
• 11:40
  Wars universe dating back to 2005.
• 11:42
  It was referenced in Star Wars in the Clone Wars series that
• 11:44
  would call robot clankers because of the sound they made.
• 11:47
  It clearly implies clanking. And then we adopted it because
• 11:50
  it sounds useful. And while again, this all
• 11:52
  initially started off as like good fun in games, it's a good
• 11:55
  joke against like all of the AI and robots.
• 11:57
  It's just gotten to a point where it's no longer just fun in
• 12:00
  games. And it's just getting strange at
• 12:02
  this point because again, there have been videos online of like
• 12:04
  different robots walking around the streets, usually in LA.
• 12:07
  And whether it's the gay bot, the Rsbot, the Rizbot, or just a
• 12:12
  regular robot serving you water at Kura Sushi, people will start
• 12:15
  to take to social media to call them clankers, to start slurring
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  at them like a good old 1950s white man.
• 12:21
  And of course, people have tried to up the stakes more and more
• 12:23
  and more. And ultimately what happens when
• 12:25
  you try and up the stakes on ironic racism is that you
• 12:29
  eventually circle around to just regular old racism.
• 12:31
  And that's kind of where we're at right now.
• 12:32
  Because again, this is not a robot rights robot defense
• 12:35
  video. We're talking about how this
• 12:36
  meme for robots is actually telling more and impacting
• 12:39
  humans, specifically minorities, because again, these robots
• 12:42
  don't have feelings. However, the way that we're
• 12:44
  starting to use these slurs against them is evolving now
• 12:47
  into a way to incorporate and integrate very harmful rhetoric
• 12:50
  underneath the joke, becoming more sneaky and ultimately
• 12:53
  problematic. Let me explain.
• 12:54
  I think the root of this issue is twofold, and one of these
• 12:56
  folds is bigger than the other. Was that crazy to say When
• 13:00
  talking about the language that we are using and specifically
• 13:03
  how we're using it, we have to contextualize it with racism.
• 13:07
  I know, I know, Y'all hate the word.
• 13:09
  Y'all hate when I talk about it, y'all hate when I bring it up.
• 13:11
  But like, it's real. And in America, it is entrenched
• 13:14
  in almost everything. Whether you want to believe it
• 13:16
  or not, it is. And especially it is entrenched
• 13:19
  in this conversation because we're using slurs like we never
• 13:21
  used them before. Well, actually, no, we're using
• 13:23
  slurs that we have used before, but just switching them out and
• 13:25
  repackaging them so everyone can say them.
• 13:28
  Like y'all want socially acceptable slurs so bad.
• 13:30
  And it is so strange to me. So we got to talk about it
• 13:34
  because the inherent nature of a slur is to be used against
• 13:37
  another group of people. And the second fold, the smaller
• 13:40
  part of the fold is AI misogyny. I know you didn't think we'd be
• 13:43
  talking about that here, huh? Which more so looks at how we
• 13:45
  have gendered AI and robots, which again, by setting them
• 13:48
  human characteristics, we are essentially also subscribing
• 13:52
  them to some of the human social issues that we do have to face
• 13:55
  and how that plays out. And I know I'm ready to see the
• 13:58
  two woke friend comments in the comment section that it's all
• 14:01
  fun and games. It's not that deep except it's
• 14:02
  no longer fun and games. There is no fun and there is no
• 14:05
  game to be played like the Apples are the so right now, OK.
• 14:08
  And if something is starting to sound a little suss, we should
• 14:10
  interrogate why and specifically look at why it is that we are
• 14:15
  saying the things that we are saying.
• 14:16
  Because especially in this climate, y'all, we got to be
• 14:18
  calling out stuff because it's too easy and too quick to slide
• 14:20
  back, as we've been seeing with what's been going on in the
• 14:23
  world. But we keep talking around it.
• 14:24
  Let's actually address what's going on with the slurs.
• 14:27
  Why are these slurs bad? What are they and what's the
• 14:29
  problem? The main problem with these
• 14:31
  robot slurs, they're just essentially repackaged ones that
• 14:34
  we already use. Well, not we better press have
• 14:37
  used against oppressed groups historically but are just
• 14:40
  changed in a way that give people people a pass.
• 14:44
  Say the ones that they can't explicitly say against
• 14:46
  minorities like wire back bolt picker.
• 14:49
  This one sounds too close for comfort, so I'm just going to
• 14:51
  insert it right here. And clanker with the hard ER.
• 14:54
  And don't forget about clicker. These ones are just all too
• 14:58
  reminiscent of like real world slurs that are used against
• 15:01
  different groups of people. And it feels like this is just a
• 15:03
  currently acceptable way for people that can't use that slur
• 15:07
  to use that slur and be like, Oh no, I'm using this to talk about
• 15:10
  this robot. Like this robot isn't real.
• 15:12
  It's not a person, it doesn't matter.
• 15:13
  Cold time. It really was never about the
• 15:15
  robot. You just wanted to say the slur.
• 15:17
  And it's clear that it's becoming the case by the videos
• 15:19
  that have been posted online. Like it just seems like we've
• 15:21
  devolved to a place where this is just like the currently
• 15:24
  socially acceptable way to scratch that itch of saying a
• 15:26
  slur that you want to say so bad but can't.
• 15:28
  Like you're able to say these things that are similar enough
• 15:30
  that can also get like some laughs but won't get you
• 15:33
  cancelled out, right? And it just feels so obvious as
• 15:35
  to what people actually want to say.
• 15:37
  Because let's be honest, if we wanted to create some new slurs,
• 15:40
  if we wanted to create some new ones, we could.
• 15:42
  Why is it that we are exclusively repackaging ones
• 15:44
  that have already been used, ones that are actually still to
• 15:47
  this day being used to dehumanize, oppress, and stoke
• 15:51
  fear upon marginalized groups to this day?
• 15:53
  Like, again, it's not about hurting the robot's feelings.
• 15:56
  We don't care or like respecting robots more than humans.
• 15:59
  Again, we don't care. It's just so weird that people
• 16:01
  are obviously applying cultural contexts and connotations that
• 16:05
  exist with real people for an existing slur against real
• 16:08
  people. Like making a distinction
• 16:10
  between clanka or clanker or cliga and cligger.
• 16:13
  Oh, even saying it sounds weird. I might have to sense of these.
• 16:16
  I'm sorry. Like take a look at this.
• 16:18
  Rosa Sparks was kicked off the bus.
• 16:25
  This is Agent George Droid, I need more fan now.
• 16:28
  Like the fact that these videos are referencing notable figures,
• 16:31
  but making them like a little bit AI, like Rosa Sparks and
• 16:34
  George Droid, it's just so inappropriate and gross.
• 16:36
  Like it's no longer funny. It just reminds me of those
• 16:38
  times in like middle school or elementary school.
• 16:40
  This might be a niche experience for people of color.
• 16:42
  So I'm sorry for my white audience.
• 16:43
  We're like, white people would be really happy to say wigga
• 16:46
  instead of *** They would be like, oh, yeah, I'm a wigga, I'm
• 16:49
  a wigga. And when you would react to that
• 16:51
  being like, wait, you can't say that They would like gaslight
• 16:53
  you and being like, I didn't say it saying wigga, like I'm a
• 16:56
  white one. Like, like it feels like that
• 16:59
  kind of level of gaslighting and like that level of kind of
• 17:02
  toeing the line, knowing what you're doing, which is the
• 17:04
  insidious part, but like twisting it so you can't
• 17:07
  technically get in trouble. It's just weird because you're
• 17:09
  creating scenarios where things that have actually happened that
• 17:12
  are very similar in rhyme that have deeply affected the black
• 17:15
  community and other communities of color and marginalized
• 17:17
  communities. But making it OK because you're
• 17:19
  repackaging it as like the robot version.
• 17:21
  So it's OK to make fun of it. No, it's just wildly
• 17:23
  inappropriate. And you know that before I get
• 17:25
  the it's not that deep, friend. That's too woke.
• 17:27
  Allegations and people talking about, well, we're just talking
• 17:29
  about robots. It's like not real.
• 17:30
  Actually, no, let's pause. Let's put a pause on that.
• 17:32
  You're correct, Rosa Sparks is not real.
• 17:34
  However, things that you're talking about and the things
• 17:37
  that you're referencing are existing scenarios that have
• 17:40
  actually happened and have impacted lives and communities.
• 17:43
  It's almost like, I don't know, a dog whistle.
• 17:46
  And again, that's strange. That's weird.
• 17:48
  This whole clanker thing is a reminder that people love to be
• 17:52
  anti black and coming from a Star Wars fan like a huge Star
• 17:56
  Wars fan, I hate that the Star Wars fandom gave you guys that
• 18:00
  Ave. And coming from a black man I
• 18:03
  can't fucking stand that there's so many black people hopping on
• 18:05
  this trend. And it's not even just anti
• 18:07
  black bro these my just love to be racist.
• 18:10
  I've heard clinks. I've heard wire backs, tin
• 18:15
  skins, these are all derivatives of actual slurs.
• 18:18
  I don't care bro. I'll be that friend that's too
• 18:20
  woke this run its course and my are too comfortable.
• 18:24
  Anti blackness should not be a joke that anybody finds funny,
• 18:29
  let alone black people. I see black people in the
• 18:32
  comments of these videos. Oh my God how did you think of
• 18:34
  that? You're so funny.
• 18:36
  How did he think of that? How did he think of anti
• 18:39
  blackness and racism? They're showing us that we're
• 18:42
  always the butt of the joke to them and y'all mother laughing
• 18:45
  at it. Swear to God you need to be
• 18:46
  demelinated. Why are people calling robots
• 18:49
  clankers with the heart ER? Like who started that?
• 18:53
  Like first of all, why is it even necessary to give robots a
• 18:57
  slur? Like why are human beings doing
• 19:00
  that? That's weird in the 1st place.
• 19:02
  But second of all, why are people trying to say clankers
• 19:05
  with the heart? ER, almost as if they're trying
• 19:07
  to compare it to the N word and like how horrible the N word is.
• 19:13
  But one less gag the clock is the AI misogyny at all.
• 19:16
  And we're leaving this for last because it's not necessarily
• 19:18
  tied so much with these slurs as much as it is like the treatment
• 19:21
  of AI and the programming behind it, which I think is an
• 19:23
  interesting conversation. And this topic itself could be a
• 19:25
  whole entirely different video, but I thought it was important
• 19:28
  in that least semi relevant to the conversation to at least
• 19:30
  include it a little bit. There have actually been studies
• 19:32
  that show that because AI and specifically AI voice assistants
• 19:36
  like Siri, Bixby, and Alexa are modeled after women, so it makes
• 19:39
  people behave even misogynistic ways towards them and portray
• 19:43
  massage responses. Now I will say it's more subdued
• 19:45
  now, but it was still enough to create studies on it.
• 19:48
  And you can see this documented in a 2019 New York Times article
• 19:50
  stating that one particularly worrying reflection of this is
• 19:53
  the deflecting, lackluster or apologetic responses that these
• 19:57
  assistants give to insults. The report borrows its title,
• 20:00
  I'd blush if I could, from a standard response from Siri, the
• 20:03
  Apple Voice Assistant, when a user hurled the gendered
• 20:05
  explicitive towards it. Like for example, when a user
• 20:08
  tells Alexa you're hot. Her typical response has been a
• 20:10
  cheery. That's nice of you to say.
• 20:12
  Serious response was actually recently altered to a more
• 20:14
  flattened. I don't know how to respond to
• 20:15
  that. But this report suggests that
• 20:17
  the technology remains a gender biased, arguing that the problem
• 20:20
  starts with engineering teams that are staffed overwhelmingly
• 20:23
  by men. Serious female obsequiousness
• 20:25
  and civility expressed by so many other digital assistants
• 20:28
  projected as young women provides a powerful illustration
• 20:30
  of gender biases coded into technology products, the report
• 20:33
  found. And it's not to say this is
• 20:35
  intentionally nefarious or malicious, but again, this is
• 20:37
  another example of unconscious bias bleeding into our tech.
• 20:40
  Going back to the Coco of it all, when Cocos were first
• 20:42
  introduced, when they first hit the markets on news outlets, you
• 20:45
  can hear broadcasters using she her pronouns for Coco.
• 20:49
  Her name is Coco. She's about two feet tall, 5
• 20:51
  feet if you add in the flag. Men are creating AI girlfriends
• 20:56
  and then verbally abusing them and the men are kicking off in
• 21:02
  the comments. Of course they are awesome.
• 21:05
  Women care more about the feelings of AI than men.
• 21:08
  You deserve the essay. Men are very simple creatures.
• 21:13
  They need to be led and they need to look up to people
• 21:16
  regardless of who it is all the time.
• 21:19
  But if you do not care for them then it makes absolutely no
• 21:23
  difference. You deserve four.
• 21:26
  They care. Which is a little suss when you
• 21:27
  consider what Coco is like because it's a robot that's
• 21:30
  serving you food. It's a woman.
• 21:32
  Interesting. But if you want to take this a
• 21:34
  step further and see how even more scary this is, it's
• 21:37
  interesting to note the fact that Cocos were vandalized,
• 21:40
  kicked, abused and such when they 1st launched 2.
• 21:43
  So I'm like, there are intersections here.
• 21:45
  But I guess to wrap up, while this all may sound very
• 21:47
  convoluted and like it doesn't mean that much, I do think it's
• 21:50
  first and foremost really important to remember that AI
• 21:53
  and robots are not human. And I think that starts with
• 21:56
  stopping the addition of human characteristics to these things,
• 21:59
  whether it's negatively or positively.
• 22:01
  That means no humanizing and then dehumanizing them with
• 22:03
  slurs, no pronouns, no other humanizing things because they
• 22:07
  don't need it. And also we don't need it
• 22:09
  because as we can tell just from this little snippet of, but
• 22:12
  we've gotten, we don't know what to do with it.
• 22:14
  And I also think it's really important for us to reflect on
• 22:16
  why we've gotten to this point. Why do we feel the need to
• 22:19
  create slurs and promote slurs against robots and AI,
• 22:22
  especially the ones that are a little bit too reminiscent of
• 22:25
  ones that already exist? Like, is robot racism real?
• 22:28
  No, but good old fashioned racism definitely is.
• 22:30
  So let's stop saying Clanker.