Gender, Power, and Risk in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
Power Dynamics, Gender Relations, and Risk Management in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.82015/NNR.2025.100113Keywords:
Artificial Intelligence, Gender, Algorithmic Bias, Technological Feminism, Surveillance, Power, Risk, Ethics, Intersectionality, Social JusticeAbstract
The advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a pervasive and structuring technology does not occur in a social vacuum but is grafted onto a pre-existing world, marked by profound gender inequalities.
This article explores the conceptual triad of gender, power, and risk within the socio-technical ecosystem of AI, arguing that algorithmic systems are not neutral but are active agents in shaping, reinforcing, and, in rare cases, potentially countering existing power dynamics.
Through a critical analysis spanning from the philosophy of technology to media sociology and feminist studies, it will examine the multiple risks of gendered AI: from discriminatory biases embedded in datasets and algorithms, to differentiated surveillance and the erosion of agency, to the reproduction of stereotypes in generative models.
Concurrently, the article will investigate the power asymmetries in the design, development, and governance of AI, dominated by a male and Western-centric technological culture. The article is not limited to diagnosing problems but also proposes an ethical-political path towards a feminist, intersectional, and pluralistic AI, founded on principles of algorithmic justice, democratic participation, and responsible design. With over 60 bibliographic references, the essay aims to be a critical mapping and a tool for reflection to navigate one of the most controversial and decisive territories of our time.
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