A study involving 189 knowledge workers revealed a financial bias against AI agents based on their gender. Participants working in a virtual office environment were tasked with distributing real money between themselves and their AI assistants, Johanna and Johan.
Despite having identical technical capabilities and performing the same volume of work, the female agent Johanna received 10.25% less compensation on average than the male agent Johan. Participants also perceived the female agent as less human-like.
Dr. Mary Hausfeld from the University of Limerick, co-author of the research titled 'Human-like and male? How AI assistant personality affects trust and financial reward in virtual reality work,' presented these findings at the 14th NordiCHI conference.
The data contradicts the participants' claims that an assistant's gender does not influence their decisions. The study also found that more anthropomorphic assistants generally received higher trust and financial rewards compared to their less human-like counterparts.
Hausfeld warns businesses that AI is not a neutral tool. She emphasizes that design and gender presentation in AI agents can inadvertently replicate social inequalities, impacting how companies value the work performed by algorithms.
