2023 — current
This stream of work is what my thesis mostly revolves around. Very much WIP.
Annotation
Women’s roles in technology from the 19th to 20th centuries, including operating switchboards and computing, were vital yet often overlooked. This thesis explores possible impacts of this erasure on contemporary understandings of AI. The research takes the trajectory from ‘AI GIRLS’ to ‘GIRL AI’, examining AI’s ethical and social implications, particularly its reinforcement of inequalities. Central to the thesis is the multifaceted concept of GIRL, symbolizing qualities of inhumanity and resistance. The thesis proposes GIRL AI as an artistic methodology for challenging patriarchal norms in technology, offering a framework for playful subversion.
WIP Abstract
From the 19th to the 20th centuries, women undertook roles now automated or even deemed magical — operating switchboards, typing and computing. They were the unseen forces behind technological progress, from the ENIAC and rocket girls to the Bletchley codebreakers. However, their contributions to technological advancements has been marginalized or erased in historical narratives, which may have impacted our contemporary understandings of AI and gender. Tracing the trajectory from AI GIRLS to the conceptualization of GIRL AI, the research delves into the ethical and social implications of AI technologies, interrogating the harms perpetuated by algorithmic biases, surveillance practices, and oppressive power structures. As well, investigates the ways in which AI perpetuates and reinforces existing inequalities, particularly along lines of gender, race, and class. Central to the thesis is the multifaceted concept of GIRL, a symbolic category unfixed from biological sex or social gender GIRL as a symbolic category unfixed from biological sex or social gender, embodying qualities of inhumanity, resistance, and political defiance. Through critical engagement with texts and theoretical frameworks, the research elucidates GIRL as a site of subversion and empowerment, challenging dominant narratives and patriarchal norms within the realm of technology. Drawing upon aforementioned concepts, the thesis then proposes the methodology of GIRL AI as artistic means of producing playful subversions within technological discourse. Incorporating ideas from feminist theory, technology studies, pleasure activism, and principles of play, GIRL AI offers a framework for creative resistance and disruption, enabling individuals and communities to reimagine and reconstruct technology in more equitable and ethical ways.
Research questions I am pondering
Feel free to add you own POV on GIRL AI to my [are.na](<http://are.na>) board